Better Community Engagement for Sustainable Infrastructure
Marketing and DEI recommendations for wind farm developers, real estate developers, utilities and more
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash.
If we want to take action on climate change, we need to build a LOT of infrastructure. We can’t afford to wait to take years for just environmental reviews of big projects. Whether it’s wind farms, solar farms, geothermal installations, greener buildings, retrofitting existing buildings, building more affordable housing near public transit, or carbon dioxide removal and sequestration facilities, we need to get stuff built at the scale and pace of previous Industrial Revolutions.
To build things, developers have to go through a community engagement process, which sadly often ends up being a “checking the box” rather than leading to meaningful dialogue.
So many “community listening forums” have tons of problems because the people who show up tend to be white, well-educated and not have child care or elder care responsibilities.
Additionally, aspects of white culture that privilege the written word over the spoken word can make people feel like a “draft” document isn’t really a “draft” because it’s in an official-looking PDF that’s long and kind of complicated.
Project leaders can use both traditional and modern marketing techniques to improve community engagement for sustainable building projects. The following are based on my personal experience as a community member attending local real estate development community forums for local transit-oriented development projects, as well as my multiple years of experience in marketing with the Fortune 500 and small startups.
Ideas to incorporate Diversity, Equity, and Justice in the design of your event
Pay people to attend.
Companies pay for market research to the tune of $100-250+ per hour for a specific user persona they want to reach. Paying community members to attend could be in the form of an item like a Visa or Target gift card, in addition to providing childcare, a meal, and free transit passes to attend. If you do nothing else, do this.
If you think this sounds excessive, consider that if you want participants from Indigenous communities, all the land in the United States was taken from indigenous peoples in the last few hundred years. Some recommendations on how to engage indigenous populations are listed on the Sogorea Te’ land trust website. Namely: know the history of indigenous peoples in the US, be respectful, pay people for their time, and be patient in awaiting a response to your invitation.
If you want participants from Black communities: consider the importance of paying Black people for their labor in context of the fact that Black slave labor built much of the wealth of the United States. Currently, while the median White male worker with a college degree earns $31.25 an hour, the median Black male worker with a college degree only earns only $23.08. This is only $5 more than a White male worker with a high school degree. Some of this wage gap is due to occupational segregation, but the majority of it is “unexplained” and is attributed to discrimination (source). There’s more. The Black-White racial wealth divide is even larger than the Black-White income gap. White families have median wealth of $171,000 while Black families have median wealth of only $17,600 (source). Ta-Nehisi Coates makes the case for reparations here in his Atlantic article. In summary: pay participants for their time; if you don’t, you’re ensuring that only people who are already privileged in time and money will show up to give comments at your meeting.
Make the event as accessible as possible.
This SSIR article on meaningful gatherings recommends ASL interpretation, a space for nursing mothers to take breaks in between sessions, a wheelchair-accessible venue near public transit, language interpreters, etc.
Host events at a variety of times.
Ideally, include weekday daytimes, weekday evenings, and weekends.
Host events in person as well as virtually.
Not everyone will have access to technology.
Consider a phone-based setup that doesn’t require a smartphone or computer.
MaestroConference is one technology that the Obama campaign used to mobilize people on group phone calls, use phone-based breakout groups to connect with peers, and drive results. See more on their “Movement Accelerator” program here. They are also creating “no-host” virtual breakout group discussions in their latest iteration of their platform. “Regular” phone (rather than smartphone) based engagement is important. Pew Research found in 2021 that 96% of Americans earning over $100,000 a year have a smartphone, while that figure is only 76% for those earning $30,000 or less per year. Additionally, just 61% of those age 65+ have a smartphone, compared to 96% of those ages 18-29. “Regular phone” based communication is important to reach all demographics.
Provide ongoing follow-up on the project.
Ask people if they want to opt in to email updates on the project and show that you actually incorporated elements of the feedback into later developments. Don’t just promote your stuff: talk about what aspects of the community engagement forums will get implemented, as well as what won’t be done based on that, so people can see where the info went. Avoid asking for 3 hours of someone’s time, unpaid, and then never talking to them again.
Help the community actually benefit financially.
Set up a payments plan to pay people during project operations. See what people prefer: it might be Venmo, Ca$happ, credits on their utility bill, gift cards by email; ask! As this article about Australian farmers who have wind turbines on their land notes, people near wind farms who get paid don’t have any problems with them. And this article on American farmers highlights the financial stability that is so important for farmers facing increased financial stress with the uncertainties of climate change and crop yields.
Marketing Suggestions for Utilities, Real Estate Developer, and Wind Farm Builders Seeking Community Benefits Agreements
Build long term, year-round partnerships
One of the most frustrating things for community members about attempts by developers to get community engagement is that it can feel like a one-off event: “Come to this meeting! Your input matters!” and then you never hear from the organization again.
That’s why it is critical for developers of sustainable projects to build long-term partnerships in communities where they want to build stuff. Do your due diligence and find what organizations are in the community; perhaps search the IRS database of nonprofit Form 990 filings by location, for example. Consider religious organizations that care about sustainably, such as the Green The Church movement or the Evangelical Environmental Network. All religious say at some level that nature should be regarded as divinity and treated as such. The United Nations Environmental Program has some key examples of environment-oriented scriptures compiled here.
Use multiple channels to reach people.
When trying to get consumers interested in something, smart organizations don’t just send one postcard or one email and hope people visit the website. This article in Social Media Today cites the marketing maxim that it can take seven marketing “touches” before someone buys/does something. Marketing channels can include:
Direct mail (such as postcards)
Radio (maybe)
Phone calls
Social media influencers (find someone with a big following to share the info – don’t assume people will follow your particular organization’s page for news)
Email newsletters (e.g. city council members’ general news)
Text messages (political campaigns buy voters’ contact lists; see more about political campaign techniques here)
Door hangers / people knocking on doors
Flyers at community businesses like bodegas and grocery stores
Announcements at civic association meetings (see above)
Consider celebrity guest speakers.
Think about WHY people might want to show up. What celebrities could you contact to show up at your event to open the event and draw a diverse crowd? Think about popular areas like sports or music, and find an agency with a connection to celebrities who might want to attend. Mix it up. Sound crazy? Large tech companies routinely pay big bucks celebrities come speak at their conferences. Sustainability is exciting. Why not give a chance to a celebrity to help share their enthusiasm for this, too? Ideally the celebrity would show up for free, so that the cost of running the event can be focused equity considerations (which I have covered above). I just want to throw this idea out there because I haven’t seen it done before and it could be helpful.
What are you doing to innovate how you engage local communities around sustainable infrastructure? Feel free to comment and share.
About the Author:
Land Acknowledgment:
Katharine is a Mayflower descendant who lives and works in unceded Lisjan Ohlone territory, what is now known as Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Piedmont, Emeryville and Albany, California. The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands, heal from historical trauma, and facilitate the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. May they be successful in their work!