Foster City advisory committee to use community‑based social marketing for 2026 pilot; members to shortlist topics

The Foster City Citizen Sustainability Advisory Committee on Jan. 14 reviewed community‑based social marketing (CBSM) and agreed to pick a pilot for 2026, with members asked to email their top two or three topic choices before the next meeting.

Chair Shilpi Goyal gave a condensed primer on CBSM, saying, “Community based social marketing is very different from traditional marketing because we're not selling a product.” Goyal reminded the committee that the group's 2025 pilot focused on electrification and produced results the staff tracked via email links and short surveys. She said Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) referrals were an important implementation partner last year.

Why it matters: CBSM focuses on changing a single, specific behavior by identifying barriers and testing targeted strategies — commitments, incentives, tailored communications and social‑norm prompts — before scaling. Members discussed several high‑priority possibilities: promoting safe bicycling and e‑bike adoption with safety messaging and infrastructure coordination; water‑use reductions through lawn‑conversion outreach; and renter‑focused efforts to close information gaps on permits and incentives.

Committee members pressed for data and local partnerships. One member noted the city already holds demographic and permitting data that could help target audiences; the chair said staff could pull relevant datasets and that past pilot results (higher response rates from email outreach to solar permit holders) inform future tactics. Several members suggested finding local “champions” — trusted residents or neighborhood ambassadors — to improve diffusion.

Safety concerns around micro‑mobility emerged as a prominent constraint. At least one member cited recent local crashes and a fatality and argued any e‑bike pilot should be paired with education and infrastructure planning and coordinated with police and public works.

Next steps: The chair will compile a shortlist from emailed preferences and bring it back for a committee vote at the next meeting. The committee also discussed developing a short, shareable resource guide for residents with quick instructions (for example, emergency water‑heater replacement permit pathways and PCE contact points) to support outreach ambassadors.

The committee approved several procedural items and scheduled a presentation of CSAC accomplishments and goals to the City Council on Feb. 2.