diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c153c299c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Ref: https://help.github.com/en/github/building-a-strong-community/configuring-issue-templates-for-your-repository#configuring-the-template-chooser
+blank_issues_enabled: true # default
+contact_links:
+  - name: Question/Support/Other
+    url: https://discourse.jupyter.org/c/widgets/46
+    about: If you have a usage question
+  - name: Chat with devs
+    url: https://gitter.im/jupyter-widgets/Lobby
+    about: Ask short questions about using or creating widgets
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e73c94187a..02f84a3764 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 |----------------------------|----------------------------|
 | **Latest (master: future 8.0)**  | [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets) [![Documentation Status: latest](https://img.shields.io/readthedocs/ipywidgets?logo=read-the-docs)](https://ipywidgets.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest) [![Binder:master](https://mybinder.org/badge_logo.svg)](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets/master?filepath=docs%2Fsource%2Fexamples) |
 | **Stable (7.6.3)** | [![Version](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/ipywidgets.svg?logo=pypi)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ipywidgets) [![Conda Version](https://img.shields.io/conda/vn/conda-forge/ipywidgets.svg?logo=conda-forge)](https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/ipywidgets) [![Documentation Status: 7.6.3](https://img.shields.io/readthedocs/ipywidgets?logo=read-the-docs)](https://ipywidgets.readthedocs.io/en/7.6.3/?badge=7.6.3) [![Binder:7.x](https://mybinder.org/badge_logo.svg)](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/jupyter-widgets/ipywidgets/7.x?filepath=docs%2Fsource%2Fexamples) |
-| **Communication** | [![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/ipython/ipywidgets](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/jupyter-widgets/Lobby) [![Discourse](https://img.shields.io/badge/help_forum-discourse-blue?logo=discourse)](https://discourse.jupyter.org/) |
+| **Communication** | [![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/ipython/ipywidgets](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/jupyter-widgets/Lobby) [![Discourse](https://img.shields.io/badge/help_forum-discourse-blue?logo=discourse)](https://discourse.jupyter.org/c/widgets/46) |
 | | |
 
 **ipywidgets**, also known as jupyter-widgets or simply widgets, are