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Needham communications director reports growth in subscribers, social media and public surveys; site-refresh, accessibility work planned
Summary
Communications director Amy Haleson told the Select Board the town's newsletter subscriptions and social media followings have increased, Polco surveys produced thousands of responses for some issues, and a website refresh, accessibility compliance and analytics-driven reorganizing of the home page are planned for the coming months.
Needham's director of communications and community engagement, Amy Haleson, updated the Select Board July 22 on outreach metrics, recent projects and planned improvements.
Haleson said the town's newsletter subscriber list grew by about 11 percent and social-media followers increased roughly 10 percent since she took the role. The town newsletter News You Needham now reaches more than 7,500 subscribers. The communications office has used the Polco survey platform for multiple public-input efforts; Haleson cited a recycling and transfer-station survey that generated nearly 2,700 responses.
Haleson summarized recent work: rollout of a new town brand in 2025, redesigned DPW vehicle graphics, roll out of branded trash receptacles and ongoing promotion of public-engagement programs such as Envision Needham Center and MBTA community outreach. She said the communications team will launch a website refresh in September that reconfigures the home page around usage data (moving the calendar to the top right and presenting information in a grid format), updates photography and incorporates the new brand.
Haleson also raised upcoming accessibility requirements: a recent Department of Justice directive will require public websites to be accessible to screen readers and meet WCAG standards. Needham's implementation deadline depends on population but will fall in the 2026'27 range; Haleson said the town is starting planning now because the task requires staff training and attention to document accessibility.
She described archiving and platform issues for new social platforms (BlueSky, Threads) and said the town has reserved handles but cannot yet post until archiving coverage is available through CivicPlus. Haleson asked the board to consider expanding outreach resources over time and noted that data collected via Polco and website analytics has improved targeted outreach to stakeholders.
Ending: The board thanked Haleson for the data-driven update. Haleson invited community organizations to contact her office to be included in outreach lists and said staff will return with further updates as the website refresh and accessibility work progress.
