2. TRENTON ON THE DECLINE
• CORRUPTION ALL THE WAY UP THE MAYORAL OFFICE
• CRIME RATES AT AN ALL TIME HIGH
• A DECLINING EDUCATION SYSTEM
• PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO LOSE FAITH IN THE CITY
3. TRENTON IN A NUTSHELL
• ESTIMATED POPULATION OF APPROXIMATELY 85,000
• 26.56% WHITE, 52.01% BLACK, 21.43% OTHER
• 25.1% UNDER 18, 11% BETWEEN 18-24,
32.5% BETWEEN 25-44, 22.6% BETWEEN 45-64,
& 8.8% 65 AND OLDER
• $36,601 MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME
4. WEBSITE OBJECTIVES
DESIGN A USER FRIENDLY WEBSITE THAT PROVIDES:
• UP TO DATE INFORMATION REGARDING REGISTRATION, VOTING
DATES, PUBLIC FORUMS, ETC.
• DETAILED BIOGRAPHIES AND POLITICAL PLATFORMS FOR EACH
CANDIDATE
• REACHES OUT TO YOUNGER DEMOGRAPHICS THROUGH THE USE OF
SOCIAL MEDIA
• INFORMATION TO CITIZENS SHOWING HOW THEY CAN BECOME
MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED
5. TARGET AUDIENCE
Predominantly Black and Hispanic men and
women
Median age: 32.6
Young adult – middle aged men and women
24.5% in poverty
Lower class – Lower Middle Class
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. SPECIAL FEATURES
• TRENTON MAYORAL ELECTIONS TWITTER PAGE
• TWITTER WIDGET
• INTERACTIVE DISCUSSIONS
• TRENTON MAYORAL ELECTIONS FACEBOOK PAGE
• UPDATES
• INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION WITH AUDIENCE
Good morning, for our presentation today we are pitching to you an idea that we feel will successfully jumpstart the Trenton rebuilding plan. So on behalf of my, Jennifer Alford, Jennifer Barrett, Christina, and Edward , I would like to present to you NJ FUTURE.
It is no secret that Trenton has been on a gradual decline, and for a multitude of reasons. With corruption stemming all the way up to Tony Mack and his mayoral staff, many citizens have begun to lose faith in city. Coupled with all time high murder and crime rates and a declining education system, many are left wondering if there is any hope to salvage the once booming city.
Despite all these recent pitfalls, Trenton still maintains the foundation to resurrect itself from the quote on quote ashes. With an estimated population of approximately 85,000, Trenton contains an extremely diverse community. In fact, over half of the population is black or African American and over 30% of the total population are more than 1 different race. In addition, nearly 70% of the population is under the age of 45. However, due to a general lack in well paying jobs and spotty-at-best education system, the median household income is $36,601. To put that in perspective, the 2013 United States Median Household income is $51,017 nearly $15,000 more than Trenton.
So now that you have a better idea of what we are dealing with, here are some of our primary objectives for NJ Future. We feel that educating the voting population to the best of our ability is of utmost important for several reasons. First off, we firmly believe despite what economists and experts may say, no one knows what is best for the city more than the people who live there. With that being said, we believe that it is our duty to educate the population with registration and voting dates, as well as public forums. In addition, through the use of social media and the internet, we want to provide as much detail as possible of each candidate and their political platforms. That way, when it comes time to vote, voters will have a clear sense as to who they believe should be the next mayor of Trenton.
For our website, we researched the audience of Trenton most likely to use our site. We found that the majority of people living in Trenton are of Black and Hispanic race with the median age of 32.6 , or roughly young adult to middle aged. We also found that 24.5% of people in Trenton are living in poverty, with many citizens living in the lower class. These people are more likely to be concerned about the issues in Trenton right now, such as the economic state and increasing crime rates, and what each candidates stance on the issues important to them are. In order to focus our content on the audience’s needs, we would include information on voting registration, voting polls (including the location and directions to get there), as well as important dates and events that may be beneficial to the audience gaining information on the election. Also to appeal to the younger audience, we will include updates and interactive widgets through social media using Twitter and Facebook to spread information and promote our site.
Our goal for our design was to create a simple, clean and easy to navigate site. We decided to use a red and blue color scheme because of its political designation. A consistent feature of this site’s design includes easy to locate social media buttons that will instantly connect viewers and allow them to like or follow the Trenton 2014 election page(s). Additionally, other features include a search bar at the top of the site and several content divisions for pictures, text, videos and additional information. This is the home page. The goal for the design of this page was to include a combination of visuals and text that will instantly grab a viewers’ attention. Featured on this page will be a slideshow of various images and stories, as well as other content that will introduce the purpose of this site and direct viewers to other pages.
This page will contain content on various issues within Trenton and the candidates’ position on them. One unique aspect of our design is to create an interactive chart that will allow our viewers to click on an issue and see all the candidates’ stances on that particular problem. This will allow individuals viewing the site to easily compare the different approaches of a certain particular problem and informatively judge which candidate has the best solution to it.
This page will contain information on the candidates running for election. Once the mouse hovers over “candidates” in the tab menu, a drop down menu will appear that will allow a viewer to pick a candidate, in this case it happened to be Paul Perez. This page will include informative biographies as well as pictures and videos that will help individuals learn more about each candidate
The voting page of our website is dedicated to helping viewers learn more about the voting process. It will include content on how to vote for those who are new to this, as well as information on voter registration and polling stations. We also intend to include directions and a google map for those who are new to Trenton or do not know where to go to vote.
The Events page of this site will include a combination of text, pictures and videos that will update viewers on past and upcoming events. Our goal for this page is to showcase past projects and stories and encourage residents to become more involved in their community during this mayoral election.
For our special features, we plan to implement various social media features to promote our content. We plan to make a Twitter account representing our website and use it to post quick snippets of information about the elections. A twitter widget on our website will allow users to access our Twitter page easily, and will allow them to post interactively in discussions on the candidates and the election by using hashtags. We will also implement a Facebook page promoting our website that will be used to update and inform, and to gain “likes” and feedback from the users. It will also be used for interactive discussions and comments with the audience.
Now that we’ve done our part, it’s time to do yours. The future of Trenton is in your hands in the upcoming mayoral elections. Let NJ Future be the gateway. Thank you.
