Overview
The objective of the community outreach program is to solicit input through an open, dynamic process that includes as many of the residents, businesses, property owners, agencies, stakeholders, and community groups within the study area as possible. The process has been structured to involve people early and often, and to share information as it becomes available.
Community outreach for Business 40 Environmental Assessment has used a variety of techniques, including:
Hiring residents from the neighborhoods to help share project information
Conducting and requiring extensive training for anyone that will be interacting with the public
Using flyers to notify residences and businesses of meetings
Conducting door-to-door outreach as a first contact in many neighborhoods
Attending neighborhood association meetings and business meetings
Conducting neighborhood meetings
Involving the media in a proactive manner
Core Neighborhoods
The Core Neighborhoods are those that directly or indirectly touch the Business 40 or have primary arteries that could be designated as an alternate route. The Core Neighborhoods were contacted through an unprecedented door-to-door outreach process.
Surrounding Neighborhoods
The Surrounding Neighborhoods are communities that border the Core Neighborhoods and may experience indirect impacts from the improvements to Business 40. These neighborhoods were flyered with the introductory Business 40 Newsletter. The Project Team has held neighborhood meetings in these communities to provide opportunities for the residents, businesses and stakeholders to provide input.
Community Outreach Techniques
We have used a variety of techniques to ensure meaningful involvement from the community. The outreach process was designed to be personal and extensive. It began at a one-on-one level and expanded to bring together the many interests in the corridor. A variety of opportunities have been made available for the community to get involved and stay informed about the project. These include:
Newsletters and Mailings
Newsletters and mailings will be used to provide project status updates and information. They will be mailed to the people on the project mailing list and flyered to the Core Neighborhoods at critical points during the project. Business 40 newsletters and mailings are English and Spanish publications. Contact us to join the Business 40 mailing list to receive the mailings. You may also read the newsletter online.
Advertising
Advertisements for Public Meetings will be placed in weekly newspapers, Winston-Salem Journal, the Winston-Salem Chronicle and other relevant local publications to announce meetings and other important study information. Look for ads in the Journal, Chronicle, Que Pasa and other local publications.
Website The project website is being used to disseminate information and provide a schedule of events. The site includes English and Spanish options and includes features such as an on-line feedback form and an automatic update email distribution for when new information is posted. The website is updated on a regular basis with the intent of providing real-time project information.
Stakeholder Meetings Stakeholder meetings have been held on an as-needed basis and typically include property or business owners, business or homeowners associations, special interest groups, religious organizations, neighborhood associations, police/fire personnel, and others as appropriate. These are typically a presentation at the group’s regularly scheduled meeting, but can be specially-arranged meetings. Contact us if you are interested in having a Business 40 representative at your next meeting.
Neighborhood Meetings
The Project Team has held over a dozen meetings with residents and stakeholders throughout the core and surrounding neighborhoods. Meeting summaries will be posted on the website along with relevant presentations. Check the Meetings page for a list of upcoming neighborhood meeting dates and times, and to view the minutes, presentations, and handouts from past meetings.
Corridor-Wide Meetings Corridor-wide meetings will be conducted at major project milestones or for specific topics and provide opportunities for the community to interact with the project team and discuss project issues and recommendations. Times and locations of the Corridor-wide Meetings will be set at a later date and will be posted on this website. Issue Groups
Issues Groups will be formed on a variety of topics (such as community impacts, bridges, detours, economic development, etc.), signup sheets will be available at Corridor-wide Meetings and you can sign up on the website. The groups will discuss issues and approaches to various project concerns and is open to anyone. Meeting dates and locations will be posted in the Meetings section of the website. Click here to sign-up.
Neighborhood Business Outreach
Neighborhood businesses are composed of small mom-and-pop establishments, franchise owners located in the core and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as larger commercial establishments outside of the downtown Winston-Salem area. Impacts to and concerns of neighborhood businesses with regard to the Business 40 project differ from those of the downtown businesses and are important to the project.
Outreach to neighborhood businesses is an extension of the door-to-door surveying of the core neighborhoods, with the neighborhood businesses being approached individually and being surveyed about their opinions and concerns about the Business 40 project. The participants are added to the project contact list and their input is recorded in the project database.
Downtown Business Outreach
As part of the Business 40 outreach efforts, businesses in downtown Winston-Salem were contacted to hear what they had to say about the project. To assist with these efforts, a survey questionnaire was developed for both business owners/CEOs and employees. The surveys basically obtained origin-destination information so that NCDOT could begin to identify possible detour routes. Another major point of these surveys would be to determine whether complete or partial closure of Business 40 is preferred during the construction phase.
To reach a maximum number of owners/CEOs and employees several business mailing lists were used to contact local businesses. To date contacts have been made with over 200 downtown businesses. This outreach effort will continue into May 2008 and will culminate with a downtown corridor-wide meeting in June 2008. As businesses were contacted, it became apparent that most were very concerned about the project and wanted to talk. Thus, a variety of methods were developed to talk to as many businesses and to obtain as many business surveys as possible. The team's Outreach Specialists visited places of business and conducted the owner/CEO and the employee surveys. Coordinated events that included some or all of the following were also held at these locations:
Prepared large exhibit maps to show project study area and to present the project.
