Professional Communication

300 Kingston Hall Cheney, WA 99004-2445

509.359.0000 jnelson@eagles.ewu.edu


Recommendation Report
Our Place Ministries

Group 6
Jennifer Nelson, David Cannon, Katelyn Johnston




[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of
the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the
contents of the document.]
1



Jennifer Nelson, David Cannon, and Katelyn Johnston
Students of English 305, Professional Communication, at Eastern Washington University

March 15, 2013

Joan (insert last name)
Our Place Ministries
1509 W College Ave
Spokane, WA 99201

Dear Joan,

Enclosed you will find our recommendation report on how Our Place can better serve the West Central
community of Spokane with the use of technology. This recommendation has been compiled by
students of the professional communication course at Eastern Washington University who think that the
West Central community of Spokane would benefit from better use of Facebook, Twitter, and the Our
Place website. We are honored to present the extensive research we have done on how Our Place has
used technology, and how they could use it differently to better the community.

22 years ago Benedictine Sister Meg Sass began organizing outreach centers in the West Central
Spokane neighborhood
1
; one of them would later be named Our Place as we know it today. Our Place
Community Ministries, a West Central Christian Outreach, respectfully welcomes and supports our
neighbors in improving their quality of life.
2
Founded in 1987, Our Place has helped thousands of people
each year who have needed services from blankets to keep warm to those who need bus passes to get
around Spokane. Our Place is privately funded but donations are always welcome and can be dropped
off at their location. That being said, Our Place has not been using technology to its full potential.

In todays world, social media networks are a significant part of the way people communicate and relay
information today. Whether it is Facebook or Twitter, businesses and organizations are always trying to
get their information out to the general public, especially those in West Central Spokane. Organizations
connected in this way form a mutual relationship, as they become aware of what Our Place is and what
can be done for them, opportunities to work or affiliate with these new groups and organizations
becomes more feasible.


Thank you for your time. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call. We can be reached by
email at jnelson@eagles.ewu.edu or kjohnston@eagles.ewu.edu.

Sincerely,





1
www.thefigtree.org
2
www.ourplacespokane.org
2




Table of Contents

Executive Summary/Abstract 3

Introduction 3

Research Methods 4

Discussion 4

Interpretation 4

Conclusion 5

Recommendation 5

References

Appendices
























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Executive Summary/Abstract

In todays world, social media networks are a significant part of the way people communicate and relay
information today. Whether it is Facebook or Twitter, businesses and organizations are always trying to
get their information out to the general public, especially those in West Central Spokane. Organizations
connected in this way form a mutual relationship, as they become aware of what Our Place is and what
can be done for them, opportunities to work or affiliate with these new groups and organizations
becomes more feasible. Many of Our Place online presences are out of date which could possibly be
hindering the usability of the organization. For example, Our Place created a Facebook page in 2010 but
has done nothing to utilize it and hasnt updated the page since 2011. Moreover, a current Our Place
newsletter has not been dispersed since 2011. In addition, Our Place presently has no Twitter account.
The Our Place website, which is the most useful source of information about the organization, has no
recent update to be seen either.

Through better use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as updating the Our Place
website and sending out an electronic newsletter, Our Place would become better known throughout
both the West Central neighborhood and the City of Spokane. If Our Place had a stronger presence on
the internet, it would not only develop a way to serve more people within the community, but the
business communities of Spokane and Washington State would more easily find information about Our
Place, its mission, and its successes. Any organization looking to branch out would then more likely be
able to donate supplies, sponsor programs, or affiliate with Our Place for the betterment of the
community at large.

Introduction
Our Place has been serving the West Central neighborhood of Spokane since 1987. It offers emergency
services and supplies to those who are in need such as blankets, hygiene products and resources for
emergency shelters.

