The Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency (GCRA) is an organization within the city government in North Central Florida. I was humbled by the chance to work with them on one of their most challenging and complex redevelopment zones, Gainesville’s ‘East Side.’ This kind of interest all too commonly results in a perpetuation of oppressive and inequitable development practices that work against the very communities they’re intending to help. However, the GCRA is not like other redevelopment agencies, and to this day remains one of my most compelling and memorable experiences of my career.
Parisleaf was approached initially by the GCRA with a somewhat ambiguous ask. One of the things I love doing is helping to architect the project brief… taking the challenges, and turning them into proposals and plans. The challenge was multifaceted and complex. The redevelopment zones identified in the city of Gainesville were typically small—a city block, a general neighborhood. The east side of Gainesville was literally as large as it sounds, practically the entire habitable zone of the geographic east half. Add to this the racially charged history of the area and its record of inequitable practices and zoning and you’re left with a community lacking trust for anything related to local government or private development.
A transformative group of people
Taking a step back, it’s important to note just how impressive the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency is. You have your architects, your urban planners and project managers. But like all truly impressive teams you have leaders with vision. Their passion for a ‘people first’ approach was seen in everything they did—and the easy road was never an option. Neither was the case for this east Gainesville redevelopment zone and the vision they had for it.
With a couple projects on the horizon, the GCRA wanted a way of connecting with the greater city. A way to signal to a diverse set of stakeholders that this was something new… something big. But it had to be authentic, and it had to belong to the community who has always called east Gainesville their home before it belonged to anyone else.
We began this project with an almost month long discovery of interviews, panels and experiences that would help shape the strategy for all communication and creative ideas to come.
We took cues from the GCRA in terms of the types of audiences and stakeholders that are normally at the table. We added to that a handful of ones that we felt were integral to the end work. Below is a quick snapshot of the distilled audiences we ended up focusing on as we built the strategy and communication plan.
Messaging Profiles
East Gainesville Resident
Those families and individuals living in east Gainesville now, and potentially in the future.
Developers
Those who will play a pivotal role in the how and the when things will be built.
Gainesville Citizens
The broader definition of a Gainesville resident living in all areas.
Realtors
Important ambassadors to the neighborhoods and communities.
Community Leaders
Figures both widely known and less widely known that are deeply connected to the area.
Educators
A group with potentially some of the most meaningful connections past and future.
Business Strategists
Various local business boards and incubators looking to attract and retain talent.
Business Owners
This group comprised both existing east GNV business owners and ones that could be.
A vision…
This is where I’ll abbreviate the process a bit and jump ahead. Our discovery netted out with both a mantra and a creative brief. The mantra was Look East, and the creative brief I developed underscored how to accomplish the emotional force behind this mantra in all things moving forward. We wrote a ton of words in the form of strategy and manifesto. Pragmatic, actionable and deeply personal. This work would lay the foundation for all GCRA projects in the east Gainesville redevelopment area, and had to serve both bureaucratic and creative teams.
Below are some excerpts from the manifesto we wrote, read, and heard read by many people, many times.
Where there is the audacity to hope there is undeniable beauty.
It is time to look east.
To the schools who’ve risen from the bottom and reside at the top.
There are places where this time has yet to be forgotten.
Where dinners are caught proudly with a hook and shared with a smile.
It is time to look east.
To the birthplace of a city. To precedent. To pride.
It is not enough to watch the sun as it rises and dismiss where it came from.
It is time to look east.
Experiential Pillars
From this foundation we developed the experiential spokes of the Look East strategy. We carefully considered each pillar through the lens of the community members. These experiences were intended to support a broader resonance of the messaging and strategy and deepen the awareness of the community, its history, and its future.
Pop-ups
East Gainesville is flush with beautiful parks and historic destinations. We defined a series of events ranging from food cart huddles in abandoned parking lots, to sunrise yoga at the former site of Kennedy Homes. Each pop-up had the goal of introducing these spaces, never transforming them.
Targeted collateral
We designed specific touchpoints for our various audiences that spoke to them specifically about their role in the Look East campaign. Targeted messaging and relevant context allowed for a laser focused conversation to be had around the opportunities nestled within the overarching campaign.
Soul food tours
Sadly, one of the things that many people don’t experience as much as they should is the amazing food found in small, local joints scattered through east Gainesville. By linking together maps, reviews and small narratives into one ‘must-do’ experience was education on a whole different level.
Historical bike tours
One of the lesser known facts of the city is that it found its original roots in the soil of east Gainesville. Rich and important historical sites are found throughout the area, all within a pretty dynamic bike loop. Tapping into a love of all things bicycles meant exposure and exercise in one easy trip.
Digital villages
Working with local utilities, churches and community centers, we advocated for the importance of this idea of digital villages throughout east Gainesville. The staggering amount of households without access to good internet, or any at all, was found to perpetuate the intrinsic feeling of being left behind.
Program audit
Another glaring opportunity I discovered through the lens of a graphic designer, was just how poorly the existing programs available to low income households were communicated. We created a strategy around a deep audit of these services and programs that resulted in a more accessible comm. plan.
One of the first touchpoints created was an importance piece aimed at economic development. For years the residents and the local leaders they elected as representative on City Council fought to attract a landmark business that would provide both rational and emotional benefits to the community. We took this as a moment to synthesize much of our discovery into a print piece and digital presentation that would aim at dispelling myths cited as the reason this business had yet to open a location in east Gainesville.
