The Civic Edge team has had the pleasure of working with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) since 2023, partnering with SFUSD staff on two important initiatives: community engagement to support capital planning for the 2024 bond and facilitation support for the Resource Alignment Initiative District Advisory Committee.
In 2023, Civic Edge was selected to spearhead a comprehensive public education campaign to inform the SFUSD community about a bond potentially going to ballot in 2024, solicit valuable input on specific needs of schools, and share information about the Bond Program’s proposed priorities for the allocation of school bond funds.
Our approach spanned diverse channels including: targeted email outreach, newsletter announcements, flier drop-offs, immersive school site presentations, and trilingual surveys via text message and online forms. The team organized 21 school site presentations reaching 358 attendees, offering detailed insights into the 2024 bond, Facilities Master Plan, and Facilities Condition Assessments. Email outreach touched 115 schools via personalized email, resulting in a 49% response rate from 55 schools that were identified to have poor or fair ratings for their facilities conditions. Overall, the campaign generated 565 engagements, involving 233 surveys, 358 presentation attendees, and 32 flier drop-off conversations across 68 schools.
Between November 2023 and May 2024, the Civic Edge team supported logistics for SFUSD’s District Advisory Committee (DAC) that was convened to provide input related to the Resource Alignment Initiative and make a recommendation about upcoming school mergers, co-locations, and closures. Through bi-monthly meetings, the SFUSD, with support from Civic Edge, facilitated conversations, heard public comment, and documented feedback from DAC members. The Civic Edge staff also conducted mid-way interviews with DAC members and supported in drafting notes and key themes throughout the project.