Most local governments can reach residents. Very few can hear them back at the speed of a text. In October 2022, PCG launched the first two-way texting program for a city in Florida. It gave the City of Aventura a direct line to residents, and gave residents a direct line back.

The city, saved in a resident’s phone. Message is the point: the same number that sends the alert receives the reply.

What most city texting gets wrong

Government text alerts almost always run one way. The city broadcasts, residents receive, and there is no way to reply. So people opt out, or never opt in, because the channel feels like a loudspeaker instead of a conversation. Aventura wanted the opposite: a line residents would actually use.

The default

One-way alerts. The city broadcasts, no one can reply, and residents tune out.

Aventura

Two-way texting. Residents text back, and a real person reads and answers.

What we set up

PCG set up and launched a two-way texting program for the City of Aventura. Residents and members of the public opt in and pick the topics they care about, so no one is buried under messages they never asked for. And when someone texts the city, a real person reads it and answers when the message calls for it.

Opt in by topicResidents choose the updates they want, from events to public safety, and skip the rest.
Text the cityAnyone can text a question or concern straight to the city. No app to download.
A person answers A real staff member reads every message and responds when it warrants a reply.

Not an auto-reply. Not a dead end. A conversation.

Featured coverage
· News

You can now text the city of Aventura

Deirdra Funcheon & Martin Vassolo

Read the full story ↗

What it powers

A channel residents actually read becomes a tool the city can use. Since launch, the line has put real city services in front of residents, and filled them.

City events
Attendance is up at events residents hear about by text.
Condominium Ombudsman monthly visitsWith the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
Appointments filled by text.
Mobile DMVWith the Miami-Dade Tax Collector
Appointments filled by text.
Summer 2024 · Severe rainstorm
Public safetyCity servicesPrice gouging

When a severe rainstorm hit Aventura and the surrounding cities, the texting line carried the city’s updates while residents needed them most. In under three days, subscribers grew by more than 1,000. When it mattered most, residents signed up to be reached.

That is the real test of a communications channel. Not how it performs on a quiet week, but whether residents turn to it when a storm is bearing down. Aventura’s did. Since launch, thousands have signed up to hear from the city, and to be heard by it.

In their words

“
From kids to seniors and everyone in-between, text messaging is part of daily life. Aventura’s first-of-its-kind texting system was a brilliant addition that PCG brought to our city. It has proven endlessly valuable for reaching our residents with the information they want.
Howard WeinbergMayor · City of Aventura
Pending approval
Communicating with our residents is key to everything we do. The texting system that PCG implemented has proven to be the single fastest and most effective way we communicate with our residents.
Cindy OrlinskyCommissioner · City of Aventura
“
During a crisis, the ability to communicate quickly and accurately is critical. The texting system PCG established for Aventura delivered critical information to the public at the most important and sensitive time.
Bryan PeguesCity Manager · City of Aventura
“
I’ll never forget the day a woman stopped me in the grocery store to tell me about the text exchange she had with the city. She thought it was the greatest thing she’d ever seen from a city. Texting delivers people information where they are already looking.
Rachel S. FriedlandCommissioner · City of Aventura