Homewood is creating an online app that will put village information directly in the hands of users.
Communication and Engagement Manager Antonia Steinmiller announced during a presentation to the Homewood Village Board on Jan. 28 that a mobile application for the community is in the works.
“This app will serve as the best customer service tool that this village can have right now,” said Steinmiller, adding, “you can do everything from this app — apply for a job, pay your water bill, you can access information in one click.”
“It’s gonna be awesome, and I can’t wait to share it with the community,” she said.
Both Steinmiller and Assistant Village Manager Terence Acquah are working on the development of the app.
“Terence and I have been working really hard on bringing this to life, so this is something we’re going to be working on the next few months to get it off the ground,” said Steinmiller.
The village has also been working to ensure that trustworthy information is communicated with residents online and on social media platforms, according to Village Manager Napoleon Haney.
In order to rebuild trust with the community, they have changed their strategy from “marketing to engaging,” said Haney.
“We needed a fearless and head-on strategy that would balance disinformation, and even misinformation,” said Haney, adding, “it has been nearly three years ago that I hired Antonia Steinmiller to take on the task of pivoting the village.”
Residents can continue to stay up to date on village information using Homewood’s social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
According to Steinmiller, the Homewood page on Facebook has had a significant 15% growth of followers, going from 11,367 in 2023 to 13,064 by the end of 2024. The page has also gained a whopping 1.1 million views throughout the year.
“The most traffic we get is during the event season. People from in or out of town love coming to our events,” she said.
In addition to event season, ribbon cuttings and employment opportunities also gain a lot of community attraction, said Steinmiller.
When the upcoming Homewood app becomes available, Steinmiller expects the communication and engagement within the community will only continue to grow.
