Effective Outreach
The key to using Drafts DC successfully is to remember that simply posting your document does not guarantee that anyone will read it. Nor does it guarantee a diverse or representative body of commenters. It is your responsibility to plan how to reach those most affected by your document and help them make their voices heard.
Here are a few tips:
- Get crystal clear on who you are trying to reach. Make an audience list of 3-5 key groups/demographics.
- Consider residents you don’t usually hear from and those that may have a unique perspective on your document. For example, Ban the Box related materials might benefit from input from the small local business community, from social service providers and from returned citizens themselves.
- How can you reach your audiences? Think in terms of “channels” — Drafts DC is part of your web channel. Can your audiences be reached via social media? In person events? Direct mail? Remember that those most affected are often those least likely to have ready access to the Internet.
- Plan your comment period:
- How many weeks should the document be open for comments? A good starting point is one month.
- What specific outreach activities should take place before, during, and after the comment period?
- During the comment period, who will monitor Drafts DC and provide comment moderation and answer questions?
- Once the comment period closes, who will review and respond to the comments?
- When it is ready, post your document. Remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect. The point of Drafts DC is to bring residents into the conversation early, so provisional content is great.
- Set expectations clearly. If ideas are provisional or exploratory state that clearly to help the public understand how to interpret them.