Held lobby Fairs within building entrances/lobbies to survey employees/tenants within building.
Held breakfasts, luncheons, and/or pizza socials during staff meetings.
Provided refreshments, cookies and/or popcorn provided during early morning, afternoon and night shift work schedules.
Created and distributed flyers and provided posters that announced the event prior to scheduled event.
Combined business/employee surveys with joint presentations, as applicable.
Posted the Business 40 intranet links to individual business website for employees to complete surveys online.
If your downtown business has not been approached, and you would like to be contacted to discuss the Business 40 Improvement Project, please contact the Business 40 project team at 336-722-0565, or email us at business40@business40nc.com or leave your contact information here.
Commuter Outreach
Commuters are residents who live outside of the core or surrounding neighborhoods, but regularly use Business 40. A significant percentage of the traffic using Business 40 does begin outside of the core and surrounding communities of the project area. The concerns of and potential impacts to commuters may be different than those of the core and surrounding communities and are important to the project. As a result, specialized outreach methods have been developed to reach this population. These methods include mall/store outreach events and interchange ramp surveys.
Mall/Store Outreach Events At Hanes Mall and the big-box stores along Hanes Mall Boulevard, between November 2007 and March 2008 customers were asked about their interest in the Business 40 project and the impacts that the project could have on them. Surveys were completed by interested customers and the results are incorporated into the project database.
Interchange Ramp Surveys Surveying will be undertaken for commuters at each of the six interchanges located within the limits of the project. Surveying will be completed during both a.m. and p.m. peak commuter hours. The short three-question survey will be recorded for each car stopped on the ramps and the information collected will be incorporated into the project database and used to expand the project contact list. Click here to read a press release regarding the interchange ramp surveys.
Government/Institution Outreach
The Government/Institution Outreach began with contacting each Government/Institution within the city of Winston-Salem project boundary (these included schools, hospitals, transit, police departments, fire departments, EMS, and other governmental agencies). The team's Outreach Specialists visited these facilities/institutions and conducted interviews and surveys of department heads and employees. Coordinated events that included some or all of the following were also held at these locations:
Used large exhibit maps to show project study area and to present the project.
Held lobby fairs within building entrances/lobbies to survey employees/tenants within building.
Held breakfasts, luncheons, and/or pizza socials during staff or department meetings.
Provided refreshments, cookies and/or popcorn provided during early morning, afternoon and night shift work schedules.
Created and distributed flyers and provided posters that announced the event prior to scheduled event.
Combined business/employee surveys with joint presentations, as applicable.
Posted the Business 40 intranet links to a business website for employees to complete surveys online.
Joined Parent/Teacher meetings to present project overview and conduct applicable surveys.
Held school contests to obtain completed surveys and award the school with a donation.
Combined business/employee surveys with joint presentations, as applicable.
If your downtown government office or institution has not been approached, and you would like to be contacted to discuss the Business 40 Improvement Project please contact the Business 40 project team at 336-722-0565, or email us at business40@business40nc.com or leave your contact information here.
Our Goal The goal of conducting business and government/institutional outreach was to be as creative as possible in capturing the voice of the employee regarding the project without disturbing the day-to-day business production/activity. Each and every voice makes a difference and the project was committed to capturing as many voices as the businesses allowed. For example, a business owner/CEO may be impacted much differently than an employee, whose main concern was generally their day-to-day commute. However, an owner/CEO may look at the project by how it affects the company’s bottom line, day-to-day operations and suppliers/shippers, among others.
Thank You! Many thanks to all who supported these outreach efforts and continue to do so, including the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Partnership, City of Winston-Salem and all of those who welcomed us into their business, organization or agency.
Future Following the corridor-wide meetings large scale business outreach events will end. However, business outreach and involvement will continue throughout the project. This involvement will take the form of Issues Groups, additional corridor-wide meetings as the project advances, project newsletters, and web updates at key milestones of the project.
The Business 40 public involvement program has five main categories:
Core Neighborhoods 
Stakeholder meetings have been held on an as-needed basis and typically include property or business owners, business or homeowners associations, special interest groups, religious organizations, neighborhood associations, police/fire personnel, and others as appropriate. These are typically a presentation at the group’s regularly scheduled meeting, but can be specially-arranged meetings. 
Neighborhood businesses are composed of small mom-and-pop establishments, franchise owners located in the core and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as larger commercial establishments outside of the downtown Winston-Salem area. Impacts to and concerns of neighborhood businesses with regard to the Business 40 project differ from those of the downtown businesses and are important to the project. 
As part of the Business 40 outreach efforts, businesses in downtown Winston-Salem were contacted to hear what they had to say about the project. To assist with these efforts, a survey questionnaire was developed for both business owners/CEOs and employees. The surveys basically obtained origin-destination information so that NCDOT could begin to identify possible detour routes. Another major point of these surveys would be to determine whether complete or partial closure of Business 40 is preferred during the construction phase.
