City communications outlines outreach, bilingual services and social media strategy
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Summary
Dallas' Office of Communications and Customer Experience (CCX) briefed the Workforce Education and Equity Committee on multilingual outreach, 3-1-1 service improvements, social-media coordination during emergencies and planned updates to engagement procedures and technology.
The Office of Communications and Customer Experience (CCX) and 3-1-1 briefed the Workforce Education and Equity Committee on March 4 about current channels for communicating with Dallas residents and planned improvements to increase reach, consistency and two-way engagement.
CCX Director Daisy Fast and Deputy Director Rick Erickson reviewed the city's mix of print and digital outreach, multilingual materials and rapid-response social-media practices used during recent incidents. Fast highlighted multilingual utility bill stuffers, door hangers and targeted mailings for neighborhood-level outreach. Erickson said the department deployed social posts, app alerts and coordinated press messaging during a downtown incident the prior Saturday and during severe-weather alerts, including simultaneous English and Spanish deliveries via govDelivery.
CCX said it recently hired Robert Mu—1oz, a former Dallas Police Department outreach sergeant, to lead community engagement and to coordinate citywide presence at events and hearings. The communications team said it also uses bilingual call agents and language-access vendors through 3-1-1 for callers who need languages other than English and Spanish.
Asked about the White House executive order on English as an official language, Christina Da Silva, assistant director for the Office of Equity and Inclusion, said the order rescinds a prior federal requirement for language accommodations but does not prohibit local governments from providing language access. "That doesn't prohibit us from proactively still being able to provide these language access services," Da Silva said and advised staff would continue to track federal policy changes and their budget implications.
CCX outlined short-term steps including updated social-media strategy and templates, updated administrative directives for social-media and media relations, a planned media roundtable to rebuild relationships with local outlets, and a planned city news website to centralize announcements and allow resident feedback. The department said an app/portal upgrade next month will make guest-user service-request status and comments easier to view.
CCX provided counts for its govDelivery lists: roughly 2,478 English subscribers and 1,330 Spanish subscribers, a mix of local media, community organizations and individual residents. Staff said press releases and major announcements are produced in English and Spanish and that translators are available for press conferences as needed.
Committee members asked about potential budget implications if federal support for language-access programs were reduced. CCX and the Office of Equity and Inclusion said the city currently does not receive federal funds that specifically support the language access center services and that city policy and a previously adopted "welcoming strategy" continue to shape local practices.
CCX requested continued committee support while staff finalize updated policies, implement technology upgrades and coordinate engagement staff citywide.
