The Challenge

Following the 2020 Census, the redistricting process was triggered for the City of Pomona, and like hundreds of local government agencies across California, the City needed to complete it in a timely fashion.

This redistricting process was the first time the City of Pomona used an Independent Commission to lead its redistricting process. The Commissioners held public hearings, workshops and meetings on a monthly basis to educate and involve the Pomona community in the boundary drawing process and to intensify communities of interest. The Commission was also assisted by National Demographics Corporation (NDC), California’s premier demographer, to offer mapping tools and provide the technical guidance for the Commission to create legally-compliant district boundaries.

The City of Pomona engaged Tripepi Smith in April 2021 to assist in its outreach efforts to recruit community members to serve on its Independent Redistricting Commission and raise awareness of its redistricting process.

Our Approach

To engage Pomona’s diverse communities, Tripepi Smith implemented several outreach strategies, which included:

  • Launch of the City’s multilingual dedicated Redistricting webpage (DrawPomona.org), which housed all information on the City’s redistricting process.
  • Two virtual public workshops introducing the City’s mapping tools and soliciting communities of interest from residents.
  • Nearly 50 bilingual social media posts published weekly across the City’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with 4 boosted posts geo-targeted to residents of Pomona.
  • Flyers promoting public hearings, commission meetings, and workshops. These flyers were printed for Commissioners to physically hand out, and electronic flyers were emailed to the Redistricting Community-Based Organizations and website subscriber lists.
  • Press releases announcing several milestones in the redistricting process that were distributed to the media as well as the Redistricting Community-Based Organizations and website subscriber lists.
  • An animated video recorded in English and Spanish explaining the purpose and effects of redistricting. The video was posted as a YouTube advertisement specifically targeting residents of Pomona and promoting the Commission’s website.
  • Outreach phone calls and emails to Community-Based Organizations to announce the redistricting process and encourage participation.
  • Text messages sent to subscribers to remind them of upcoming meetings and deadlines.
Results

The online hub of communication for the effort, the DrawPomona.org website, had 3,916 sessions from April 2021 – April 2022 with an average session duration of just over 2 minutes.

Between April 2021 – April 2022, Tripepi Smith published 45 redistricting-related posts:

  • On Facebook, the City published 45 redistricting posts, including 6 boosted posts. The total reach was 67,352 and had 6,229 total engagements.
  • On Instagram, the City published 45 redistricting posts. The total reach was 68,808 and had 1,773 total engagements.
  • On Twitter, the City published 45 redistricting posts. The total number of impressions was 39,763 and had 804 total engagements.

The animated explainer video developed by Tripepi Smith was posted to YouTube as an advertisement with geo-location set to target residents of the City of Pomona. The video was posted on November 8, 2021, and remained active through the Commission’s final hearing. Over the 5 months, the advertisements garnered 131,437 impressions, 63,587 views and 89,106 engagements. The video has a 48.38% view rate, which is 16.38% higher than the average view rate of 31.9%.

Tripepi Smith individually called or emailed the identified 51 community-based organizations, including local foundations, ethnic organizations, associations and other community coalitions. In total, Tripepi Smith engaged in 33 phone calls and sent nearly 800 emails to these community-based organizations with press releases and meeting reminders, map submission deadlines and other participation opportunities.

Pomona’s redistricting process led by the Independent Redistricting Commission included 12 public meetings, hearings and workshops. Throughout the process, the City received 30 proposed maps and several dozen public comments for consideration in the selection of a final redistricting map.

On April 7, 2022, the City of Pomona’s Independent Redistricting Commission unanimously approved its new Electoral District map. Learn more about the adopted map at DrawPomona.org/selected-map.