City of Rohnert Park Redistricts with the Help of Tripepi Smith
In October 2021, the City of Rohnert Park tapped Tripepi Smith to conduct outreach for its 2021 redistricting process. The Tripepi Smith team, led by Principal Jennifer Nentwig with support from Business Analyst Clare Burgess, strategized outreach methods with the City to ensure that its message reached all corners of the City.
While the City made the initial shift to districts just a few years ago in 2019, the City found itself with more publicly submitted maps than in its by-district election transition.
“We wanted to provide the opportunity for all voices to be heard in the redistricting process, so we were pleased to see such robust public participation,” said City of Rohnert Park City Manager Darrin Jenkins. “The high level of public engagement was largely thanks to Tripepi Smith and their extensive outreach efforts. Their expertise and understanding of redistricting, its requirements and various communication methods made this process so successful.”
To engage the Rohnert Park community, Tripepi Smith created and maintained a redistricting webpage on the City’s existing website that housed a schedule of all redistricting-related meetings, agendas, videos, presentations, as well as map-drawing tools, links to draft maps, FAQs, resources and more. In addition, Tripepi Smith created nearly two dozen social media posts and graphics to advertise the City’s redistricting process, methods for participation and answering redistricting FAQs. To further community engagement, Tripepi Smith designed three flyers promoting the City’s hearings and wrote three press releases, all of which were sent to local media outlets as well as identified community and ethnic groups within the City. The community groups were also contacted via phone and email to encourage their participation in the process.
“It was a pleasure to work alongside a city as dedicated to public outreach and engagement as the City of Rohnert Park,” said Jennifer. “Their expansive public engagement through hearing and workshop attendees, public comment and submitted draft maps shows that the City achieved its goal of widespread involvement. Tripepi Smith is proud to have been a part of that effort.”
In the end, the City received nearly 20 publicly-submitted maps with dozens of public comments and identified communities of interest. The City adopted its map on March 8, 2022 well in advance of the April 17, 2022 deadline.
About The City of Rohnert Park
The City of Rohnert Park, or the “Friendly City” is located just west of Sonoma State University in the southern region of Sonoma County. It has just under 45,000 residents and is known for its business-friendly, recreational and locational opportunities.
About Tripepi Smith
Tripepi Smith is a marketing, technology and public affairs firm based in Orange County, CA. Its clients include for-profit, nonprofit and public agencies throughout the state of California. The firm’s unique mix of marketing and technology prowess provides a competitive advantage for organizations seeking to leverage the Internet to achieve their communication goals. Tripepi Smith provides full content creation services, including: ghostwriting, collateral development, photography, video production, search engine optimization, email marketing, crisis communications, social media management and website design and execution. Tripepi Smith clients include: City of Santa Ana, City of Culver City, City of Rolling Hills Estates, City of Tracy, City of Santa Cruz, City of Snoqualmie, City of Cupertino, City of Daly City, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Paramount, City of Huntington Beach, City of El Cerrito, City of Indian Wells, City of Yuba City, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Industry Business Council, NHA Advisors, CalChoice, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, Rowland Water District, California Contract Cities Association, California City Management Foundation, League of California Cities, Institute for Local Government, Renne Public Law Group, Inland Empire Utilities Agency and Climatec Energy Services.