Outreach materials should be placed in locations of importance and high use in the community, such as municipal buildings, parks, and trailheads.Įncouraging equitable outreach is particularly important and municipalities should implement outreach methods to best engage all members of the community. Examples of this may include installations or posters which contain electronic QR codes for residents to interact with and provide comments digitally, or poster boards for community members to record comments on. Some suggested outreach efforts may include locating interactive items in the community and integrating public art, renderings, and illustrations into outreach. Types of community-centered outreach are ever evolving, and can be inspired by the values of the community.
Comment boxes can be left in these locations as well to provide opportunities for residents to submit project comments or to submit physical copies of engagement items such as survey responses. Physical copies of documents to be reviewed by the community can be placed in key community locations such as the municipal building or library to provide access to these documents for individual review. Many of these outreach methods may evoke traditional community outreach methods, such as placing project flyers or summaries in popular destinations in the community. Items can be placed throughout the community to inspire interaction, and to provide locations for residents to provide feedback in a method other than online engagement (see Atglen example below). Community centered outreachĬommunity outreach (via means other than online methods) can occur while complying with social distancing best practices. Outreach should indicate what will be discussed at the meeting and technical information for meeting access. Municipalities should advertise online meetings using a variety of methods in addition to the municipal website, including reaching out to local neighborhood groups, posting on social media, and publishing physical meeting notices throughout the community. For example, the presentation of a project for a public open house can be recorded prior to the meeting and placed on the municipal website for residents to review and provide comment (see Parkesburg example below).Īctive outreach for online engagement is essential.
Other online resources for public outreach may include social media, interactive web mapping (see Brandywine Water Trail example below), crowd sourcing, and media to be uploaded to a municipal website.
PUBLIC OUTREACH SOFTWARE
Meeting hosts should be aware of these constraints and should review their software subscription and planned meeting attendance prior to the scheduled meeting date.
Municipalities that intend on holding a meeting via video conferencing should be aware of potential software constraints such as capacity limits on the number of individuals who can attend a meeting. There are a variety of benefits to utilizing video conferencing software for public meetings, as this format may allow for participation from a wider variety of community members, or those with schedule constraints that do not typically allow them to attend in-person meetings. Notably, many meeting formats have moved to video conferencing programs such as Zoom (see Southern Chester County Trail example below).Video conferencing can be used as a primary meeting format, or may supplement in-person meetings to accommodate individuals who are unable or unwilling to attend otherwise. A variety of online resources can be used for public engagement. Communities throughout the nation, including Chester County have seen increased meeting attendance in recent months, in part due to the availability of online and virtual meeting formats. Online public outreach has become increasingly common, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online engagement, community centered outreach, and in-person meetings \ are public outreach strategies that municipalities may want to consider. Selecting and analyzing methods of public engagement has become particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as traditional methods of outreach may no longer be sufficient to reach all audiences, or may no longer be possible due to health restrictions. Public engagement is a key component of the planning process.
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