In this day and age, more and more businesses have a presence online and on social media websites.
This presence makes a business have a greater, more prominent name due to the enormous amount of
people interacting and researching online. Research has proven that Our Place has a strong presence
neither online or in social media which gives Our Place and its services less publicity. Our Place does
have a website: www.ourplacespokane.org. But regretfully, some of the information on the website is
outdated. As far as social media goes, Our Place has a Facebook page with some basic information on it.
It has information on where Our Place is located, the mission statement, and the donations taken.
However, Our Place has not updated their Facebook page since the year 2011. With social media being
so popular now, many people go on sites like Facebook to find out information about the business and
the services that they offer. Similarly, businesses utilize the networking power in order to promote their
organizational values and update the community on what its doing. Since Our Place has not updated
their Facebook page since 2011 the audience simply does not know if the information is currently
relevant. If information about Our Place were more available online and via social media, it would be
able to serve the community more efficiently.
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Methods
We began researching Our Place online with a simple Google search to see what turned up. At first, we
typed in Our Place Spokane into the search bar. The first link that came up was the Our Place website
which we found was not up to date. The second link that came up when we searched for Our Place on
Google was the Fig Tree website, which gives information about how faith based organizations are
helping the community. After doing the Google search on Our Place we decided to take our search to
Facebook.
When we search for Our Place on Facebook we simply typed in Our Place Spokane and their page
popped up right away. We then went through their Facebook page to find information about them and
what they had posted throughout their time in the city. What we found was barely any information
besides who they are and what they do. When we saw this, many questions started to come up like:
What if people see this and think they arent there anymore? Why havent they updated? Truthfully,
if they arent updating their presence online, how can they expect people to know about or utilize their
services?

Discussion
Google Search
When we had finished our research on Our Place both online and on Facebook, we discovered we
couldnt find any recent information on how many people they had helped in the last year. When
looking around the Our Place website we found a link to a PDF version of their newsletter from October
of 2011. The newsletter discusses how many people they had helped that year and stories of what they
were doing in the community, however, we werent able to find any recent information on their website
from 2012 and how many people they had helped and what they were doing in the community for that
year. Another thing we discovered while perusing around the Our Place website was that some of their
information hadnt been updated on there either. For example, the headline of their webpage says this,
Supporting the West Central Spokane Community since 1987. Then under the About Us tab on their
website it says Our Place just celebrated its 20
th
year of serving our community! If Our Place has been
serving the West Central Spokane community since 1987, then its 20
th
anniversary would have been in
2007.

Also, when we searched on Google for Our Place a link came up from www.thefigtree.org, which is an
organization that shows how faith based organizations are helping out in the community. Their website
had several articles on Our Place, from when they moved to their new location to how they have an Our
Place garden that they maintain. The most recent article we found on Our Place on the Fig Tree website
was from 2010, meaning that there is a clear lack of community updates about Our Place.

Facebook Search
Searching for Our Place on Facebook was easy and we found their page by simply typing Our Place
Spokane into Facebooks search bar. What we found on Our Places Facebook page was like many other
findings; that it hadnt been updated since the year 2011. The only information we found on the
Facebook page was an article that was written in 2010 about how the government had cut funds to
programs that help the poor.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, Our Places presence online has decreased over the past few years. The community would
greatly benefit from Our Place if it had a sustainably strong presence online. The internet is used every
minute of the day by many people throughout the city. Even if the people that use Our Place do not
have their own internet access, theres almost always some way that they can reach a computer. The
Our Place Facebook page and the Our Place website could be used by other populations in the
community as well, promoting the organization through word of mouth. Moreover, successful clients of
Our Place may have great reviews for the organization, which would similarly promote the organization.
Sometimes, even families of those in need will access the Our Place website and Our Place Facebook
page to find out information. If Our Place put a resource guide that the Professional Communication
students at Eastern Washington University created during their course onto the Our Place website and
Facebook page, more people in the community would benefit from those resources both inadvertently
and directly.

Recommendation
Our recommendation for Our Place would be to create a better presence online and continuously
update information. The community would benefit from an updated Facebook page, an updated
website, and even by putting a resource guide up on the Our Place website. This would give the business
community better knowledge of what Our Place does and what they need from the community to help
complete their mission. A stronger online presence would also give the public better knowledge of how
Our Place can help them, and how other individuals can help and contribute.