Lakeland Community and Economic Development highlights digital outreach and neighborhood engagement

Theresa Mayo, director of Community and Economic Development (CED) for the City of Lakeland, told the commission that the department uses a mix of digital tools, in-person events and neighborhood-focused staff to increase resident engagement and support economic development work.

Mayo said the department assigns a planner to work with neighborhood associations as a single point of contact and highlighted Shawanda Bonner in that role. The department also employs a community engagement coordinator, a position created in 2019, and uses email platforms such as Constant Contact to reach neighborhoods and track results.

Mayo and staff cited metrics and examples to illustrate engagement practices: a Constant Contact message reached 979 residents in the Crystal Lake neighborhood with nearly 60% opening the message; the department reported a general 48% open rate for its mass emails, higher than a benchmark cited in the presentation. The CED used a Google form to survey Dixieland residents about sidewalk preferences (approximately 980 notifications, ~82 responses) and used the data to identify favored connections. The department also noted it exported 12,000 applicant contacts to warn them of a scam, achieving a 43.1% open rate for that notice.

Staff described in-person outreach and events as central to engagement. The Lakeland Business Resource Office participated in 17 in-person events in 2024 and 15 so far in 2025. A housing workshop in May hosted with the Florida Commission on Human Relations drew more than 90 residents and service providers. CED said it promotes events and programs in English and Spanish and uses targeted outreach to neighborhood associations, property owners and stakeholders for major planning efforts, including an economic development study for US 92 Memorial Boulevard that generated a 53.4% email open rate for the kickoff meeting.

The department said it tailors message and medium to audience and highlighted a social video series produced by Sam Odom, community engagement coordinator. CED staff also noted operational improvements such as a GIS-based interactive dashboard of active code-enforcement cases exported nightly from the IMS permitting and enforcement portal.

Mayo closed by reminding commissioners about upcoming events including a biennial historic home workshop on Oct. 25 at Florida Southern College that offers sessions on topics like window restoration and historic research.