Although the City of Greenville spends tens of millions of dollars every year on services and projects, those efforts can often remain unknown to residents. This can be especially true when the work is on a scale that falls outside the scope of traditional news coverage — for example, tree plantings, playground reopenings or electric vehicle charging stations. To more effectively communicate and engage with its residents, the city created the Week-in-Review videos to tell its own stories in a fun, conversational way and to increase transparency.  

Greenville’s Department of Communications and Neighborhood Relations publishes the two-to-three-minute videos each Friday. The videos highlight how city staff is accomplishing council priorities in such areas as valuable growth, environmental sustainability, public transportation, recreation and events.  

The videos are an outgrowth of a written Week-in-Review, originally used only for an audience of city staff. The communications department developed a form for managers to submit news, and hired a multimedia communications specialist to develop stories and create external digital content. 

Stakeholders around Greenville and news outlets regularly share the videos, and staff has received feedback from new residents that the videos are helping them understand what is happening in the city. The videos have received more than 153,000 videos across the city’s online platforms. Because the project began during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also helped create connections even in the absence of normal engagement efforts and meetings. The city is now exploring how it can expand the audience for the videos.