Title
Commissioners will receive an update regarding the Communications Ad Hoc Committee (Devin Stenhouse, M.A. II)
label
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
It is recommended that commissioners receive an update regarding the Communications Ad Hoc Committee.
Body
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
At the October 20, 2025, commission meeting, commissioners approved the creation of a Communications Ad Hoc Committee with the goal of improving communication habits from the City to the public as well as opening avenues for the commissioners to receive information from the public. Commissioners Harrison, Rodriguez, and (now) Vice Chair Yee volunteered for this ad hoc committee. Committee members agreed to focus on three areas:
1. Compare/contrast the City of South San Francisco’s website to other municipalities’ websites to understand what features of the website are favorable and what can be improved.
2. How to leverage strong voices within the community that represent the various perspectives within the City (i.e., racial, religious, abilities, etc.).
3. Collect data/analytics that can shed more light on who is receiving information and how they are receiving information.
Committee members met with the City’s communications manager who shared her drafted “Communications Support Packages” document, a framework to provide clear, scalable communications support based on the size, impact, and audience of a project or event. Committee members developed tactics to embed considerations around equity within this document. A summary of the recommended tactics was presented to the commission at the June 15, 2026 commission meeting without any suggested edits. Those tactics are as follows:
• Narrative & Visuals: Audit visuals for full diversity representation and portray underrepresented individuals in positive, stereotype-challenging roles.
• Accessibility: Use plain language (6th-8th grade level) and provide visuals or audio/video alternatives to ensure cognitive accessibility.
• Testing: Co-develop and pre-test core messages with diverse audience segments to confirm shared priorities and cultural relevance.
• Distribution: Mitigate the digital divide by supplementing digital campaigns with physical materials in high-traffic community locations.
• Scheduling: Perform an equity check on event timing to avoid conflicts with shift-work, family care, and major cultural/religious holidays.
• Language Access: Integrate upfront budget allocation for translation/interpretation, deploying key materials in primary non-English languages.
On July 8, 2026, ad hoc committee member, Commissioner Rodriguez presented these recommendations to the City’s communication manager, Angenette Lau, who was receptive to each. Angenette’s primary goal is to further simplify the recommendations so that they can be easily added to the packages and kept to one page maximum to keep the document user-friendly. Angenette expressed appreciation for the committee if they could assist with simplifying the recommendations so they could be included in the document. The following is Commissioner Rodriguez’s initial attempt at developing simplified versions of the recommendations:
Summary Points Simplified (Question Version)
1. Did you include underrepresented people in stereotype-challenging roles?
2. Is the language plain enough for a 6th-grader?
3. Did you test this with a target group for feedback (if needed)?
4. Did you create and distribute it in different formats (i.e., paper, digital, different languages)?
5. Did you consider hosting a diverse time of day to reach different audiences?
If looking for a non-question version, it could look like the following:
1. Consider including underrepresented people in stereotype-challenging roles.
2. Use plain language (6th-grade reading level or lower).
3. Test with a target group and collect feedback (if needed).
4. Use different formats (paper, digital, different languages).
5. Host events at different times of day to reach diverse target audiences.
Angenette’s next step would be to share the communication packages with the communications steering committee (communications liaisons from various departments within the city) in August to get their buy-in and answer questions. She would then collect feedback in the coming months following the rollout of the sheet.
Finally, the commission offered to serve as a “test group” for any large-scale communication, should Angenette or any department desire a group to test. This would primarily be for large events (i.e. City 250 4th of July celebration, etc.)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, commissioners will receive an update from the Communications Ad Hoc Committee