City of Merced:
Methods of
Community Outreach
Merced City Council
April 4, 2022
GIFTBAR UPDATE
• Giftbar program was introduced to assist local, small businesses directly impacted by COVID- 19 closures.
• The following process vetted the concept:
– Concept was introduced to the City Council on April 20, 2020 – City Council approved the program and allocated funding on June 15, 2020 • A status update was provided to the City Council on April 19, 2021 – Estimated that approx. $250,000 had been utilized
– Council’s direction was to modify the program from a redemption to a matching program
• As of March 31, 2021 reconciliation provided the following data:
– $234,530 in gift cards had been redeemed
– Of the $234,530, $89,409.32 remained as an active balance on the issued cards – $265,470 was available in the trust for the program
• Below is an update as of November 22, 2021:
– $250,700 in gift cards have been issued ($14,770 since the change was implemented) – $249,300 is still available for the community to redeem 2 OUTREACH
SUMMARY
3 Survey active from August
24,2021 to September 30, 2021
Number of
Responses – 3,004
2,790 Responses
from Online
Survey
215 Responses
from Mailer
Most impactful
outreach effort:
Mass T ext
Messages
Radio
Advertisements
FUTURE EFFORTS
• Future outreach strategies to include the following:
– Surveys, online or via phone
– Direct community engagement, small groups
– Educational mailers
• New ERP System to assist with better address collection • Continue to maintain contact database through Subscribe Merced • Multi-media approach for all content