An online portal to the real thoughts and feelings of Boston

Imagine more than 250 neighborhood voices. Talking to each other in intimate conversation about what's important to them, to their families, to their communities. Now imagine you can search those voices, to hear their ideas first hand. And an artificial intelligence engine can read them, too, telling you which issues come up most often, where peoples' pain-points are. What they need most. It's called Real Talk for Change, and the portal launched late last month. The goal is to uplift voices usually left out of policy conversations, and to use those voices to hold policymakers accountable for what they do. We hear from Deb Roy, a project lead for Real Talk for Change, and Zakiya Alake, a facilitator for the conversations.