The City of Peoria has continually demonstrated itself as a forward-thinking, sustainability-minded city. With booming economic and population growth, Peoria is presented with the opportunity to support its community as the recent COVID-19 pandemic makes its way throughout the state. With financial instability and health concerns, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated several existing challenges, calling upon municipal entities to inform and facilitate emergency services.
To encompass a breadth of COVID-related challenges, three different classes, from various backgrounds, set out to understand and evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the City of Peoria and its residents. Each class evaluated a unique challenge and subsequently drafted diverse recommendations for the City of Peoria to consider. Each class worked directly with the City of Peoria, and research methods ranged from literature review to focus groups to provide the City with recommendations.
Students in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences addressed challenges regarding communication about the pandemic. Students individually evaluated samples of Peoria’s COVID-19 communication and provided recommendations for future messaging based on an evaluation of the intended audience and the effectiveness of the messaging. Key points from 30 individual student reports spanning 3 assignments were combined to create this class summary section.