How Rancho Cucamonga Grew a 64,000-Contact Community Database
The City of Rancho Cucamonga is home to nearly 175,000 people in western San Bernardino County, California.
The local economy has a diverse business base of office, light manufacturing, distribution and retail, reflecting the City’s work to attract and keep sales businesses and talent.
Over 30% of Rancho Cucamonga residents report speaking a language other than English.
Bridging Language, Geography and Generations
The City’s goal to “create an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant city, rich in opportunity for all to thrive” is top of mind as it works to engage residents and stakeholders directly. That meant engagement opportunities had to be well-connected and accessible to everyone.
City staff serve a wide range of stakeholders, from longtime residents and seniors to newcomers and business owners, so they face both geographic and demographic engagement challenges.
Two challenges stand out: reaching neighbors split by a highway in the Foothill Corridor, and reaching the large share of residents who speak a language other than English. A “one size fits all” approach to community engagement was never going to work.
One Hub for Every Way Residents Participate
Whether it’s updating a general plan, holding regular public meetings or sending a city-wide publication, the City of Rancho Cucamonga uses PublicInput for a mixed-mode approach to accessible community engagement.
628,000 Responses Through a Single Hub
The City has put in place a full public affairs strategy to build and maintain relationships across the community.
This strategy supports and shapes public policy. It also gives residents many ways to learn about the City and connect with their neighbors.
Everything is based at Engage Rancho Cucamonga, the City’s community engagement hub, which has logged more than 161,000 views, 23,000 participants and 628,000 responses. Here is how the City uses the hub’s integrated communications to inform, reach and engage residents and stakeholders:
- Subscription services keep stakeholders up to date on upcoming events, initiatives and community news
- Social media integrations add to the public portal, giving full access to city communications
- Project engagement listings show all current and past projects at a glance
- Meeting notices and access give stakeholders one place for public meeting participation
A simple “Sign up for Engage Rancho Cucamonga” prompt lets residents create a profile, join in and choose how they want to hear from the City.
From 64,000 Contacts to Targeted Conversations
The City looked closely at population factors such as age, location and language spoken. It then used PublicInput to shape an outreach and engagement strategy informed by the community itself.
The results show up in the City’s PublicInput dashboard: 23,894 participants have left 24,335 comments, the City has added 64,128 new contacts to its community database, and 303 people have attended meetings tracked in the platform.
With PublicInput’s CRM, staff can go past the totals and build targeted segments from how residents answered. For example, the City built a segment of 169 residents aged 35 to 54 from a single survey question. Staff can map them, review insights and send communications only to that group.
The same approach works for geography. A segment of 318 participants who confirmed they live in Rancho Cucamonga lets staff tell resident feedback apart from regional input, and see on a map where those residents are.
The Results: Lasting Reach and Better Planning Data
With PublicInput, the City of Rancho Cucamonga reaches and engages its community effectively and on an ongoing basis. Here are some of the results of its mixed-mode approach:
More than 7,000 subscribers stay informed. The City’s Grapevine Subscriber List project keeps residents up to date on special events, programs and services in Rancho Cucamonga. It now has 7,298 subscribers and has been viewed 21,790 times, and its subscriber map shows reach across the Inland Empire and beyond.
Residents want more community events. The City’s Lunar Festival Event Survey collected 11,238 responses from 423 participants, giving it useful planning data on satisfaction with, and support for, city-sponsored events and programs. When asked whether they would return to a recurring event in the city, 96% of respondents said yes.
Want to learn more about PublicInput and how the platform can help your community build a stronger more effective foundation for community engagement?
