As a water utility, your product touches every part of the community. You’re an integral part of your customer’s everyday lives. But how often do you get to connect directly with the people you serve? Not just to pay a bill or fix a meter, but simply as an active, visible presence in the community? When a utility embraces opportunities to get more involved with the communities they serve, they can help to build relationships, create a sense of trust, and educate customers of all ages about the importance and value of water. At Louisville Water, community outreach is an important part of our communications strategy. Decades of experience has allowed our team to develop key strategies and resources to address several customer-facing topics. As part of our presentation, we aim to share not just the value of community engagement but practical ways to get involved with community events even if you have limited staff or a shoestring budget. We’ll focus on two subject areas that have proven to be popular at the community events we attend – Healthy Hydration and Leak Education. For each topic, we’ll share some of our key messages, the tabling resources we provide for customers, easy activities to get children engaged, and ideas for specific community groups and events to get involved with. It is our hope that every utility present will be able to come away with at least one actionable tip that they can implement to become more public facing in their community. Every little step we take towards community involvement can help build trust and improve public perception . We know that every water utility works incredibly hard to serve their community 365 days a year. By taking steps to find your seat at the ‘community table’, you can help to share that story, educate your customers, and elevate the value of water.