Connecting Elected Officials to Residents: Community Engagement for City Managers
- Christopher Lopez
- Feb 2, 2023
- 3 min read
Looking for information on how to structure an evening to connect with residents? Look no further!
It was the moment we had all been waiting for: our first "Evening with the Mayor" event was scheduled, planned, and ready to go. We were excited and also ready for the unexpected. This post will talk about how it all worked together and how were able to coordinate various townhalls to connect and engage. We took a different spin and didn't use gyms, or other types of "halls." We took the show on the road, went to businesses, churches, and learned some valuable lessons. At the end of the day, we gained positive media attention, connected with residents, and built countless relationships.
Here is what we did to build one part of our #CommunityEngagement strategy.
Start Early and Identify Your Partners
Our goal was simple: inform, educate, and connect. We knew that we would have a difficult time building our own networks from scratch, so we made a list of individuals and groups that would be interested in hosting various events. We also knew that attracting a wider audience might benefit the local business as they would be the beneficiary of additional attention. Potential partners might be the following:
Businesses including restaurants
Churches
HOA's
Student organizations
This was one of the steps that took the longest time. It was critically important to also allow enough time for people to respond, confirm, and provide feedback which is important in developing a schedule and calendar.
Preparation and What is Needed
Start early! That is some of my best advice. If you work directly for an elected official, you will need to confirm availability and block times to ensure the event is on the books. This is also necessary to confirm a venue and future dates. Communicate, communicate, and communicate. You will need to talk to a facility manager to understand the needs of the venue. Key questions include the following:
What is the AV situation?
How many seats can the venue hold?
How will we attract visitors?
How much time do we have?
Is there an internet connection?
You are essentially bringing a council meeting to an event, so you will need to work through all the logistical pieces and what's needed.
Getting Feedback from Residents
You've got the logistical pieces set up. Now you will need to develop your message, and also identify how to gain feedback directly from residents. There is a prime opportunity to begin developing an email database so don't forget to collect email addresses; make it fun. Oftentimes a business is more than happy to donate a small gift certificate-use this as an opportunity to raffle off a gift certificate in exchange for providing feedback and their email address.
I'm a firm believer in hearing directly from residents. Get your message out there, but focus on specific items. Don't overload residents, but identify the messages you want to get out. Provide your message and then field questions to hear directly from residents. This will help in providing future updates and creating a message that people want to hear about.
Also, don't be afraid of negative feedback. The residents you serve will oftentimes have strong, personal, and committed views. Take it all in. We all know thick skin is necessary for working in local government.
Getting Better and Building the Opportunity
Once you've had a first event under your belt, you will undoubtedly have additional things to make it better. You will eventually get to the point where you've got checklists, playbooks, and probably your own AV equipment to allow for a "Evening with the Mayor" in a box. Yes, you will probably have some direct feedback and critical responses, but you will have connected and engaged with the community. In my experience, you will develop rapport with the community and you will have business owners, churches, and other groups requesting that you visit their location and partner with them.
As the Chief of Staff, I found ways to partner with the #CityManager and his team. We invited the Police Chief, Public Works Director, and other relevant team members to make it broad and show a unified front.
It grows legs, gets bigger, and you will make friends along the way. You'll also have a good shot at getting good messaging in the press like below.
Links to Stories:
Comments