The Challenge

Every ten years, district lines of cities and counties –including the County of Fresno – must be redrawn so that each district is substantially equal in population. This process, called redistricting, is important in ensuring that each elected member represents about the same number of constituents. Redistricting is done using U.S. Census data, which is usually released around March, but was delayed until the Fall of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the County of Fresno, the redistricting process had to be completed by December 15, 2021.

The County needed to meet legal requirements to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and/or workshops, and doing public outreach, including to non-English-speaking communities. In April 2021, the County of Fresno tapped Tripepi Smith to provide outreach and engagement support for their redistricting effort.

Our Approach

In our approach, the Tripepi Smith team sought to inform and empower the engagement of the County of Fresno’s community in the redistricting process.

To increase community involvement and engage a diverse and inclusive spectrum of the public, Tripepi Smith, in coordination with the Fresno County Public Information Officer, Sonja Dosti, created a Public Outreach Plan that outlined the strategies to disseminate pertinent redistricting information and materials. Per the Public Outreach Plan, Tripepi Smith recommended or helped create the tools and strategies to execute that plan, which included:

  • Launch of the City’s multilingual dedicated Redistricting webpage that housed all information on the County’s redistricting process.
  • Bilingual social media posts published across Facebook, Instagram, X and Nextdoor with boosted posts geo-targeted to Fresno County.
  • Flyers promoting public hearings, commission meetings and workshops. These flyers were physically posted at Fresno County Hall of Records and electronic flyers were emailed to the Redistricting Community-Based Organizations list.
  • Press releases announcing several milestones in the redistricting process. The PIO distributed the releases to the County’s list of media outlets and Tripepi Smith distributed them to the Redistricting Community-Based Organizations list.
  • Spanish and English radio advertisements encouraging residents to become involved in the redistricting process by informing them of public hearings and the opportunity to submit comments and draw draft maps, and encouraging them to review and comment on submitted maps.
  • Outreach phone calls and emails to Community-Based Organizations to announce the redistricting process and encourage participation.
  • Public workshops were attended by Tripepi Smith President Ryder Todd Smith, who facilitated a discussion on communities of interest in order to solicit community input.
Results

Tripepi Smith’s community engagement efforts achieved significant reach across platforms. Between April 27 – December 9, 2021, the County of Fresno published 99 redistricting posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Nextdoor and used $500 to boost five posts, achieving the following results:

  • On Facebook, the County published 36 redistricting posts, including 16 boosted posts. The total reach earned was 97,584 and the engagements earned was 7,268.
  • On Instagram, the County published 22 redistricting posts. The total reach was 11,098 and had 222 total engagements.
  • On Twitter, the County published 31 redistricting tweets. The total reach was 56,471 and had 1,208 total engagements.
  • On Nextdoor, the County published 10 redistricting posts. The total reach was 83,591 and had 80 total engagements.

Radio ads also reached large numbers of the County’s stakeholders. Via Radio Bilingüe 91.5 FM, the County ran 25 30-second radio spots in Spanish, which reached an estimated 43,000 listeners per week. Via LA Z 92.7 FM, the County ran 84 30-second radio spots in Spanish, which reached an estimated 15,000 listeners per week. Via La Preciosa 92.9 FM, the County ran 36 30-second radio spots in Spanish, which reached an estimated 30,272 listeners per week. Via KBIF 900 AM (Hmong), the County ran 68 30-second radio spots in Hmong, which reached an estimated 33,750 listeners per week. Via KBIF 900 AM (Punjabi), the County ran 64 30-second radio spots in Punjabi, which reached an estimated 27,750 listeners per week.

To ensure engagement with Community-Based Organizations, Tripepi Smith conducted outreach to 129 community-based organizations, including local foundations, ethnic organizations, associations and other community coalitions. In total, Tripepi Smith conducted 321 phone calls and sent 1,189 emails to these community-based organizations.

Through five in-person workshops and one virtual workshop, Tripepi Smith assisted the County in gathering 155 communities of interest identified from the public workshops and public hearings and over 20 draft maps submitted by the public to the advisory commission.

Following the final redistricting public hearing on December 14, 2021, the Board of Supervisors adopted its new Supervisorial District Map via resolution, successfully concluding the redistricting process. Learn more about the adopted map at www.fresnocountyca.gov/Resources/Redistricting/Maps/Draft-Maps.