The portal turned into a widely used and respected news outlet throughout Rio after Rene tweeted about police occupation of the favela in 2010 -  Overnight the twitter account went from having 180 to 30,000 followers.   

later, local businessman in the community asked for their companies to be advertised, and with increased funding came the opportunity for significant expansion - The publication is currently run by five volunteers, distributes 10,000 free copies per month, receives 1 million hits a day online and has 185,000 followers on Twitter. It is widely considered an exemplary model of 'citizen journalism'.

Rene  has been invited to major cities across the country to give talks about community media, and in March of 2013 he was invited to give a talk in New York - Aside from the publication, Voz da Comunidade organizes events and promotes social debates.