by Michelle Mullen<\/p>\n
Bronx Community Board 8 is taking another look at its outreach methods, but this time, board leaders say the goal goes beyond simply posting online.<\/p>\n
Its newly formed social media working group is tasked with finding better ways to expand the board\u2019s reach and make sure residents know what it is doing, whether that means using new digital platforms, boosting existing accounts or improving old-fashioned outreach on the ground.<\/p>\n
Farrah Kule Rubin, Bronx Community Board 8\u2019s district manager, said the new working group grew out of a recognition that while the board already has social media accounts, it still is not reaching enough of the district\u2019s roughly 100,000 residents. Established this spring, the group will research how to best utilize online platforms to increase its presence, usage and \u201cincrease dissemination throughout the district not utilizing current sites used by CB8,\u201d according to the board.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time the organization has taken a look at its outreach presence. In 2018, it launched a similar group, but Rubin said this year\u2019s project takes it a step further.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial one was to really launch the social media presence, which we didn\u2019t have at the time, so that was really where we developed and created social media and our website,\u201d she said. \u201c[Now] we have Facebook, we have Instagram, we have YouTube. So that really was the basis of the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, she said the board has plenty more work to do to reach populations in its district that may be out of the loop. Among the ideas already discussed, Rubin said, is bringing in interns who could help their small team with more physical outreach \u2014 putting up flyers, distributing information to local businesses and extending the board\u2019s visibility beyond meetings and tabling events.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we physically do more outreach, aside from social media?\u201d Rubin said. \u201cSome of the residents have said, \u2018We don\u2019t hear about anything,\u2019 but they don\u2019t have social media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Constance Barnes-Watson, chair of the board\u2019s economic development committee, said the group has been looking not just at what the board posts online, but also at whether it is communicating consistently and in ways that reflect the district\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not consistent with our posting necessarily, but we have to get on the same page about what it means to share information,\u201d she said. She also said the broader approach includes questions about language access and whether the board needs better tools to manage its communication.<\/p>\n
That challenge echoes the goals of the board\u2019s first social media working group from 2018. In an interim report issued in May of that year, the earlier group identified a long list of possible benefits to utilizing social media \u2014 sharing board news and community events, sending urgent information in real time, reaching younger residents who are heavy social media users and broadening the board\u2019s use of photos and video. <\/p>\n
The 2018 group, led by former board vice chair Paul Ellis, also surveyed other community boards about their online presence and found broad support for expanding digital outreach. At the time, the group concluded that Instagram did not yet seem worth the added workload.<\/p>\n
For Barnes-Watson, one of the biggest barriers to community engagement is simple awareness. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo people even know that they\u2019re part of this community board, and do they know where the community board is?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that challenge is especially pronounced among older residents, as well as the small, independent businesses that line Broadway and other commercial corridors. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost of these are mom and pop businesses,\u201d Barnes-Watson said. \u201cHow will we get to them? What would make the most sense for them? Probably not to come to a meeting at 7 o\u2019clock.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has led the group to think beyond online outreach alone. Barnes-Watson said she and fellow board members have walked local corridors with flyers in hand, stopping into businesses to ask whether owners know what the community board is and what it does. <\/p>\n
Whether the working group ultimately recommends new platforms, more frequent posting, more video, more interns or more flyers, its creation reflects a larger concern, said Rubin.\u00a0 In a sprawling district like Bronx Community District 8, getting information out and making sure residents understand how to plug into local government remains one of the board\u2019s biggest challenges.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tBronx Community Board 8,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Bronx news,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t community outreach,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t community engagement,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t social media,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t district outreach,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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