MPA student John Froonjian is lead author on an article titled, “Reaching the Hard to Reach: Drawing Lessons from Research and Practice,” (co-authored with emeritus Professor of Public Administration, Dr. Jim Garnett) to be published in the next issue of the peer-reviewed journal, International Journal of Public Administration.  This research started out as a Rutgers Special Problems in Public Administration course project.  We will post a link to information about the article when it is available; in the meantime, here is the abstract:

“Communicating to citizens, stakeholders, or service clients is challenging under normal circumstances.  Reaching government audiences who are hard to reach because of language or culture differences, lifestyle unpredictability, mistrust, isolation, or other reasons compounds the difficulty.  This article examines who are the hard to reach, addresses reasons why it is important for governments to reach them, explores research and experience, suggests effective approaches for reaching these audiences-drawing upon a social constructionist approach-and proposes lessons and guidelines for public sector communicators.   Communication practice and research indicate that more effective strategies include: utilizing knowledge about target audiences, forming partnerships with agencies and individuals that interact with targeted populations; utilizing children to reach parents and older relatives; using ethnic media that effectively reach immigrant and ethnic minority households, and simplifying communication and using feedback techniques.”

Congratulations, John!