Illinois Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics
For two years, Morreale Communications has a served as a strategic partner to Mead & Hunt to support IDOT’s Division of Aeronautics. Our scope of work has included the following major initiatives.
Aviation Fuel Tax Program Campaign
Overview:
Despite the availability of funding from the Aviation Fuel Tax (AFT) Program, participation from public-use airports across the state had fallen short of expectations, resulting in funding being left unused. Mead & Hunt partnered with Morreale Communications to research and assess current barriers to entry. Morreale developed a stakeholder awareness campaign aimed at generating interest and increasing participation among airport managers, directors and sponsors.
Strategy:
Morreale implemented a communications strategy founded on data collection and analysis, in-person and virtual engagement opportunities, stakeholder outreach and strategic partnership. The team tracked AFT fund allocations and collections for each airport across Illinois and cross-referenced sources to ensure data integrity. Materials deployed for education, including fact sheets and guides, were designed to clearly communicate steps to applying for funds. The Team hosted an educational webinar that walked airport management teams from across the state through the program requirements and processes and conducted significant outreach to stakeholders to ensure all eligible airports were aware and engaged in the AFT program.
Results:
By implementing a variety of engagement methods, the AFT education campaign increased general awareness of the grant program and supported improved communication between Aeronautics and airport management. A total of 61 airport managers and directors attended the AFT webinar where essential application information was presented, and a live Q&A session was offered. The project team facilitated one-on-one meetings with airport management from 12 airports to provide customized support and solutions to help them navigate the AFT application and claims process. Over the course of the campaign, the project team had direct communication with dozens of airports across Illinois.
Program Handbook Listening Sessions
Overview:
As part of an effort to develop a new program handbook for the Division of Aeronautics, professional services firm Mead & Hunt partnered with Morreale Communications to host listening sessions with key stakeholder groups that would inform the content and direction of the publication. Important to the handbook’s development was the need for a thorough understanding of the issues stakeholders face when working with Aeronautics, the processes they go through when pursuing, implementing and closing out airport projects, and any challenges frequently encountered in their work. To that end, Mead & Hunt and Morreale identified the need for separate listening sessions with four distinct groups of stakeholders: airport directors, airport consultants and airport contractors and airport subcontractors.
Strategy:
Given the number and variety of aviation facilities across Illinois, Aeronautics and Mead & Hunt requested that stakeholders selected for the listening sessions represent a mix of airport sizes, socioeconomic diversity and operation type. To select and recruit participants, Morreale worked closely with the Illinois Public Airport Association (IPAA) and the Illinois Airports Council (IAC) throughout the planning process. In addition, Morreale also reached out to the Association of
General Contractors of Illinois (AGCIL), the Illinois Asphalt Pavers Association (IAPA) and the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association (IRTBA). Through this outreach, Mead & Hunt and Morreale were able to successfully recruit diverse participation for each listening session.
Results:
In all, four listening sessions were attended by more than 35 airport leaders from across the State of Illinois who were enthusiastic and eager to share their views. A final report produced as part of this project included an overview of methodology, detailed session summaries, key takeaways and recommendations for how operations at IDOT’s Division of Aeronautics could be enhanced.
