Champions of Curiosity Awards 2020: Best Use of Community Listening in a Crisis
The Champions of Curiosity Awards is Hearken’s annual celebration of community listening, community building, and needs-based service approaches that make the world a better place. Throughout this challenging year, Hearken’s partners pulled through and delivered innovative projects that best served their communities, and we wanted to honor the impressive work they did.
How we picked winners: Our team at Hearken evaluated submissions based on the use of a Hearken service or platform, the creativity of the approach, solution, or offering, and the potential for others to replicate or model it. The winners are Hearken partners who’ve exemplified a commitment to engagement as good business through community-building and listening.
Winner: Wisconsin Public Radio’s WHYsconsin
What They Did:
Digital News Editor Andrea Anderson told us that “the coronavirus pandemic initially prompted a flurry of questions to Wisconsin Public Radio’s WHYsconsin about what would become ‘the basics’ of COVID-19: how did the virus come to be; how can you contract it and pass it on; who is most at risk; what can or can’t I do during a stay-at-home order; etc. But after people began to adjust to the ‘new normal’ of 2020, WHYsconsin began to see an influx in personal pleas.
People began to reach out to WHYsconsin asking about how to get unemployment assistance or if they qualified. Adults wrote in about calling the state Department of Workforce Development and being on hold for hours, only to have their calls go unanswered or dropped. They asked WHYsconsin about the status of their unemployment insurance supplements, claiming they hadn’t received them after applying weeks, sometimes months, prior. Parents and guardians began asking about rental assistance and organizations that are helping people in need of food and housing. People inquired about eviction moratoriums, utility shut-offs, and whether a landlord could force a tenant to show their apartment. The questions became increasingly personal and increasingly urgent.
WPR staff jumped in, seeing the pressing need to pull resources together for these Wisconsinites who were in crisis. The calls for help and information prompted numerous articles, and countless follow-ups, explaining: what unemployment insurance was; who qualified and where those payments were; how rent and evictions were going to work during the pandemic; and community resources for people. WPR would share these resources and stories via email with the question-askers. Unemployment insurance questions continue to make up a large portion of incoming questions. WPR’s business reporter, Rachael Vasquez, continues to rely on a spreadsheet of these questions submitted by the public to inform her reporting.”
Why We Picked Them:
At Hearken, we’ve always known that engagement is higher in times of need, and the challenges 2020 has presented exacerbated that trend. Many of our partners quickly pivoted their engagement strategies to focus on answering questions and responding to needs — best community listening in a crisis has been our most nominated category this year. We picked WPR’s WHYsconsin because it exemplified the quick adjustments and responsiveness necessary to use listening for mutual aid to support communities. In addition to doing the work to respond and serve, WPR also communicated out their process and responses to help them spread the word, serve more people, and inspire others to respond similarly.
Of the most-read WPR stories in 2020, two belonged to WHYsconsin, powered by Hearken, including the most-read story of 2020: What To Do If Someone In Your Household Tests Positive For Covid-19. Expert Answers Your Questions.
Key Lessons:
- It’s easier to pivot if you listen regularly: The time is always right to listen to our communities, but we noticed it’s easier for partners like WPR’s WHYsconsin to respond to changing community needs quickly because they are already in the habit of listening. It does take time to build trust with an audience and, since the benefits of listening compound, it’s best to start now.
- Responding to what people want to know is good business: We often hear newsrooms and community organizations say they don’t want to turn into a help desk, but people engage more when they’re looking for help. If you’re in the business of engaging with people, it’s good business to put yourself in a position to respond to what they need.
- If you build it right, they will come: Not all engagement is created equal, but if you invite engagement with a clear call to action, a connection to what’s important to the audience, and a plan for response, people will interact.
Honorable Mentions:
Curious about what other work is being done in this category?
Check out our partners Ashland Source, Richland Source, SCPR (KPCC and LAist), TV2/Fyn, Block Club Chicago, WUWM, and Oregon State University Alumni Association for their quick and responsive use of community listening and mutual aid in a crisis.
Read about other 2020 winners:
- Best Participation by a Question-asker, Community Member, or Steward
- Best Listening During a Live Event
- Best Collaboration Between Organizations
- Best Use of Creative Visuals or Interactivity
- Most Creative Promotional Strategy
- Best New Hearken Use-case
- Best Overall Service, Offering, Or Outcome
Want to become a Champion of Curiosity? We want that, too! Check out more about what we do and who we work with at wearehearken.com, follow us on Twitter @wearehearken, or sign up for our newsletter, The Hearkening.
