It started five years ago, on May 17, 2010, at a Forest Park coffee shop that has since closed down, with the goal of making sure two new developments don't interfere too much with the fabric of the communities they were moving into.

Today, I Believe in Birmingham is a bit more than just a Facebook group, though that Facebook group has enough members that, if all of them met, they likely could've violated the fire code at Forest Perk a hundred times over.

Joseph Casper Baker III started the group in response to the plans for a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Five Points South, which included a drive-thru. Baker and others didn't like the idea of a drive-thru fast food restaurant in the historic neighborhood, and feared it would cause even more traffic headaches in the already busy and confusing area.

They were also opposed to plans that would have demolished Bogue's restaurant and an historic fire station in the Highland Park area in order to build a Walgreens.

Five years later the Chick-fil-A in Five Points doesn't have a drive-thru, but it does have curbside service. The Walgreens is there, and Bogue's is in the old fire station. I Believe in Birmingham, which started in a coffee shop and with a small Facebook following, has more than 8,500 members on the social site.

"It was geared around historic preservation and good design, and it still remains that, by and large," Baker said, "but it's come to encompass civic awareness and engagement to head off problems before they become a crisis."

I Believe in Birmingham has become about much more than a pharmacy and a fast food chicken restaurant. It's become a place where people with a wide range of opinions come together to talk about what's happening in the city and to discuss what should happen next.

One of the main issues of interest to Baker, and therefore a big topic on the group, is transportation. Pinned to the top of the group's page is usually the latest on Rethink 20/59, a campaign to radically change the way the interstate goes through downtown Birmingham. Baker said transportation and education are the two most important issues the city faces.

Baker and others from IBIB have also fought for historic preservation, protesting the demolition of an old train depot to make room for a new facility for Alagasco and helping raise money to restore a monument honoring World War I soldiers.

The main focus, though, is just helping people get connected, Baker said.

"The big success is getting thousands of people in this community connected together and talking about what's going on, what they can do to be involved, making people aware of projects that are ongoing, ways they can plug in and help and support the initiatives in different neighborhoods," he said.

People share stories on IBIB, invite others to events they're hosting, show off opportunities to volunteer. Some people will share city council agendas or documents about public policy that could be of interest to others.

How do people get beyond the level of just complaining on Facebook and start making change in their community, though? Baker said just giving people the opportunities to get involved isn't enough. They have to see the fruits of the involvement of others.

"By providing those positive examples of civic involvement and making folks aware of upcoming meetings and workshops and things where they can get involved," he said, "that's the way to get the kind of civic involvement that a healthy community needs."

As for the next five years? Baker said he wants to see Birmingham expand transportation options and be ready to host the 2021 World Games. He'll still believe in Birmingham, he said.

"It's my community," he said. "It's my home. I want to do these things because, at the end of the day, it helps create the place where I want to be."