Comparison of Community Relations as a Public Relations Practitioner (Before and During Covid)

As much as Public Relations focus is on building, establishing, and maintaining a positive relationship with the public and solidifying this positive image, community relations embodies a different focus. Namely, community relations focuses on how an organization creates an active role and healthy relationship within the community that is beneficial to both the community, and the organization.  It is this active nature of participation and reciprocation that allows both the organization and community to thrive and prosper. 

How then does a community benefit from the active engagement of an organization? How does an organization benefit from actively engaging with the community? The community benefits from the pro-bono work done by the organization for any initiative or event that will directly support or positively affect the residents of the community. An example of what this may look like can be seen if an organization that specializes in the production of multi-media, delivers a free weekly workshop on video and photo editing at the city’s library. The community where this organization resides benefits because residents have an opportunity to gain new skills that they would not have been able to learn without the initiative led by the organization. In addition, the organization benefits from its positive community relations because it supports and builds the positive image of an organization that cares about the residents in its community. This in turn encourages both individuals within the community and abroad (globally) to support this organization because they demonstrate through their community involvement their benign nature, and reinforce this positive image through their communal actions. 

However, it is important to note that successful community relations are typically only reflected when the engagement genuinely matches the ethos of the organization. If the engagement does not genuinely match the ethos, the consequence may be that the communal actions taken by the organization will be interpreted as a phoney publicity stunt and damage both the relationship with the community and its overall public image.  

Although, it is clear that while community relations are still pivotal as a result of the ongoing global pandemic, the execution of good community relations has definitely changed. This change is because of the necessary restrictions in place to protect individuals from spreading and contracting the Covid-19 virus. Typical community relations activities and initiatives involving the physical participation of residents have changed.  Thankfully, said pandemic and the nature of the virus is taking place during an era where technology is moving forward at an unprecedented rate. It is through the means of technology where organizations have quickly adapted to apply the same principles highlighted of community relations but within the context of the pandemic. An multi-media organization could now do the workshop video and photo editing via a wide weekly online web conferencing call, and thus still positively engage with the community. Moreover, I suggest that it further increases the strength and validity of the community engagement because it shows that the organization is creatively engaging with the community by any means. When in reality, the organizations are not internally obligated to maintain strong community relations. 

In closing, having excellent community relations goes hand in hand with creating an excellent relationship with the public. It demonstrates that an organization carries positive and moral values, especially when organizations adapt and implement innovative initiatives through technology and other safe measures to connect with its community during these strange times.

When the community and its people support an organization, the organization will never fail, when an organization supports the community, both embark on a journey of growth.