1. Knight School of Communication
New Models for Neighborhood Engagement
Innovation in Charlotte
Dr. Eric Freedman, Dean
Jennifer Hull, Director of Community Programs
Jayme Keefer, Knight Scholar Student
4. Knight School Neighborhood Workshop
Central Questions
How do cities communicate to their residents?
How do neighborhood residents communicate with each
other?
Should a neighborhood develop a public or private
communication network, or a hybrid model?
What are the existing resources (tools and information
channels) neighborhoods can use?
5. How do cities communicate?
City website
Citizen engagment management tools: civic apps, push
notifications (SMS) (EverBridge)
Third party products: harness mobile and desktop devices
for social networking, city improvement and community
building (PublicStuff)
Data driven decision making can transform a government
agency into a nimble customer service organization.
6. How do neighborhoods communicate?
Neighborhood websites
Newsletters (print or electronic)
Email lists
Physical spaces and places
Third party products
7. Public, private or hybrid communication?
Are you looking to communicate beyond your
neighborhood to promote your work and link with others
locally, regionally and nationally?
Are you looking to host a private “conversation” among
residents?
Do you need both public and private channels of
information?
Do you need fixed or open communication paths?
8. Communication strategies
Define who you are – mission and goals
Know who you are – create a basic fact sheet
Involve community leaders
Encourage feedback
15. Breakout Sessions
What are your goals for neighborhood communication?
Report your top two goals.
What tools have you used? What has worked best? What
hasn’t worked?
16. Knight School Community Leaders
Workshop
How do we define community?
How does information flow throughout Charlotte?
What are the gaps in the information infrastructure?
How do we build reciprocal relationships?
17. The Workshop Template
Community
Who is your community?
Where is your community?
How do you translate that community into an audience?
How do you establish trust in your community as a civic
entity?
What sub-communities would be useful to assess?
18. The Workshop Template
Local Ecosystem
How does information flow in the city?
What is the level of local coverage on issues that are
central to your agency?
How do people get information about your agency?
What information models have you used in other
municipalities? What is unique about Charlotte, its
community, and its information systems?
19. The Workshop Template
Actions
What one action might make a difference?
Who needs to take action?
What does progress look like?
What opportunities exist for people to express themselves
and voice their concerns and their needs?
What does the actual physical network look like? Where
are the dead zones?
20. The Workshop Template
Collaborations
Change is not the result of a single civic endeavor.
Change occurs through pockets of activity that emerge and
take root over time.
We need to develop many and varied touch-points for
people who are stepping into and making their way through
public life.
21. Knight School of Communication
Initiatives
Community Survey
Community Leaders Workshop
Neighborhood Communication Workshops
Digital Citizen Trainers (Student Trainers)
Digitalcharlotte.org
22. Knight School of Communication
Data
Digital Media Literacy Index and Survey Data
http://digitalcharlotte.org/the-digital-media-literacy-index/