In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic became the sole focus of governments at all levels, JGPR worked closely with several of its clients to develop dedicated websites addressing the pandemic on a local level.
The Town of Brookline was the first of several in Massachusetts to develop and utilize this resource. BrooklineCOVID19.com was conceived of and preliminarily built out over the course of just 24 hours, and announced publicly for the first time via a live question and answer session hosted virtually by the Select Board.
BrooklineCOVID19.com has evolved regularly since its first launch, with myriad additional resources cycling onto and off the site as the crisis dictated. The site served a number of key purposes, chief among them streamlining the town’s communication about COVID-19 by linking to all town-owned social media profiles, ensuring its core audiences would be reached. The site also served as a clearinghouse for general and town-specific information — including active changes to government operations and regulations, streetscape modifications and initiatives to support individuals and businesses navigating the financial impacts of the pandemic.
By seamlessly integrating town, state and federal resources, BrooklineCOVID19.com and others like it in additional communities gave all town stakeholders a one-stop resource for the most up-to-date information as the pandemic unfolded — from resources to ease the initial stay-at-home phase to information about testing, then vaccinations and eventually long-term recovery resources as the pandemic one day concludes.