Strategic Communications for Municipal NPDES Compliance

Challenge

The City of Salinas needed to implement major changes to its stormwater management program to meet National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. The challenge involved educating residents in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods about new "No Parking" restrictions and street sweeping changes while building community buy-in for a program that would fundamentally change parking behaviors in East Salinas.

Our Approach

CPRA Strategies developed and executed a comprehensive, multi-year communications strategy focused on 4,148 households in East Salinas. Working closely with city staff, we designed a three-phase community engagement campaign that combined grassroots outreach with digital and traditional media:

  • Phase I (2023): Convene, collaborate, and capacity build with community stakeholders

  • Phase II (2024): Educate and motivate through citywide campaign

  • Phase III (2025): Deploy and activate targeted outreach in new route area

We partnered with local community-based organizations including the Center for Community Advocacy, United Farm Workers, Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueno, Building Healthy Communities, and Mujeres en Acción to amplify our message and ensure culturally appropriate, language-accessible communications in English and Spanish.

What We Did

  • Conducted face-to-face engagement with 7,177 residents through community events, targeted surveying, and direct outreach over three years

  • Engaged approximately 800 residents through major 2025 community events including AMOR Salinas Earth Day Festival, El Grito Festival, and Ciclovía

  • Created and deployed bilingual educational materials including direct mailers to 4,148 households, flyers, brochures, and promotional materials

  • Developed comprehensive social media strategy with 36 posts during the critical 2025 implementation period

  • Produced a viral 13-second video that became the City of Salinas' highest-performing social media post in history with over 380,000 combined views

  • Built email and text alert subscriber base of 332 residents throughout the campaign

  • Captured over 150 community comments providing valuable real-time feedback

Results

  • 949,877 total social media impressions across the three-year campaign (2023-2025)

  • 380,000+ views on single viral video across Facebook and Instagram

  • Consistent engagement rates within industry benchmarks: 2.57% (2023), 3.51% (2024), 2.63% (2025)

  • Website traffic growth from 1,281 users in 2024 to 6,700+ users in 2025, with street sweeping page consistently ranking as second most-visited page

  • Successful implementation of 90-day warning period followed by enforcement beginning August 4, 2025

  • Preliminary environmental monitoring (September 2025) showing significant improvements in the newly signed area: curb access improved from 6.3% to 60.2% "Good" access, and sediment debris levels improved, with the combined 'Very High' and 'High' categories declining from 69.7% to 27.3%

The City successfully launched its enhanced stormwater management program, achieving NPDES compliance objectives while maintaining strong community engagement. Preliminary data suggests the program is effectively protecting local waterways by improving street sweeper curb access and reducing pollutant discharge from urban runoff. The proven framework established in East Salinas provides a roadmap for potential future expansion to other neighborhoods citywide.