I thought I’d start things off in this category with some examples of excellent communication by neighborhood lead agencies involved in LISC/Chicago’s New Communities Program. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on story telling from the start of the program, figuring that simple, clear stories about neighborhood improvement activities will help people understand how community development gets done – and thus bring more support to those efforts.
What we didn’t know was how powerful a local website could become, and how quickly a group could shape a unique message suited to its own agenda. We helped six groups launch new web sites in 2006 and two of them have really run with the ball:
Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp.’s site at
www.gagdc.org is a reflection of that group’s interest in promoting the neighborhood as a great place to live. It is filled with stories about events, new business development, resources and local news, all with a positive spin that lets people know that this neighborhood has something going. One secret to the site’s success is the work of Ernie Sanders, the New Communities Program organizer who is writer, photographer and editor, putting up a couple new stories a month and keeping the calendar up to date. Executive director Carlos Nelson has made it part of Ernie's job to go out for stories and promptly post them on the site and in their newsletter, which you can download.
Logan Square Neighborhood Assn. has taken a completely different approach at
www.lsna.net That site has a strong advocacy element, with stories about affordable housing, balanced development, immigration and voter registration. (Look in the news section for examples.) The site also has deep section about LSNA’s issues and programs, so that people can learn what LSNA does or could do for them. And just in the last month, after a lot of effort by the editorial team of Susan Yanun and Monica Garreton, the site added a Spanish-language button that toggles readers over to Spanish versions of many stories.
Both sites also have strong directories filled with names of local organizations or people, and because they are updated often, they get a lot of referrals from other sites and thousands of visits a month.
That’s good communication!
For more examples of stories, slideshows and publications, and for links to more neighborhood web sites, visit
www.newcommunities.org I'd love to see other examples of good communication about community development, and most importantly, what has to happen behind the scenes to produce the material.
L
R
Site sponsored by:
Members
Total Members: 220
Stats
Users Online
Author
