The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center did more than devastate one section of Lower Manhattan; it wrought havoc across the New York metropolitan region and touched millions of people around the globe.  Yet, as rebuilding plans got underway, the Civic Alliance, a coalition of civic, labor, business, environmental, and community groups, grew concerned that authorities were inadequately involving the broader public in decision making. 

M+R Solution
At the request of the Civic Alliance, M+R developed a plan to bring together a carefully balanced cross-section of 5,000 New York area residents for Listening to the City, a mammoth, 21st century town hall meeting on how to memorialize those lost on 9/11 and how to rebuild.  Combining targeted field outreach with strategic use of grassroots media, M+R filled the vast Javitz Convention Center with a crowd that accurately represented the extraordinary social, demographic and geographic diversity of the New York region—a crowd that neither the media nor the decision makers could ignore.

Results
During the meeting, facilitated by America Speaks, participants weighed in with strong opinions, and even before Listening to the City concluded, key public officials stated their willingness to rework their proposed plans in light of the public’s feedback. 

Listening to the City generated a great deal of media attention, from front-page coverage in The New York Times to articles in the Vietnamese Saigon Times and extensive broadcast coverage.  Most importantly, by bringing together thousands of ordinary people from across the most diverse and complex city on earth for a democratic discussion about rebuilding what the terrorists destroyed, Listening to the City reaffirmed for New York and the world what the 9/11 terrorists could not destroy.

M+R Expert
For more information on this campaign or advice on a similar effort, please contact Michael O’Loughlin, moloughlin@mrss.com or 917-438-4609