There is one place stakeholders, partners and community members and residents go to find the most up-to-date information about Uptown Consortium, Inc.’s (UCI) work: the organization’s website.
As a centralized information hub, UCI’s website showcases how the organization brings local neighborhood, civic and institutional leaders together to focus on transportation, safety, economic development and community inclusion opportunities. It also highlights how the unique combination of economic and cultural diversity creates a one-of-a-kind community.
Because the website serves multiple audiences, UCI frequently updates it with the latest information and improvements to the visitor experience.
Specifically, through storytelling, infographics, visuals, video, and a new, interactive Mapbox tool, the website is designed to:
Build relationships with partners throughout the region and connect affiliates, residents, stakeholders as needed by telling the stories of the partnerships.
Increase visibility by raising awareness among community members, partners and peers about UCI’s work in Uptown.
Support Uptown’s economy by developing and promoting new programming to support and engage Uptown businesses and nonprofits.
Highlight compelling data that partners are using to pursue grants and secure funding.
UCI recently engaged Nahamani Yisreal, owner of Nahamani.com, a creative digital marketing agency, to make user-experience improvements to the website. “We have found it critically important for website owners to continually give visitors a new way to interact with their online content,” Yisrael said. “Adding on new features, such as an interactive map, transforms your website into a useful resource with which their audience can engage and makes them want to come back again and again.”
According to Nahamani, the new Mapbox tool enables a location data platform on UCI’s website that increases the user experience and allows them to search for completed and in-progress developments along with the latest information about the projects. Mapbox also pinpoints UCI’s members on the map, including Uptown Cincinnati’s largest employers and the area’s leading tourist attraction.
In addition to Mapbox, the website features interactive sections to highlight UCI’s work, including:
Showcasing UCI’s role as a thought leader in economic development through over 300 news articles published on the site accessed by a new search engine.
Highlighting how UCI has facilitated $1.4 billion in development projects (redevelopment, new construction, and neighborhood improvements) in Uptown inducing over $2.4 billion in project investments.
Programming and events that encourage stakeholders' attendance.
According to Brooke Rapp, Director of Community Development at UCI, the website continues to tell the story of past and current successes of the 18-year-old organization. “How our target audiences use and consume digital media changes daily,” said Rapp. “Continually updating the website with relevant content and improvements will help us reach Uptown’s estimated 46,721 residents and the over 1,000 businesses employing an estimated 90,469 individuals.”
Rapp believes UCI’s effort to frequently seek out creative and unique ways to engage multiple audiences through the website is working.
“The UCI website is an integral part of Avondale Development Corporation’s community engagement efforts. The vast reach of the website allows us to communicate with more residents, organizations, businesses and community leaders about UCI’s redevelopment focus areas that impact the Avondale neighborhood, one of Uptown’s five core neighborhoods. We link to the website at every opportunity, including through our blogs and social media,” said Russell Hairston, Executive Director of Avondale Development Corporation.
Please visit the site and drop us a line to tell us what you think. Send an email to brapp@uptownconsortium.org.