This past summer the Courant partnered with a group of local DJs on behalf of the Hartford Courant to organize a community taco night and co-create a digital questionnaire for the city’s mayoral candidates.
More than 50 community members gathered over dinner and music in downtown Hartford to discuss and vote on the questions that the Courant would then submit to each candidate’s campaign.
Questions included, “What’s your vision for affordable retail downtown?” and “What will you do to increase accountability and transparency in Hartford police?” After receiving the responses, we published them on courant.com.
It was important for us to reach city residents we didn’t already have relationships with, so instead of promoting the event via our branded accounts, we had local influencers share the event details organically on their social platforms. We sold out the event in one week.
More than anything else, the most rewarding part of the project was being able to create a space to have meaningful conversations with our neighbors and work together around the common goal of proposing solutions to the issues facing our neighborhoods, city and state.