When COVID hit, I knew I had to work fast to find ways for folks quarantining at home to support Downtown Harrisonburg businesses. I did this through promoting HDR-originated efforts (#EverydayHVA campaign, COVID-19 directories, Friendly Faces of the Friendly City blog series) and amplifying merchants and community members who were in need of or providing help (GoFundMes, food banks, grant opportunities, mask and face shield distribution). Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance earned a Virginia Main Street Merit Award and two Virginia state honors for its COVID-19 response.
Role
- Created, strategized, and executed the #EverydayHVA campaign, in which visitors could enter to win gift cards by submitting receipts from socially-distanced purchases at Downtown businesses
- Collected giveaway entries, performed drawings, and ordered/shipped gift card prizes to winners
- Created and maintained two COVID-19 directories:
- A shopper directory with links to buy gift cards and order from downtown businesses online
- Earned 11,000 page views from 7,000 unique users in its first month
- A Facebook post promoting the directory reached 52,000 users and earned 10,000 post clicks
- A business directory with financial, technical, and community support resources for merchants
- A shopper directory with links to buy gift cards and order from downtown businesses online
- Worked with local writer to promote community members’ COVID-19 response stories in the “Friendly Faces of the Friendly City” series
- Monitored social media for resources, grants, assistance, fundraisers, community stories, and opportunities to get involved—and promoted them all via email and social media