Jay Dawkins

How Do I Get the Word Out? The First Step of Public Engagement

How Do I Get the Word Out? The First Step of Public Engagement

While every community is different, local government agencies often run into the same initial hurdle: how to get the word out about an upcoming project. Keep reading to see best practices for initial outreach and how public engagement software helps government agencies reach underrepresented groups.

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Online Town Hall: A powerful online community engagement tool

Online Town Hall: A powerful online community engagement tool

Typical approaches to community engagement are being augmented as government organizations adopt new technology. While community engagement efforts in the past mostly focused on manual processes and in-person communication, online town halls are increasing reach and equity in the community engagement process.

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Community Engagement Software Quantifies Public Perceptions on Parking, Traffic

Community Engagement Software Quantifies Public Perceptions on Parking, Traffic

Cities of every size are subject to traffic and parking issues. Every town has roads, commuters, pedestrians, bikers – not to mention limits created by zoning, space, or capacity for infrastructure.

Exeter, New Hampshire is a town of 15,000 residents. Over the past year parking and traffic have been garnering more attention from the public, the Select Board, and regional press.

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3CMA Annual Conference: What We Learned

3CMA Annual Conference: What We Learned

Held in Milwaukee this September, the 3CMA Annual Conference gathered hundreds of government communicators eager to learn from one another about how to accomplish better community engagement. There was plenty to be inspired by, as speakers presented on their efforts both offline and online.

We heard about how Kansas City, Missouri was reaching a new audience by holding public meetings at breweries and how Sandy, Utah was making more informed policy decisions through data collection and visual reporting…

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How Durham NC is shifting perceptions about affordable housing

How Durham NC is shifting perceptions about affordable housing

Cities across the country are wrestling with housing affordability. Durham’s planning team realized there might be misconceptions among residents, especially for ‘missing middle’ formats like duplexes and triplexes. 

Using the platform, Durham engaged over 1,200 residents in a highly-visual interactive experience that educated and gathered input on potential solutions. Turns out only 18% of residents could identify the duplex in a lineup:

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Building trust with Geodata: How Austin, TX scored a Major League Soccer team

Building trust with Geodata: How Austin, TX scored a Major League Soccer team

Last October, the owners of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew announced that they were contemplating relocation. Austin was at the top of their list. But could the city handle the responsibilities that would come with it? Would taxpayers be willing to give up city-owned land for a new stadium? 

Here’s how the city’s communication team used data to build stakeholder confidence in online engagement.

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Engage using standard survey question formats that you’re used to with consumer survey tools. From the single and multi-select, to Likert, slider, and text input formats, you’ve got the basics covered.