Results of Community Based Team Projects
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What?
La Línea is a helpline
dedicated to the Spanish speaking and immigrant community of Champaign-Urbana.
Since 2010, La Línea has served the diverse Latino community by helping with
advocacy, translation, referrals, etc. As a team, we focused our attention on
developing their Facebook page. Our goal was to communicate with and inform the
community of various opportunities and resources as well as expand the reach and activity of La Línea’s Facebook
posts. From the start, we decided we wanted to have a general layout of what we
would post each day, week by week to have similar themes but to also make sure
that our posts were varied enough. On Mondays, we posted about various events happening
in the local community, from community gatherings and La Línea fundraisers to educational
events like DACA Workshops and Health Fairs. On Wednesdays, as a form of empowerment,
we informed them about Latinos making national news. Lastly, on Fridays, we posted information about agencies and
organizations that can help with a variety of problems including healthcare,
immigration rights, domestic violence, etc.
With our strategy we were able to promote La Línea and the services we provide
but also involvement in the community,
empowerment, and education. We often followed our schedule but sometimes added
a post in between or diverted from the
theme for that day. We realized the need for flexibility if there was something happening in the community
or an issue or event we wanted the clients to know about such as Governor
Rauner’s budget cuts.
So what?
Posting on the
Facebook page over the course of this semester allowed our group to really
collaborate and work together as a
team. When a client calls the helpline to ask a question, they only get a sneak
peak into what La Línea does. With the schedule we set up for the semester, we
were able to inform clients about events and resources they wouldn’t think of asking about or wouldn’t have
typically known about. We made sure the clients’ needs were being met through
the Facebook page. Our goal was to post relevant material that would benefit
the community and inform them of resources they could use that they might not have
known about. The various community-hosted events that we promoted over the
course of the semester such as the DAPA and DACA information sessions were crucial
because La Línea serves many immigrants.
Our group was able to work very closely editing and revising every single post
on the Facebook page to make sure everything that was posted was pertinent,
useful information that the Champaign-Urbana immigrant and refugee community
could use. It was really important for us to have posts in English and Spanish
since La Línea serves English and Spanish speakers. We made sure the grammar
and usage of Spanish was as accurate as possible because we wanted to show
clients the effort and careful deliberation put into each post, which helped create
rapport for and confidence in La Línea as a whole.
Now what?
La Línea has brought
so many wonderful opportunities to Latinos living in the Champaign-Urbana community. Our hard work has
contributed to a large social media following of individuals who use our
services to seek out ways to immerge themselves and become a part of the
growing community. From our advertising of various activities, group outings,
restaurant deals, special events, etc., we have promoted a strong and stable
place for Latinos to come together and share common interests. We learned the
importance of teamwork and collaboration by working together to create a
schedule for online posts and making sure we paid close attention to the needs
of our followers. People choose to actively follow La Línea’s Facebook page
because it is consistently updated with new opportunities. In addition to the
online support, the page also provides the helpline’s phone number if further
detail is requested about a particular subject or event. In the future, the
social media team can connect current clients with the Facebook page by telling
them about the page and what it is for. Awareness is crucial. Other future
strategies can include creating themes based on the needs and interests of
Latinos and immigrants specifically in the Champaign-Urbana community, but the team should investigate and find
evidence as to what those needs and interests are versus basing it on personal opinion. There is room for
improvement and as La Línea grows, other forms of social media can be used to
market the agency as well. So many Latinos utilize our services and we are
happy to lend a hand. Because of our growing popularity, we hope that more and
more people will find the support we provide helpful and continue to visit our
page!
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