Communicate constantly
City leaders should develop a communication plan to regularly update key stakeholders about the city’s actions to address the pandemic and reopen the economy. These communications are an opportunity to provide residents and stakeholders with information and receive feedback.
ASSESSMENT
Some questions to guide your thinking
- How often should the city deliver updates?
- What content should communications typically include?
- What communication channels will be used?
Resource
Stress-testing your racial equity narrative
Center for Media Justice
This checklist was developed to provide social justice leaders at every level with a set of guiding principles that ensures that messaging and framing strategies do not obstruct each other in the social change …
Reading
Publishing a small business relief dashboard
City of Cambridge, MA 3 minutes
Cambridge, MA published a dashboard to report the impact of its small business relief programs, including data on total assistance provided and key statistics on the types of businesses, source of funds, and business owner demographics.
Resource
Communicating on COVID-19 using anti-stigma messaging
King County, WA
The COVID-19 anti-stigma toolkit provides messaging guidelines and high- resolution images to challenge stigma and reduce bias as they relate to the coronavirus.
Reading
Staying on message during an evolving crisis
Bloomberg Cities 7 minutes
How do you stay on message during a crisis? This article covers the main themes offered by Harvard’s Juliette Kayyem on crisis communications. Mayors should be adaptive and establish a daily “battle rhythm” for public briefings.
- Five points are emphasized: Embrace data, empathy, reality, the public, and the future.
Reading
Adopting a recovery leadership mindset
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) 20 minutes
How can city leaders help their organization navigate a financial crisis? The website provides a checklist of key leadership tasks and behaviors.
- Leadership is critical for financial recovery by helping stakeholders keep on track.
- Topics include the leader’s role, leadership behavior, and communicating effectively.
Reading
Learning about crisis communication
Program on Crisis Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School 15 minutes
What should leaders focus on when helping their communities during a crisis? This note lays out simple frameworks that can be used to formulate a leader’s message to help organizations make their way forward.
- Leaders must answer four questions: What is happening? To whom is this happening? Why should we care? What should people like us do?
Resource
Stress-testing your racial equity narrative
This checklist was developed to provide social justice leaders at every level with a…
Reading
Publishing a small business relief dashboard
Cambridge, MA published a dashboard to report the impact of its small business …
Resource
Communicating on COVID-19 using anti-stigma messaging
The COVID-19 anti-stigma toolkit provides messaging guidelines and high- resolution …
Reading
Staying on message during an evolving crisis
How do you stay on message during a crisis? This article covers the main themes …
Reading
Adopting a recovery leadership mindset
How can city leaders help their organization navigate a financial crisis? The …
Reading
Learning about crisis communication
What should leaders focus on when helping their communities during a crisis? This …