Welcome Packet for New Residents
The Oakland Communications Commission gained a new commissioner in 2021 and was brought aboard by the Commission's then-liaison, Councilman Grant Van Eck. The Councilman was able to explain to his then-new neighbor the work that the Commission and its committees were doing and the individual decided to get involved and come aboard.
The new commissioner was happy to join, but expressed that he did not even know the Commission existed. Frankly, it turned out that he didn't know too much of what was going on in Oakland if it wasn't for his elected official neighbor. To Commission Chairman Ryan Schwertfeger, who had lived in Oakland since 1998, hearing that a new resident of the Borough had not a clue about the Commission, or frankly, most of the organizations, non-profits, committees, and commissions of the Borough, was troubling. Ryan got to thinking - is that one reason why volunteerism is low in town? How can new residents join anything if they don't know it even exists? How could new residents attend events to meet current volunteers running these groups if they don't know when the events are?
As this was brewing in his mind, Ryan visited his uncle who lived in Austin, TX and while helping him look for some paperwork, he stumbled upon a booklet and a folder with fliers and information about his housing development from when he moved in over a decade ago. It provided information about garbage pickup, events in the complex, where to go to pay bills, rules and regulations in a booklet and the rest of the folder contained contact information for local officials, members of the HOA. Ryan asked his uncle about it said that he kept it all since it was important when he first moved in and he consulted it every now and then for specific inquiries.
The idea fully blossomed into the concept of creating a Welcome Packet/New Resident Manual - something that could be given to welcome new residents when they moved in Oakland that included Borough resources, information, and even some history about the town and upcoming events that year. Non-profits and Borough groups could also contribute information about their organizations and boards, committees, and commissions, and an opportunity could also be provided to Oakland businesses who want to offer coupons, throw in a menu or pamphlet about themselves for small charge that would help cover the printing of materials, and the delivery of all of this information in a nice, reusable bag that could be delivered by a volunteer.
The Communications Commission updated the previous Website & Social Media Committee to include the "Welcome" in its name, for the welcome packet, in February 2022 and work has been progressing ever since then. The Committee has been working on assessing pros and cons of other municipalities who have created similar Welcome Packets/New Resident Manuals, like Ramsey, Franklin Lakes, Randolph, Bloomingdale, Cherry Hill, Millburn, and Roxbury - all in New Jersey alone!
Friends of Oakland Communications aims to bring funding and other resources towards this project so it ideally could be created and maintained for years to come with zero taxpayer dollars. The standing OCC Welcome, Website and Social Media Committee we would hope would then take the lead in creating, updating, and distributing the packet to these new residents. Friends of Oakland Communications hopes this Welcome Packet/New Resident Manual will serve as an official welcome for residents moving into the Oakland community and hopefully with it, plant the seeds for a more informed and more involved populace for years to come.
