3 Tips to become familiar with your community using maps

This post was originally published in April 2020.

Congratulations! Your new job just started! You’ve completed onboarding. You’ve set up your little work station and put an inspirational graphic as your company-issued computer’s wallpaper.

Your email alerts you to a new message: your supervisor has requested a time to check in and review your community outreach plan. One-on-one time with the supervisor is welcome as get on the same page with her expectations, but this message causes tension – she wants a community outreach plan already? You’re new the area and at this point only know how to get to the office!

Don’t worry. With these three tips, you’ll not only have something to discuss with your manager, but you’ll a have a foundation for a strategic plan to effectively learn about your coverage area and how to best help your community.

Technically, this process is called asset mapping or community resource mapping. They’ll help you identify what resources are already within the community, what they do, and where they are. Pick a color for each of these categories. I’m a visual person, so seeing how the dots are spread out or clustered says a lot about access to resources and how to approach this specific community.

1. Map out a plan

Get a good-sized map you can write on and some colored markers or Sharpies. My personal favorite are the county road maps from AARP. They are free on request to members, so ask someone to request a copy if you’re not a member. Otherwise, road maps, maps in annual guides from the Chamber of Commerce, or even a map printed from an image search is helpful. Just make sure that the map includes all of your coverage area and shows the major roads. Also, you’ll be writing on it, so find a map that is not too cluttered with extra icons. If you are working within a county or a similar size, zip code or city boundaries would also be helpful.

2. Create a colorful key

This will depend on your focus and how detailed your map needs to be. If you have a lot, then chunk the categories into big groups and draw a little symbol to differentiate them. For example, start with the big landmarks that serve everyone: hospitals, government buildings, libraries, and schools. If you know that you are going to have to put a lot of resources on the map and have limited room, then designate the big landmarks in one color, such as red, and draw each type of icon differently, such as hospitals as a square with a red cross, government buildings as a square with a pointy roof, and schools as a graduate’s cap with an E, M, or H to denote it as an elementary, middle, or high school.

3. Focus on your population’s needs

Putting every existing building and park on the map is not helpful. For example, if your focus is mothers with young children, denote elementary schools, day cares, and pre-Ks; locations of the WIC and Department of Health offices; parks with playgrounds; and clinics that that serve OB-GYNs or pediatric clients. If the focus is the homeless, you’ll need resource centers that offer food pantries, housing resources like the local public housing authority and HUD housing, places to sign up for welfare programs, and any coalitions that work with this population. Veterans groups would need the local VA office, VA clinic, groups serving veterans or offer veteran-specific programs, and many of the same resources that offer basic needs for the homeless.

Some other resources that may be helpful and surprising to map are: churches and religious centers, thrift stores, gyms, offices for disability lawyers, the Chambers of Commerce, and police and fire departments. Again, don’t go resource-wild and mark everything. Focus on the needs of your population.

Good places to start to find these resources are Google and marketing materials from Chambers of Commerce. As you work, keep track of questions, insights, or trends. These are good things to bring up in the supervisor meeting so you can get advice for your next steps.

By noting the resources where your clients work, play, and pray, you’ll get a great start to creating a strategic community outreach plan!

What would you add? What locations are important to your populations?