There was a time when a flyer on a bulletin board was the gold standard of community outreach. But let’s be honest: in 2025, who actually reads those anymore?
Print outreach—whether in the form of mailbox stuffers, school newsletters, or taped-up announcements at city hall—has lost its effectiveness. In a world where everyone is bombarded with digital notifications, expecting residents to notice and act on a piece of paper feels out of touch.
Worse yet, print communication often excludes the very people public agencies are trying to serve.
The Problem with Paper
Print is static. It’s easily missed, hard to update, and inaccessible to residents who:
- Work non-traditional hours and never pass by a bulletin board.
- Speak a different language at home.
- Rely on mobile devices for all their news and updates.
- Need real-time info—not a flyer about road work that went up three days too late.
When cities and public agencies rely on paper, they unintentionally create communication gaps that disproportionately impact working families, renters, and under-resourced communities.
Enter Civify: A Mobile-First Communication Platform for Cities
Civify was built to solve exactly this problem.
Instead of depending on print materials or mass emails that end up in spam folders, Civify gives local governments a mobile-first platform to keep residents informed, engaged, and included—especially during infrastructure and construction projects.
Here’s what makes it work:
- Multi-channel alerts: SMS, email, robocalls, and app notifications—all from a single dashboard.
- Smart, AI-powered drafting: Create clear, timely updates faster, even for teams with limited staff.
- Resident portals and apps: Give communities an easy way to track project timelines, detours, and service interruptions from their phone.
- Location-based targeting: Send only what’s relevant to the people affected—no more junk mail or mass noise.
Why Mobile-First Means More Inclusive
A mobile-first strategy isn’t just convenient—it’s equitable. It:
- Bridges the digital divide by meeting residents where they already are: on their phones.
- Supports multilingual households with auto-translation options.
- Respects people’s time by delivering the right info without making them dig for it.
- Empowers cities to communicate in real-time when plans or conditions change.
From Bulletin Boards to Better Communities
Civify is already helping cities like New Haven, IN modernize how they communicate. In 2024, the city launched Civify to keep residents in the loop about infrastructure updates, earning recognition in the mayor’s State of the City address.
And they’re not alone. Across the country, municipalities are realizing that the bulletin board is no longer a community hub—it’s a relic. Today’s communities demand fast, mobile, and inclusive communication—and Civify is leading the way.
Final Thoughts
Communication is at the heart of trust between local governments and the people they serve. If cities want to build that trust, they can’t rely on outdated methods that leave residents in the dark. No one reads the bulletin board anymore. But with Civify, everyone gets the message.
