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Senior advisory committee examines ways to reach residents without digital access
Summary
City staff and the Senior Advisory Committee discussed non-digital outreach options—utility-bill memos, faith-based bulletins, printed materials, signage and student volunteers—to connect older residents who lack internet access; staff will return with a prioritized plan in November.
City staff and members of the Senior Advisory Committee spent the bulk of the Oct. 1 meeting discussing strategies to reach Victoria residents who lack digital access.
"The goal is to connect folks... who don't [have] any of those type of traditional city communication channels," said Alyssa, the city staff member leading the presentation, framing the committee's charge to identify gaps and practical tactics for non-digital outreach.
Staff reviewed existing non-digital channels: Donuts in Victoria (a monthly in-person program), the Citizen's Academy, parks and recreation print brochures, flyers available at city hall and the recreation center, mobile city-hall outreach at events, printed trail and yard signs used for topics like ebikes and watering restrictions, and the idea of placing a small memo in utility bills because it incurs no additional postage cost.
Alyssa said the communications team is two people and emphasized prioritization. "We do a lot with a team of 2... but we all know that we can do more, and we wanna identify" which topics should be prioritized for non-digital distribution, she said.
Committee members suggested partnering with faith-based institutions to include notices in bulletins, distributing flyers to senior living facilities (Abelite Village, Steiger Lake and others named by members), and recruiting local high school students to help with outreach and tech training for seniors. "That could be a program that we could leverage that could transition from year to year," said Kyle Neubauer, the committee's new member, proposing student involvement as low-cost support.
Staff cautioned about targeted mailings. Alyssa said mailing printed materials to specific households risks targeted communication by a government agency; she recommended placing brief memos in utility bills sent to all customers or offering printed senior resource guides by request and mailing them to those who call to request copies.
Carver County Public Health's Kara Cassidy also briefed the committee on measles cases in Minneapolis and reminded members that Carver County would activate public health measures after a single local case: "in Carver County, we only need 1 case, to declare an emergency and then public health activates," she said, underscoring the need for rapid, accessible public-health communication for older adults.
The committee did not finalize priorities; staff recommended pausing the discussion and returning in November with a staff-built presentation organized around proposed priority buckets (need, want, curiosity) and the additional information the committee requested, including ways to survey or reach people without internet access.
