What is Vital Public Information?
Vital Public Information is any information that affects the safety of individuals and property.
It's common to take for granted basic information that's been available to us for as long as we can remember. Much of what we take for granted can be unfamiliar to newcomers who continue to make Houston their new hometown. What we don't know can hurt us.
What we assume as obvious common sense precautions come from long experience about where we live. Knowing how to safely navigate the myriad complexities of a major metropolis can prove to be a steep learning curve for some immigrants and refugees.
The age and gender of our immigrant neighbors can also have a clear impact on what they understand about protecting themselves in neighborhoods with high crime incidence.
Basic Public Safety information on Robbery Prevention, Pedestrian Safety, Women's Safety, Disease Prevention and much more are needed in many of our language communities.
Houston International Network responds to this need for equal access to Vital Public Information.
Why We Deliver Vital Public Information
Delivery of Vital Public Information is an unmet & ongoing need in the language access plans of our public sector agencies.
Public sector agencies do not have the resources or expertise to deliver the diverse communications needed for the scores of immigrant language communities that populate our region's International profile.
Well-intentioned efforts to translate existing content on government websites and linking PDF full color brochures in 4 or 5 languages, is a costly and time-consuming endeavor.
Merely posting translated content on public agency websites assumes our language communities can access and navigate confusing and over-populated website formats.
None of these efforts meets the need to deliver vital public information directly into the hands of at-risk language communities.
Houston International Network's message delivery system breaks the logjam in language access by streamlining content and transmitting the specific vital info in-language directly to targeted language community networks.
Streamlining info content reduces translation costs, making more precious resource dollars available for more languages to be included.
Houston International Network focus on delivery of information addresses the structural deficits of the language access plans currently in place in our public sector agencies.
How We Deliver Vital Public Information
Houston International Network packages info content for
- Bulleted info points for basic messaging
- Streamlined content
- Translation cost efficiencies
- Quick & easy readability
- Easy link forwarding / sharing
- Easy download PDFs
- Cost efficient printability for hard copy distribution
- Response motivation effectiveness
Bilingual Format
- Side-by-side dual page display English / Bilingual
- Line-by-line bilingual bullet points
- Easy info access for bilingual households, businesses
- English acquisition support for Limited English proficiency
Delivery System
- Targeted digital transmission
- Macro-Networks to Micro-Networks to Social Networks
- Nonprofits & Businesses
- Volunteer distribution networks
Integrated Feedback Loop
- Network Partner input for added messaging
- Network Partner re message reach impact
Who Benefits?
- Just about everyone!
Houston International Network is one of those rare net-net-net solutions, the long needed fix for the persistent communications deficit in delivery of vital public information for our region's 100+ immigrant language communities.
When vital public info is effectively delivered to our language communities- fully 25% of our population, the impact of safer, healthier Houstonians reduces the cost of most front line public services.
Vital public information that helps immigrants understand how to protect themselves from robbery or assault, means fewer crime victims. Long term cost reductions in first responder services, police and EMT, supports down-line cost reductions in collateral budget expenditures. That benefits taxpayers.
Delivery of vital info helps immigrants understand our criminal justice system is not the same as those so distrusted in their homelands. It can reduce the number of crime victims not reporting to police. More perpetrators can be taken off the streets, making neighborhoods safer for everyone.
Safer neighborhoods attract new businesses, even immigrant start-ups, which then employ more Houstonians. That benefits our tax base.
Effective, targeted vital info delivery can engage trust-building relationships between communities and law enforcement. It can facilitate the kind of deep reach into neighborhoods that motivates reporting for Homeland Security through 'See Something / Say Something' relationships. That benefits everyone, everywhere.
2020 US Census
Our region loses billions in federal dollars when Houstonians do not respond to the US Census. When immigrants pay federal income taxes, but do not respond to the Census, our region loses it fair share of our tax dollar contributions. It does not return here to support the economic vitality, mobility and infrastructure of our cities.
Working with the City's Planning & Development Dept, our diverse communications delivery design drastically improved Houston' chronically low Census response rate. It pushed Houston to the 2nd highest response rate in the country. Even with this progress, Houston's 2010 Census undercount remains significant.
Houston International Network is designed to build meaningful reach into and motivate response in every immigrant language community in the region.
This is the front-end loading for effective communications to build reliable response patterns prior to the 2020 Census. The return of our federal dollars to the region benefits everyone.
Regional Cohesion Benefits
Shared knowledge is the cornerstone of American community vitality and the foundation of social cohesion.
