Imagine logging into your Instagram or Facebook account and seeing a post advertising an upcoming community event that could be enjoyable.
Maybe it’s a block party in an area you just moved to where you can get to know your neighbors or an educational event for young families. The only problem? It happened two days ago, and you have no way of knowing when the next one is.
This problem has become all too common in cities around the world. Even nearly half a decade since the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments have struggled to rebuild a sense of community and connection among their residents.
It’s not as if city leaders aren’t trying. Community engagement is a cornerstone of any municipal budget, and a significant amount of resources are dedicated to executing such initiatives.
Local governments end up spending millions of dollars on events without knowing their community’s preferences, interests, or demands.
This ends up creating a vicious cycle of wasted resources, frustration, and degrading trust from community members and their leaders alike.
This seems like an issue with an easy fix. With social media being so prevalent, it would seem natural that these platforms are the go-to for disseminating information about local initiatives to the widest audience possible.
But social media can only go so far when residents have to access multiple pages or constantly monitor websites to find something that may interest them.
To help end this disconnect, the start-up With assists local leaders in maximizing their community-engagement budgets and empowering resident connections through a centralized community hub.
Based in Tel Aviv and Boston, With builds on the simplicity of a unified calendar to support local leaders in creating simple and vibrant community-building initiatives.
Partners worldwide
Currently partnering with more than 100 cities and counties across the US, Canada, and Israel, With brings every aspect of city and county payments, registrations, and communications to one synchronous platform for municipal staff and trusted partners to utilize.
What does that mean in practice? Let’s say a city’s arts council and the local library are planning a family event over a long weekend.
Using With, the platform would search for any time and location overlaps to avoid clashes, while also easily opening a ticketing system and alerting residents who may be interested in attending.
If it seems simple, it is, and that’s the point. However, a smart calendar is only one facet of With’s community-building capabilities.
How would community leaders know if this event would interest anyone? With also features an AI-powered PRM (patient relationship management) Platform, which can also suggest events based on residents’ demand and interest through previous interactions, helping municipal leaders gauge initiative impacts and ROI (return on investment). So, instead of depleting budgets on events that might not make a dent in community response, With’s PRM Platform can easily help create meaningful and personalized events for their residents.
“At With, our mission is to empower city and county leaders globally to build resilient, thriving communities that foster deep, meaningful connections among residents,” said Adi Perry, CEO and co-founder of With. “By equipping local leaders with cutting-edge tools to engage their communities in meaningful and personalized ways, we aim to transform every city and county into a vibrant, dynamic hub where residents feel truly connected and inspired.”
For residents, instead of navigating endless social-media pages, they can simply sign up for one event to receive direct, personalized notifications for future programs, ensuring that these initiatives do not go to waste.
By tailoring content and initiatives to what their residents want, municipalities can gain a better sense of how to effectively unite their constituents.
Recently, With closed $10 million in a funding round to help expand its reach across North America while also fueling improvements to its AI capabilities.
Across its partnerships, With has been able to drive substantial growth, with average increases of 315% in event participation, 284% in event creation, and 274% in resident registrations.
No matter the size of the community, residents must be able to feel a sense of companionship and connection to where they live and the people they’re surrounded by.
Creating strong and connected communities is not just important in times of crisis; it’s crucial to building trust and a real environment where people can thrive and trust each other.