Charlotte Vision Zero Awareness Campaign Final Report September 2023 by Christine Edwards

PreparedBy:

September 2023 C O M M U N I T Y E N G A G E M E N T A W A R E N E S S C A M P A I G N F I N A L R E P O R T

About Project 01

AboutCivilityLocalized

Established in 2018, Civility Localized (formerly known as Amplify Charlotte) is a certified minority-owned consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. We specialize in community engagement planning, community development, communication, and local government policy.

We work with governments to enhance their community engagement capacity and increase awareness of special projects by hosting public meetings and workshops, specifically for capital projects and community developments.

Staff & Team Members

03

Christine is a local government professional, civic innovator, and entrepreneur. She earned a Masters in Public Administration

from University of North Carolina Charlotte. Her concentration was Urban Management & Policy

Christine also holds Bachelors of Arts degrees in Sociology and African American Studies from University of North Carolina Greensboro

Khrystle is a public health practitioner with a Bachelors of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina Charlotte and Master of Science in Neuroscience, concentration in Health Disparities from Wake Forest University.

Khrystle has more than five years of experience managing public projects and is passionate about public health

A lifelong writer, Elizabeth earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in English from Iona University in New Rochelle, New York. She also studied law at Seton Hall University in Newark, New Jersey. Elizabeth brings over a decade of content creation and editing practice to her work

Christine Edwards, MPA she/her Founder & Principal Consultant CHRISTINE EDWARDS KHRYSTLE BULLOCK ELIZABETH FLEMISTER PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT PROJECT MANAGER SR. CONTENT SPECIALIST Elizabeth Flemister she/her Sr. Content Specialist Khrystle Bullock she/her Project Manager

Read our Additional Work Examples and our Full Team Bios

About KIMLEY-HORN

Kimley-Horn is a national planning and design consulting firm specializing in transportation and urban design. Their planners, urban designers, and engineers have a history of partnering with communities to develop progressive, context-sensitive plans and engagement strategies.

Understanding the importance of diverse experiences, KimleyHorn intentionally partners with professionals of various backgrounds to create the opportunity for visionary thinking with a focus on implementation. Kimley-Horn’s holistic approach emphasizes:

• True engagement of the public and stakeholders

• Integrating land use and transportation

• Collaboration among people from different backgrounds

• A multimodal approach to the transportation system

• An analytic foundation for decision making

• Consensus-building

• Identifying realistic and implementable solutions

• Equity and fairness

• Sustainability and environmental stewardship

05 Staff & Team Members

Rachel is a marketing professional with 8 years of experience. Rachel is a skilled technical writer and editor who helps KimleyHorn and our clients convey complex ideas in digestible, easy-tounderstand ways. She partners with KimleyHorn’s transportation planning team to target noteworthy clients and project types throughout the country

Jonathan is a professional planner who routinely plans and facilitates innovative community engagement processes that yield actionable data. Jonathan sits on a national task force that Kimley-Horn launched in March 2020 to offer guidance on engagement strategies during the Covid19 pandemic The work of the task force continues today with an added focus on inclusive and equitybased engagement

Project Description

The City of Charlotte employed broad and inclusive community engagement programming to provide direction to the Vision Zero Task Force and Program.

The intent was to leverage messaging across communication modes to reach those in the City most impacted by fatal and severe injury crashes, particularly those culturally, multilingually, generationally, and socioeconomically diverse.

The Challenge

Increasing Vision Zero engagement and collaboration among community members who represent diverse cultures, languages, ages, socioeconomic and abilities in Charlotte. Identifying the top behaviors and systems resulting in disproportionate serious injuries and fatalities in Charlotte's High Injury Network to foster a safety-first culture in the daily travel experiences for all Charlotteans

Why Charlotte:

71 crashes resulted in 71 fatalities in 2020

21 pedestrians were killed on our streets in 2020

People walking and bicycling are involved in < 3% of all crashes but account for 30-40% of all traffic deaths.

Vision Zero in Charlotte

Over the past ten years the city of Charlotte, NC has seen explosive population growth, adding close to 200,000 more drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists to our streets, paths and intersections.

Charlottehasrespondedbycreatingavarietyofsafeways for people to move around the city and connect with each other - we ' ve upgraded intersections, added more bike lanes and built additional sidewalks - as we continue to work towards the best possible transportation and pedestriansafetysystemsforourgrowingcity.

In 2017, drivers in Charlotte logged more than 23 million milesonourstreets,upnearlyamillionmilesfromtheyear before. While the number of crashes in our city actually decreasedby4%comparedto2016,thenumberoffatalities fromthosecrashesincreasedby35%in2017.

Crashesandfatalitiesnotonlytakeatollonhumanlife,but alsoonthecity'scapital-affectinglovedones,healthcare facilities, businesses and many other areas of our community.

That's why Charlotte renewed its commitment to safer streets in 2018 with the creation of Vision Zero, an action plan designed to reduce crashes and eliminate trafficrelated deaths and severe injuries by 2030. Why? Because evenonetraffic-relateddeathistoomany.

Vision Zero + Civility Localized

Communities of color are disproportionately impacted byCharlotte’sHighInjuryNetwork.Thehighinjurynetwork is the network of streets in Charlotte where the majority offatalandseriousinjurycrashesoccur.

Civility Localized, a Charlotte-based consulting firm focusedonequitableanddiverseengagementtoinform, educate and engage communities of color, and obtain quantitativeinformationandlivedexperiencesrelatedto safetravelhabitsandneeds.

Learn how we identified key stakeholders and created outreach opportunities that would reduce barriers for participation for our local Department of Transportation to make data-driven decisions for future Vision Zero Planning.

