MISSISSAUGA, May 9, 2012 - Today, City Council approved its first Communications Master Plan outlining how the City will communicate with its citizens over the next 10 years.

"This plan is about enhancing two-way communications with citizens who expect more and are engaged in new channels as never before, "says director of Communications Ivana Di Millo. "It not only establishes a new vision for how best to exchange information with the public, it also provides staff with a new communications framework and 40-action items that are aspirational and achievable."

Di Millo noted the Communications Master Plan was developed based on industry benchmarks, market research, and current communications trends, as well as substantial input from both internal and external stakeholders.

Based on the new framework, the Communications Division will be focusing on:

Public Relations - proactive corporate reputation building
Citizen Engagement - interactive, two-way communications with stakeholders
Business Intelligence - measuring the City's effectiveness in communications using formal research
Communication Services - providing services the corporation needs such as creative design, writing, photography and video-graphy that is efficient and effective.

Deliverables include action items such as:

· managing more robust media relations and expanding into ethnic media relations;

· working collaboratively to develop a new brand strategy for the City;

· promoting accessibility and the use of plain language within the corporation to promote better understanding amongst all citizens;

· developing a Social Media Strategy;

· moving towards Government 2.0;

· developing a City App framework that includes a self-service 311 App for mobile devices; and

· developing a dashboard to measure communications effectiveness

"Citizens expect governments to be transparent and open in their communications. Our goal is to promote and enhance citizen participation in local government - both online and off and to develop a made-in-Mississauga communications plan that is aligned to the City's Strategic Plan, Business Plan and other City master plans," Di Millo said.

For more detailed information about the City's Communications Master Plan, please refer to the Executive Summary (see link) or contact Project Manager Sonja Banic at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it