Investing in good quality communications is key to building trust and ongoing dialogue with local people. At its most basic level communications activity can be used to simply inform local people about what is going on in their area – what local events or projects are planned, who is getting involved etc. Really effective communications, however, can also raise aspirations, build pride and encourage and energise people to get involved in their neighbourhood and local decision making.
It is a process that is conducted with local people…not to them. It should facilitate two way conversation and so it is important that a wide range of different tools and methods are used so as to enable the widest involvement of local people in the area. Tools can range from community newsletters, direct mail, websites, art projects and local events through to community radio and new forms of social and digital media. The key is to understand who you are talking to and use the most appropriate method that you know will appeal to their lifestyle and interests.
You can also directly involve local people in producing communications materials for the local area. Sometimes there will be willing volunteers who have excellent graphic design skills or knowledge of social media and organising events who are only too happy to get involved and develop their skills.
YOUR EC1 was a magazine distributed to all EC1 households on a quarterly basis. It included up to date information on the local area and included feature pages based on residents’ stories. The magazine was rated higher than the council and local newspapers as the most reliable source of local information.
Towards the end of the programme the ‘EC1 is Special’ campaign was developed to generate and promote civic pride through encouraging residents to think about and share the reasons why they think EC1 is a special place to live and work. The campaign was launched in the quarterly magazine, and a dedicated Facebook and Twitter site was also created to share the comments that were gathered throughout the campaign.
