PLANNED  COMMUNITY  RELATIONS PROGRAM Learning Objective: Recognize the stages of a planned community  relations  program. Developing   a   planned   community   relations program is a problem that the public affairs staff must solve.  There  are  four  basic  stages  to  developing  a community  relations  program  for  a  typical  Navy command: l  Fact-finding l  Planning l  Communicating . Evaluating FACT FINDING To  maintain  an  effective  community  relations program,  you  must  identify  the  community  needs  and command  abilities.  If  the  interests  of  the  command  do not coincide with the interests of the community, all your activities will be in vain. You must identify areas in which the command can make a positive contribution to the  community  within  its  abilities  and  assets.  Ideally, your  community  relations  program  should  fulfill  a common  interest.  Thus  these  common  interests  must  be identified  through  fact-finding. A  good  many  “common  interests”  exist  at  most installations. Your most valuable assets–people-are already making such contributions. People of all ranks, ages  and  education  levels  bring  their  own  unique interests and activities with them when they arrive at your command. These are the Little League baseball coaches, the Scout masters, the scuba divers, the karate enthusiasts,   the   members   of   the   local   PTA,   the performers in church choirs-those who participate in all manners of community activities. A practical way of finding these people is to do a feature  story  for  your  base  newspaper.  You  will  likely discover that one contact leads to another. One person active  in  some  community  endeavor  almost  always knows someone else in another. It makes great feature copy  and  might  even  be  suitable  for  a  local  media release. People, and the interests and activities they bring  with  them,  are  a  valuable  part  of  your  “positive contribution” to the community. If both you and your community are aware of it, so much the better. You can use your knowledge of these people and their  activities  to  improve  your  overall  community relations  program.  You  also  can  use  knowledge  of  the local power structure. The local power structure and organization must be determined. It is essential that these areas be considered; otherwise, you move into your   community   relations   program   blind.   The community power structure is discussed later in this chapter. Community  Relations  Requirements Community  relations  requirements  can  only  be determined  after  you  know  and  become  familiar  with the  mission  and  organization  of  your  command.  If  these requirements do not exist, it is your responsibility to determine  them.  If  they  do  exist,  it  is  equally  important that they reflect current requirements. Staff meetings, histories, permanent records and files (particularly those in the public affairs office) and interviews with key military officers are prime sources for this information. Full  public  understanding  and  cooperation  are essential  to  mission  accomplishment.  You  should identify possible sources of problems or obstructions to effective community relations and gather the essential facts  related  to  preventing  these  situations  from becoming  community  relations  problems. Aircraft noise, reckless driving, misunderstandings in labor relations, pollution of civilian communities, disorderly behavior and apparent disregard for the health  and  welfare  of  local  citizens  are  recurring problems in naval community relations. To overlook these  and  other  potential  community  relations  problems is  to  risk  unfavorable  publicity,  possible  congressional action,  antimilitary  demonstrations  and  strikes  and  a hostile  relationship  with  the  community. Command Interest and Support Command  interest  and  support  for  community relations should be sought early in the relationship between  an  officer  in  command  and  his  public  affairs staff. If the officer in command does not voluntarily reveal  his  philosophy  and  willingness  to  commit resources, the public affairs office should, on its own initiative, survey the needs of the command and prepare recommendations  for  a  community  relations  program. Ideally, there should be a policy statement and an outline of general objectives signed by the officer in command and  addressed  to  key  staff  members  and  COs  of subordinate   units. 5-6