This column was originally published in the Davis Enterprise.
It’s been a while since I’ve provided an update here on Yolo Local, Davis Media Access’s project to map news and information assets and needs around Yolo County.
Yolo Local is grounded in the belief that our civic health, democratic traditions and capacity to address community issues are directly related to our ability to access local, accurate, trusted information in Yolo County.
Historically, many communities feel left out and disconnected by media content, especially where it’s not relevant or useful to them. That’s why a prime goal of this assessment is to ensure that we hear from voices that are not always in the room.
So much good work has happened in just a few short months. In April, we convened the inaugural Yolo Local Working Group. Together, we’ve been conducting a countywide survey in English and Spanish, and are engaging with the greater Yolo community directly at community events.
We are grateful to the many organizations that have stepped up to help. In the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve gotten commitments to share the surveys from Yolo County Housing Authority; Mutual Housing; Communicare + Olé’s Promotora program; Yolo HHSA; Yolo County Library — both from branches and Friends groups — and Yolo Works, on behalf of our county’s agriculture workers.
We’re also deeply appreciative of the cities of Davis, Winters and Woodland for sharing the information on their platforms, and for the nonprofits, service clubs, and faith communities that have also helped us get the word out.
We’ve run ads in this paper, the Winters Express and Woodland Daily Democrat, and we’re grateful to Radio Santisimo for their interview with working group member Alejandra Cuevas.
Organizers are working to get as broad a range of responses as possible from all areas of the county. Completing the survey should take about 10 minutes, and participants are eligible to win one of four $50 gift cards to Nugget Markets.
The survey close date has been extended until July 4.
Community members can complete the English version of the survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YoloInfoNeeds or the Spanish-language version https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YoloLocalInfoNecCast
We’ve also been having a blast engaging directly at community events. Coming up, we’ll hold a series of community roundtables in different communities.
Lastly, everyone is asking what we’ll do with all this info. Part of good community engagement is returning to the community to share what we’ve learned, and we’ll do that via a report to the community and further engagement this fall.
I need to really shout out 100+ Women Who Care Yolo County. On May 15, I had an opportunity to pitch Yolo Local, and happily ours was the winning pitch. An assessment process is expensive, and their $10,000 donation makes a tremendous difference in our ability to do this work. Learn more about this group here.
— Autumn Labbé-Renault is a journalist, community engagement strategist, and executive director of Davis Media Access (DMA). She’s currently working to map information needs across Yolo County via Yolo Local. She can be reached at autumn@davismedia.org.
