COM 312 Strategic Writing

Communications Audit

CityGate Dream Center

Lindsey Schubert, Abby O’Mealey, Molly Thebau, Ari Brochin, Jon Logan

May 14, 2019

Communications Audit

Background

The city of Burlington is located in Alamance County in central North Carolina. The city

is home to over 50,000 people and spans over 25 square miles. In a city where over 20% of the

population lives below the poverty line, it can be hard to find an escape for the young children

growing up in that setting.

CityGate Dream Center was established in 2016. The community center was founded in

an effort to create a positive after-school environment for elementary, middle and high school

aged students who may not have a healthy place to go after the last bell of the day rings. The

center’s main goal is to keep these young children off of Burlington’s streets, and into a safer

environment that allows for dreams to be realized, curated and reached. The Dream Center is a

nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization. Its mission statement is “to create a sense of belonging within

our community so that we can inspire, develop, train, and advocate for children, students, and

families in the Eastern part of Alamance County.”

An extension of the CityGate Church, the center achieves its mission by holding after

school events and classes. Examples of classes include ZUMBA and “English as Second

Language” while events range from pumpkin carvings to Wednesday night meals. To appeal to

the center’s Hispanic population, certain classes are taught in Spanish. At every event, a meal or

snack is served. The center does a fantastic job of helping the surrounding community. Its efforts

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have been well-received by the public, seen by the sharp increase of attendees at the weekly

events and activities.

According to Lisa Edwards, the Executive Director, attendance has skyrocketed from 300

to 900 students who go to the weekly programs. As attendance is growing, so is the center itself.

In Spring 2019, there will be a grand opening of an entirely new wing of the center that will

include an indoor sports court, soccer field, coffee bar and large warehouse area for community

gatherings.

For the attendance levels being so high, it is surprising that the Dream Center does not

have a stronger online presence. Most of the events held by CityGate are spread by word-of-

mouth. Facebook and Instagram are rarely used, but pictures and graphics spreading information

about specific dates and times of special events are posted.

Currently, CityGate Dream Center consists of a head director, a senior staff comprised of

three people, a ministry team composed of three people including the director and a three person

administrative team. There are also volunteers who spend time working at the center.

The Burlington area is home to multiple other organizations that have similar goals to the

Dream Center. Examples of “competition” include the Boys and Girls Club and the Positive

Attitude Youth Center. These organizations are “competition” for the Dream Center as they aim

to bring in students of the same age ranges for similar purposes.

SWOT Analysis:

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Strengths -

- The Dream Center holds many inclusive events for community members of all ages.

- The Dream Center provides members fitness classes such as zumba, aerobics, and dance,

helping promote a healthy lifestyle throughout the community.

- The Dream Center welcomes members of all ethnicities and religions.

- The Dream Center’s association with the City Gate church encourages members of the

church to work with the center, whether it is participating in the activities, donating to the

center or helping volunteer.

Weaknesses -

- The Dream Center is lacking in its mobile communications, decreasing the ability to

reach a bulk of its target audience.

- The Dream Center is associated with the City Gate Church which may defer community

members away if he/she has different beliefs than that of the church.

Opportunities -

- The Dream Center has the potential to reach a greater audience including younger

generations with a greater social media presence.

- A online presence will increase the amount of public knowledge and awareness about the

center’s goals and mission. This will allow for a greater potential to reach new attendees,

donors and volunteers.

- The creation of a separate website for The Dream Center would be a great opportunity to

provide the public with information regarding the center as a whole along with specific

events.

Threats -

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 - Burlington has many community centers such as The Positive Youth Center and The

Boys and Girls Club. These community centers may take members away from the Dream

Center.

- Due to the lack of social media presence, competitors have a higher chance of gaining

members at higher and quicker rates than the Dream Center.

Recommendations:

Present:

The Dream Center’s use of mobile communications potentially holds the area for the

biggest improvement. Posting regularly on the already existing Facebook and Instagram accounts

can spread the word of events and provide important information to families, students and

volunteers. Content should be posted depending on the frequency of activities or special events.

Facebook has many great tools that the center can utilize, whether it is inviting members to

“like” the page, creating events where people can RVSP, and using the Facebook Live feature to

document events. A Twitter account would help get information about the center’s events in

short, quick bites of information. An Instagram account could showcase some of the faces who

help to run the organization to remain transparent with their followers, post pictures of the

events, film Instagram “Stories” and create countdowns for future events. An increase in social

media usage is highly recommended.

Another helpful step that can be taken to build the center’s online presence is to develop a

website under the domain that they have purchased and make it easier for people to access

information. The website could provide the organization a place to clearly send out information

to its publics without being difficult to find within the website for its parent organization. It

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could also include a separate page for volunteers to sign up, a donation tab and a separate

location for communication between the organization and the general public.

Future:

The Dream Center should focus on maintaining the social media and website. Since the

local area contains such a large portion of its audience, the center can also release event flyers

and post them in the surrounding area. To raise money, awareness and volunteer numbers, the

center can send out a press release or utilize a direct mail campaign to reach a wider

demographic of people who are looking to make a difference within their community.