With crisis we see humanity. Local restaurants providing free meals for kids despite their hardships. Teachers assisting parents with homeschooling curriculum. Neighbors leaving supplies on stoops for their elderly friends.
CTV is your neighbor. These are some of the steps we’ve taken to help the communities we love.
1. Connecting County to the Communities
We established a relationship with Ramsey County early. In an effort not to duplicate communication efforts, so we found a way to present the community with the most updated COVID-19 information. On Tuesdays, the Ramsey County Commissioners meet for their meeting. During the meeting they have dedicated a COVID-19 segment. Through our partnerships with Ramsey County, and the City of St. Paul, we were able to get the most up to date information directly from the County out to our cities.
2. Guiding Leaders through Open Meeting Law
This is unprecedented times. Open Meeting Laws are in place to ensure government bodies are including citizens’ voices and conducting business in a transparent way. With the pandemic, and social distancing measures we need to examine how to conduct meetings according to the Open Meeting Laws while maintaining safety. CTV has worked with numerous legal entities as well as the league of Minnesota Cities to ensure our cities are being open and transparent according to the law.
3. Providing Tools for Virtual Meetings
Cities focus on providing services for residents. Shifting a public meeting to a virtual platform is complicated and time consuming. We have worked diligently with our cities to find solutions related to this technology. Utilizing Zoom, Google Hang Outs, and Webx have been a few options.
4. Building Forums to Inform Businesses
Chambers of commerce are built on networking events. Halt the networking events, businesses are less likely to connect and build relationships. Working with our local chambers like the Twin Cities North Chamber and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, we are building forums and virtual gathering spaces to host businesses, our sponsors and answer their most pressing questions.
5. Producing Videos about Humans
Restaurants that aren’t allowed to have diners, but are still supplying lunches for kids. These types of stories about our community is what we are currently covering and will continue to cover during this period of social distancing.
6. Offering Tools for Distance Learning
Working with our schools, we have offered tools for distance learning like recording keynote speakers, or offering our Tuesday Scholar series as a resource. Our schools and teachers are overwhelmed, and we want them to be able to lean on us to deliver content.
7. Sharing Content on Social Media
Information and misinformation has been circulating on social media. We post content only from reputable sources, and fact check our own content. Guiding people to consume information responsibly is important to our work.
CTV is here to support the community through factual content, virtual meetings, and technology solutions. If there is something CTV can help your community with, please reach out.
