Community Engagement, Behavior Change and Multicultural Outreach

The partnership program encourages community participation among residents, businesses, school districts and partner jurisdictions. This collaboration can be supported by the development of a comprehensive community engagement campaign, a community based social marketing campaign that focuses on changing a specific behavior (such as recycling, conserving water, etc.) or a combination of the two.

All community engagement programs can be developed to reach out to multicultural audiences. Community engagement may include:

• Use of the carbon conscious brand and carbon counter.
• Development of a green brand specific to the member jurisdiction.
• Development of an internal “Green Team” (made up of members from different departments within the partner jurisdiction) to implement green programs.
• Grassroots coordination with elementary schools, community colleges, community based organizations and local businesses.
• Advertising, Web site development, grassroots outreach, media relations support, event management, and development of printed brochures and other materials as needed.
• Materials translated into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Hmong, and many other languages as needed.
• A fully developed community-based social marketing program that includes on-the-ground research, creation of a pilot outreach program and final campaign development.

Behavior Change and community based social marketing.

In conjunction with the community engagement program, a community-based social marketing campaign is recommended for each jurisdiction to determine which specific behaviors, once changed, are most likely to result in GHG reductions.

• Determination of a specific behavior that needs to be changed (e.g., encourage water conservation).
• Determination of barriers to changing that specific behavior.
• Implement a research program with a targeted audience that focuses on reducing barriers to the specified behavior change.
• Modify program based on gathered data.
• Develop outreach campaign to target change of specific behavior using a tagline and campaign that redefines behavioral norms, uses prompts to encourage behavior change, and includes a written and verbal commitment to change.

Track your community’s change.

Carbon conscious community engagement includes a unique carbon counter that plays an integral role in benchmarking a community’s footprint both individually or as a whole. The counter gauges the amount of carbon dioxide each individual has contributed to the atmosphere based on lifestyle and compares the data against a baseline community carbon footprint.

Each carbon counter user completes a simple 5- to 10-minute survey, after which the counter estimates how much carbon dioxide would result each year from that user’s day-to-day activities. Results are displayed in an easy-to-read graphical representation of the user’s current carbon output.

The counter also provides each user specific tips on how to lower carbon emissions. Users can also anonymously save their own data, make lifestyle changes that will reduce their carbon footprint and track their progress at a later time.

See what other cities are doing in their communities.

“PMC’s responsiveness and quality of work was exceptional. They provided the necessary counsel and support for our city to roll out the first climate action outreach plan of its kind. We were so impressed with their ability to turn things around quickly and efficiently. PMC assisted with all aspects of outreach from Web site content/design and the San Mateo carbon counter to crafting community and media outreach with clear, strategic direction, creating a truly comprehensive campaign.”

Christina Gilmore, MPA
Management Analyst II
Community Development Department
City of San Mateo