Ourgoal:

increase Vision Zero engagement and collaboration among community members who represent diverse cultures, languages, ages, socioeconomic and abilitiesinCharlotte.

We worked to identify the top behaviors and systems resulting in disproportionate serious injuries and fatalities in Charlotte's High Injury Network to foster a safety-first culture in the daily travel experiences for all Charlotteans and plan for safer street systems throughinfrastructureinvestmentsinkeyareas.

Goals and Objectives

Increase Vision Zero engagement and collaboration among community members who represent diverse cultures, languages, ages, socioeconomic and abilities in Charlotte. Identify the top behaviors and systems resulting in disproportionate serious injuries and fatalities in Charlotte's High Injury Network to foster a safety-first culture in the daily travel experiences for all Charlotte residents.

Overall Vision Zero goals will be implemented through: 1. 2. 3

Increased participation, representation, and level of awareness via surveys

Equitable investment in the built environment to keep all people safe

Decreased injuries and fatalities in the high injury network

Engagement tactics included: Surveys, Pop Up Events, Partnership events, Messaging Campaigns, PSA, Task Force engagement, Statewide networking and sharing of best practices and more ongoing communication with the City of Charlotte DOT on when and where traffic safety measures would be deployed.

SURVEY ANALYSIS

Overthepastthreeyears,VisionZerohasseensteadyincreasesinthenumberof Charlotteresidentsfamiliarwithitsmessaging.

Hereareresultsfromquestion1:Onascalefrom1-4,howawareareyouof Charlotte’sVisionZeroinitiative,astrategytoeliminatealltraffic-related deathsandsevereinjuries,whileincreasingsafety,healthandmobilityforall?

2022 REACH 2023 REACH

51%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s Vision Zero initiative in 2022

35%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s Vision Zero initiative in 2023

2022

SurveyResults Overview2022

STREET LIGHTS, CROSSWALKS, AND SPEED BUMPS

In 2022, the top 3 ranked traffic safety tools in order of importance to respondents were Street Lights, Crosswalks, and Speed Bumps.

UpgradedStreetLights

51%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s Vision Zero initiative in 2022

50%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s High Injury Network in 2022

Crosswalks

53%

SpeedBumps

of those that walk in their neighborhood, 53% feel between somewhat safe to safe

For 79% of those that walk, this influences how they travel in their neighborhood

SurveyResults Overview2023

SIDEWALKS 2023

One of the most marked differences between survey results in 2021 and 2022 and the survey results seen in 2023 has been the increased demand for sidewalks. In 2023, 59% of respondents said that improved sidewalks were the highest priority.

35%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s Vision Zero initiative in 2023

46%

of respondents were not aware at all of Charlotte’s High Injury Network in 2023

47%

of those that walk in their neighborhood, 47% feel between somewhat safe to safe.

For 86% of those that walk, this influences how they travel in their neighborhood.

2023

CommunityEvents SummerSafetyFest OpenStreets704 WorldDayofRemembrance NationalNightOut Online&PaperSurveysdistributed Lunch&LearnCommunityEvents PrintedMaterials(BrandedFlyersandPostcardswithQRCodes) TargetedEmailNewsletters BlogPosts,SocialMediaPosts,Stories,Reels,etc. Posters&StatisticsPrintedandDigital BrandedEmailstoStakeholders Equity-BasedFocusGroups EngagementMethods Engagement Snapshot 2022 13 13

What We Asked & What We Heard

As part of our Engagement Strategy, the Civility Localized Team routinely extracted survey responses and put them into branded graphics distributed in places like the Civility Localized email newsletters and across social platforms.

These graphics received high levels of engagement and helped generate conversations online about Vision Zero’s message and mission.

We use social media, email newsletters, and online surveys to engage the public on digital platforms. This allows us to engage wide portions of the population.

Methodology

Civility Localized developed a Community Engagement Strategy to accomplish the goals of the project plan, marketing, and branding for awareness campaigns. Our team met bi-weekly with CDOT, Vision Zero Program Managers, and City of Charlotte Communications Team.

At the outset, we conducted a high-level brand and messaging diagnostic This included a review of how the City’s Vision Zero initiative had been communicated to elected officials, stakeholders, and the public in the past.

Civility Localized then provided mapping and desktop publishing support for deliverables, as well as implementation and tracking support Our team of expert consultants developed metrics to track and measure progress Our internal design team developed branded content for distribution online and at pop-up community and neighborhood events around the city of Charlotte. Special attention was paid to tables at events in Charlotte’s corridors of opportunity.

At these events, Civility Localized Community Ambassadors interacted with the public and distributed surveys via QR codes, tablets, and paper flyers and handouts.

15 17

Partnerships & Collaborations

PartnershipsandcollaborationswereessentialtothesuccessofVisionZeroCLT.These included:

PublicPartnerships:TheCityofCharlottepartneredwithnumerouspublicdivisions, includingtheDepartmentofTransportationandCMPD Thesepartnershipsprovided expertiseandresourcesessentialtotheimplementationoftheVisionZeroActionPlan.

NonprofitPartnerships:TheCityofCharlottealsopartneredwithanumberofnonprofit organizations,includingGenerationNation,SustainCharlotte,andtheCharlotte LeadershipAcademy,tosupportVisionZeroCLT.Thesepartnershipshelpedtoraise awarenessaboutVisionZero,educatethepublicabouttrafficsafety,andsupport vulnerableroadusers

CommunityPartnerships:TheCityofCharlotteworkedwithavarietyofcommunity organizations,includingtheHiddenValleyNeighborhoodAssociation,andOpenStreets 704tosupportVisionZeroCLT.Thesepartnershipshelpedtoreachandengage communitymembersaboutVisionZero.