Welcome, mamo!
Well for starters, you are going to need a web host with a decent amount of space to support that community you want to create. I would recommend powweb.com. They offer a ton of space so when you expand your site you won't have to worry about upgrading.
They also support offer the platform you need to build other interactive features (message board, chat room, forum, etc).
I understand you want to learn to build this yourself to save money, but if you're brand new to website creation it really is probably best to have someone else set this up for you. I'm not sure how customized you want your forum, chat room, etc but it's not as easy as just copy and pasting some code as if you are just putting up a regular website. There is quite a bit of programming behind a site like that.
The forum wouldn't be that hard, but if you want one like this it will cost you. I paid $160 for this forum (vbulletin.com) and I installed it myself. It wasn't too difficult but you do need to understand a little about uploading web files and you'll need some information from your web host. The same would go for a chat room or any other interactive features you'd want created.
Now there is a site out there called rentacoder.com. I use them for certain projects. You submit a bid explaining what you need done and coders from all over the world bid on your project. You can get some very good bids because these coders are competing for your business.
I know you don't want to pay a lot of money but I really think you'd be surprised at how reasonable the bids can be. Not sure what your budget is, but if you're not familiar with uploading scripts...it's going to be much faster to outsource this project. Then once it's all setup you would just maintain it.
Sounds like you have a very neat job. I really hope you can find the help you need here.
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