AV

August 25, 2022 8:59 AM

Finding funds for public hearings in hybrid format

I work for the State of New Mexico, for a underfunded division. We have public hearings in hybrid form (i.e. in-person + online) and have found the Audio-Visual setup to be challenging. We would like to hire an AV contractor to setup such events but have no money to spend on this.

Where could funds for this be found?

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (1 answer total)

Ideally this would be funded by the state budget. Since your division is underfunded, I wonder if there are statewide funds that can be tapped by any division for this specific purpose. In some jurisdictions Covid relief funds were earmarked to support remote and hybrid meetings.

In addition to approaching it internally, maybe you could talk to your state representative and see if they or someone in their office is familiar with a possible funding source.

You could try different justifications for remote meetings. The basic justification is "they increase participation". But you could also pursue the fact that hybrid meetings also many disabled people to participate who would not otherwise be able to participate. State and NGO agencies that support people with disabilities and their rights could be a potential source of funding.

Hybrid meetings in some cases support increased participation by people who speak languages other than English. Again, that points to possible funding sources.

I'd suggest that you also be open to using funds to purchase equipment and training (one time expense) versus a contractor to reach each meeting (ongoing expense).
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:23 AM on August 25, 2022