County Roots Newsletter

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

In late 2019, the Weld County Communications Department launched County Roots, a biweekly countywide newsletter that aims to answer two questions for county residents: What does county government do and why should taxpayers care? In a county that covers 4,000 square miles and lacks a daily newspaper, the communications team worked to develop a subscriber-based electronic newsletter to provide feature articles on county projects and initiatives in a manner that is not only easily digestible (we aim for a 700-word count maximum on the feature article) but also relatable as we humanize government by introducing readers to the employees working for the public and the projects that aim to improve the quality of life for county residents. The result is a successful emailed publication that has grown from 0 to 4,545 subscribers to date in five years (and 93 published issues) and has a high open rate indicating people are reading the information. A reader survey, conducted in 2022, revealed positive feedback from subscribers as well as ideas for future topics residents were interested in learning more about.