Author Archive for Meghan Flanagan – Page 2

America’s Best Communities Update: Penn State Wilkes-Barre Partnership

Penn State Wilkes-Barre students have been involved in the America’s Best Communities competition!

As their semester project, Terry Clemente’s Contemporary Business Skills class at Penn State Wilkes-Barre have been educating and engaging local businesses, non-profits, community members, and other colleges students about the America’s Best Communities Competition and our community revitalization plans and goals.

The 12 students in the class were divided into three groups, and each group was assigned a personalized hashtag (#PSU1, #PSU2, and #PSU3) to promote some friendly competition and allow students to track their progress through social media. Each team was responsible for developing their own education and social media engagement strategy for ABC, which they would then implement throughout the semester.

Students were given suggestion lists of local businesses, non-profits, community events, and surrounding higher education institutions to reach out to about the Wilkes-Barre’s plans for the ABC campaign, and were encouraged to connect with organizations and individuals from their own networks as well.

The students sent emails, made phone calls, arranged meetings, and set up outreach tables throughout the community to spread the word about America’s Best Communities, and to engage local organizations and community members through social media. People were encouraged to show their support on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using the ABC50 hashtag. Many have responded featuring pictures of their businesses with our America’s Best Communities signs, “selfies” with these signs, or text posts about the competition. The students themselves have developed countless posts to promote ABC, and one group has even developed a Facebook page for The City of Wilkes-Barre’s ABC campaign.

The student’s efforts have been responsible for over 300 posts, with approximately 3,300 additional engagements through likes, shares, and comments.

They have truly connected with and inspired our community, and have made our community excited about being one of America’s Best Communities!

 

 

Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square: America’s Best Community

Over the past decade, Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square has made transformative progress through efforts to revitalize and restore the area-but we still have room for improvement!

We would like to build upon the progress made by past and current revitalization efforts, including streetlight and streetscape enhancement projects, the introduction of the Intermodal Transportation Center, business facade improvements, and beautification projects.

One of our target goals for the America’s Best Communities competition is to continue to enhance Public Square in three key areas: (1) by installing wayfinding signage for better navigation of Public Square and the surrounding area, (2) continuing to improve business facades, and (3) further renovating the Public Square to enhance its features and make it more welcoming and park-like.

The nationally and internationally known architectural firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has taken the lead in planning a redesign project for Public Square! Check back next week for an exclusive trailer with Nicholas Snyder, AIA, Senior Associate of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, when he will speak about the firm’s plans for this design project. Watch below to learn more about Public Square’s history, progress, and future.

Thank you to Frontier Communications, DISH Network, CoBank, the Weather Channel, and our local sponsor Scripps Network Interactive for their sponsorship in the America’s Best Communities competition!

America’s Best Communities Update: Public Square History and Redesign

“The redesign is focusing on how we can keep that initial idea, but how we can adjust it so that the city doesn’t require as much maintenance, and people can use [Public Square] in a better way… For us, it’s an investment in how we can create a place for the next 40 years that works for these functions. We know it’s worked for the last 40 years. With a little bit of maintenance and a little bit of care, we can revamp these things, keep our history, and then design something for the next 40 years.” -Nicholas A. Snyder, AIA, Senior Associate at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Watch Nicholas Snyder talk about Public Square’s original design, and how Bohlin Cywinski Jackson plans to built upon this foundation in their future redesign project.

America’s Best Communities: How Can YOU Support Wilkes-Barre?

 

Businesses, non-profits, community members, and college students in our area have been blowing up Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with #ABC50 in support of Wilkes-Barre’s progress in the America’s Best Communities competition!

Leadership Class '15 PSU 1 ABCCoalCreative digital marketing agency and Terry Clemente’s Contemporary Business Skills class at Penn State Wilkes-Barre have been working with the Chamber to lead an engaging social media campaign to rally the community.

Downtown Business Association supporting ABC

 

Many have responded featuring pictures of their businesses with our America’s Best Communities signs, “selfies” with these signs, or text posts supporting our area and promoting the competition.

WNEP just published a great piece on local involvement, which can be found here.

How can YOU get involved? Make a post! Post to your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account to say that you are proud to support the City of Wilkes-Barre in their efforts to be named America’s Best Community, and include some of your favorite things about Wilkes-Barre! Just remember to set your post to “public” so that the ABC Social Media Team can see it too!

Visit our site to access downloadable images that you can include in your posts, learn about even MORE ways to get engaged, and find more information about the competition, and our revitalization strategy-which was shaped by the community!

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