Community engagement coordinator reports $28,000 in sponsorships, volunteers and outreach gains

Stephanie, Coldwater’s community engagement coordinator, told the Board of Public Utilities she had focused the department’s work around creativity, communication and engagement and highlighted a range of community projects and results over the past year.

She cited Waterworks Park upgrades that included a new story walk installed in partnership with the library and Eltrusa, downtown art installations and community events. “This 1 person department captures a lot of the daily work that our City and CBPU employees do,” Stephanie said, noting one public safety post reached roughly 98,000 views and nearly 7,400 interactions.

Stephanie said CBPU provided more than $28,000 in sponsorships to 26 organizations across the year and summarized volunteer activity: 251 volunteers contributing a total of 456 hours. She described a school‑supply drive that began as a quick initiative in response to an idea; CBPU donated $1,000 in supplies and employees and residents delivered five trailer loads of donations to area schools. The city also ran two blood drives that collected 74 units of blood and hosted engagement events such as the Monster Detectives education program and a gravestone cleaning class developed with local historical partners.

Stephanie thanked colleagues Monica McCown and Jill Ware for partnering with the Burnside Senior Center to present streaming‑services information after CBPU TV service changes, and she noted awards for outreach work from AMP and APPA.

She closed by encouraging board members and residents to attend upcoming community events and to sign up for a Jan. 27 blood drive.