STA Community Essentials Profiles
Target Audience: The target audiences for this website were Spokane Transit riders and employees, and the Spokane community as a whole.
Strategy Objective:The goal of the series is to show that public transit is a safe and essential service, and that public transit employees are essential workers. To do this, we decided to shine a spotlight on a different employee from across the agency each week. We would show what they did, why it was essential, and how their work changed during COVID-19. We hoped that through these profiles, readers would also come to understand who we are as public transit workers. We named the series "Community Essentials" and it has been running for 39 weeks and counting without interruption.
Situation Challenge: In early April, fear and uncertainty over COVID-19 peaked in the Spokane region. The governor had classified public transit as an "essential" service, but many in the community questioned why buses were still running. We needed people to understand that public transit is an essential service, especially during a health emergency, and that safety measures were in place to protect transit users. We wanted to reinforce the sense of pride our employees felt by publicly documenting and saluting them as heroes — ordinary people doing essential work in a time of crisis.
Results Impact: It took about a month to really feel a positive buzz around the series because ordinary employees were being recognized for their work in a new way, and showing the community how the everyday STA employee was essential in maintaining public transit during COVID-19. We profiled an IT staff member who spent sleepless nights setting up work-from-home systems, an HR employee who took a crash course on new benefits for staff affected by COVID-19, a driver taking part in our meal delivery partnership who previously delivered emergency aid in Africa, and more. 39 weeks and 39 profiles later, this series remains our most effective means of boosting employee morale, and of explaining to the community how and why public transit workers are essential.
Why Submit: This series has showcased public transit workers as complex people with diverse life experiences, who are maintaining public transit during a national emergency for the good of the community. The budget was $0. Every aspect, from writing to photography to design, has been done entirely in-house by our small team. We are extremely proud of the public recognition we've helped make visible for our employees. We have consistently put out a new profile article, photos, video and social posts each week for nearly ten months without interruption because our essential workers deserve the recognition.