Everbridge Integrates Community Outreach and Emergency Management in New Community Engagement Solution

BURLINGTON, Mass.–Everbridge, a leading global provider in unified critical communications, today announced its Community Engagement solution, aimed at helping local governments and law enforcement build strong, transparent relationships with the communities they serve. The new solution increases the reach of emergency management teams and expands community outreach to include keyword-based opt-ins; Facebook, Twitter and Google message distribution; and access to Nixle community resident opt-ins. Everbridge Community Engagement includes the free OneBridge Mobile App which allows residents to share information with neighbors and connect with their local public safety team.

True collaboration between local government, public safety, schools, businesses and residents is essential for the success of any community – and these connections need to be built on transparency, trust and mutual respect in order to be successful. Everbridge’s Community Engagement solution meets this need by helping to create a stronger and more engaged community – one that improves the communication reach and opt-in database for emergency personnel, while providing residents with real-time community information and a forum to share and interact with neighbors and public officials.

The Everbridge Community Engagement solution integrates powerful technology from Nixle, an Everbridge solution and open communication platform that enables real-time, two-way communication through text, email, voice messages and social media.

“Trust and transparency begins with regular, open communication between officials and residents,” said Lt. Chris Bolton of the Oakland, CA police department. “Everbridge and Nixle continue to add a new dimension to the public safety conversation by enabling our community to be better connected and share and receive information in real-time, improving the way we work together to improve safety and engagement.”

The Community Engagement solution supports active and engaged communities with:

• An Easy Opt-In System

Gathering and managing emergency management opt-ins from residents can be difficult. Connecting and engaging with as many citizens as possible, however, allows community reach to be quickly expanded.

Everbridge makes several different methods of opt-in available, including anonymous texting of a zip code to 888777; website registration; and downloading of a mobile app. The solution also enables keyword opt-ins for specific events and groups—residents can text event-based keywords to follow sporting events, festivals, concerts and convention information. Organizations can also use these keywords to communicate to large groups of people with ease, particularly during an emergency (i.e., a lock-down scenario).

A larger opt-in database improves community reach and also increases the user base that public safety has access to when there is an emergency. When a situation arises, Community Engagement’s network effect will kick in, residents will share important notifications, and all public service information will be disseminated quickly and efficiently. The agency opt-in database grows as a result.

• Foster a Two-Way Dialogue with Social Media Integration

With the help of Community Engagement’s social media integration, neighbors can share valuable information, suggest ways to collectively address safety concerns, plan public events and more:

• Facebook: Integrate Community Engagement’s real-time communications to multiple Facebook accounts and fan pages; share and like content to Facebook and enable public comments for community feedback.
• Twitter: Local officials and public safety officers can share Everbridge communications to their community’s Twitter accounts and facilitate an active dialogue with residents.
• Google Public Alerts: Everbridge has partnered with Google to provide hyper-local to hyper-national resident reach and engagement during emergencies. Alerts are integrated into Google Search, Google Maps and Google Now. If residents search for a place where there is an active alert, or from an affected area – they’ll see a warning notification.

• Empower Residents to be Eyes and Ears of the Community

Residents can be valuable resources for law enforcement. With Community Engagement, police and local authorities empower residents to invest in their community through outreach, collaboration and shared leadership.

When residents are effectively engaged and supportive, they can contribute a neutral, first-hand perspective of their community. This information helps local government and public safety maximize their effectiveness, ultimately driving community policing, public safety and agency transparency. 

Another key feature of Community Engagement is “Tip Watch,” which helps residents solve crime and find missing people by anonymously submitting tips via text message.

• Enable Real-Time Alerts with Mobile App

Everbridge’s OneBridge Mobile App is a free smartphone application that allows residents to receive real-time alerts and safety information from agencies. The app provides two-way engagement between residents, local public safety organizations and emergency management. It also encourages neighbors to share information with each other, enabling the community to work together to raise safety concerns, help find lost pets and organize other neighborhood activities.

“It is more important than ever in today’s unpredictable world to foster engaged and connected communities where residents and local officials work together toward a common goal,” said Imad Mouline, CTO of Everbridge. “Everbridge’s Community Engagement technology can help emergency management teams and local officials increase their user base while simultaneously encouraging those users to take an active role in sharing information and making their communities safe and engaged.”

About Everbridge

Everbridge is a leading unified critical communications platform trusted by corporations and communities of all sizes that need to reach the right people for immediate action, collaboration, and decision-making. Connecting millions of people and internet-connected devices, the company provides reassurance that secure, compliant messages are delivered, locally and globally, received and responded to, no matter the recipient’s location. Everbridge is based in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beijing and London. For more information, visit www.everbridge.com, read the company blog, https://www.everbridge.com/blog, and follow on Twitter and Facebook.