Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project
The CRA/LA received a $20 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to study the Figueroa Corridor, specifically Figueroa St. between 41st St. and 7th St. and 11th St. between Figueroa and Broadway. Consensus Inc. was retained by the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) who sought community input on how people use the Figueroa Corridor and how they would like to see it improved. Consensus Inc. was brought in to the Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project team to engage the community in the project and study of the Figueroa Corridor and facilitate the Community Workshops.
Consensus Inc. engaged the community through in-person, direct mail communication, on-line and social media strategies. Consensus Inc. began work on this project by developing a stakeholder database containing contact information for key stakeholders on and around the Figueroa Corridor including businesses, community organizations, and residents. The stakeholder database was also used in the creation of the outreach strategy to make sure all stakeholders within this diverse community were informed and able to participate in the process.
Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project
The stakeholder database was ultimately used in outreach efforts to promote the Community Visioning Workshops through direct mail, e-mail blasts, bilingual communications and an interactive website integrated with use of social media tools. Consensus Inc. created the interactive project website, www.myfigueroa.com, to be used as a source of project information as well as a forum for community comments and a live webcast of the Community Workshops. Consensus Inc. also created a Facebook page and Twitter account to engage stakeholders online with consistent updates, information and relevant news stories. A bilingual Community Workshop Notice was sent to over 6,000 stakeholders in the area, and advertisements were placed in local English and Spanish newspapers and blogs. Consensus Inc. also reached out to prominent community organizations to include coverage of the Workshops in their weekly email newsletters. Consensus Inc. also pitched and received coverage from several media outlets in the Los Angeles area. In addition to the community outreach, Consensus Inc. also coordinated and created the public information materials for the two Community Workshops in this first phase of community meetings. Video testimonials were also taken from various stakeholders at each workshop to capture the viewpoints of stakeholders in a different medium to be used in future online outreach efforts.
The social media campaign raised awareness significantly with 170 Facebook fans and 600 monthly active users and the blog achieved exposure in several Downtown Los Angeles blogs and newspapers. The workshops achieved quality participation with 20 and 60 on and offline participants respectively, with representation from key community organizations and business leaders at both meetings. The quality of the comments received from key community members was extremely high and important to the CRA/LA in the continuation of their study and design for the future of the Figueroa Corridor. Consensus Inc. has a stakeholder database of over 6,000 residents and 200 key community stakeholders with which to communicate about the second and third phases of the project, which will include additional Community Workshops.
