Community Outreach

Building public confidence and keeping projects on track.

SSE is skilled at community outreach for active infrastructure construction projects. Working as our client's advocate and community liaison, we attend neighborhood meetings, build relationships and encourage involvement of residents, local businesses, officials and advisory agencies to generate support for the project and address objections.

By disseminating clear, timely information about client projects to the public from the start, we smooth the way to completion. We create and maintain project-specific Web sites and hotlines, and even use social networking sites to keep the public informed about upcoming projects. When motorists need to be alerted to traffic changes, we use tools such as variable message signs on roadways, and when appropriate, deliver advisories via print, radio and television.

WalkShop ®

Among SSE's arsenal of community outreach methods is WalkShop®. A combination of workshop and walking tour, WalkShop® introduces agency officials and community members to the construction site and surrounding area. The participants are led around the perimeter of the site – and when possible, into certain active parts of the site — and given ample information on what they observe and what they could expect to see in the future.

WalkShop® allows participants to ask questions they previously didn't know where to direct and provide them with immediate answers. In addition to SSE outreach personnel, the client's representative is usually on hand to respond to inquiries and observe the proceeding. WalkShop® also gives participants the opportunity to present concerns. These concerns are recorded by attendant SSE staff, which collaborates with the client to follow up and craft a solution. Participants walk away from the experience knowing that their opinions matter and their concerns are being addressed.

WalkShop® has been very successful at the World Trade Center site in New York, where Sam Schwartz, the company's working CEO, provides personal tours on behalf of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. WalkShop® has shed light on the construction progress in and around the site, helped to maintain a relationship with community members and led to various quality of life improvements in the area.

For more information about SSE’s WalkShop® services please visit the Contact Us section.