Inclusivity Plan For Philly Gems

Intention

The intention of @PhillyGemss is to raise awareness for events of all kinds that are happening across Philadelphia.  I plan on highlighting an array of events from popular gatherings that cost money to attend (Philly Fashion Week), to restaurants having special happy hour deals for those looking to go out on a budget, as well as highlighting community service opportunities in the area.  I hope my project inspires people living in Philly to attend events, go to restaurants, or volunteer places they otherwise would not have known about.  In terms of my accounts impact, I hope I am able to generate more awareness for organizations that are trying to make positive change in Philly.  I hope that these organizations see more people volunteering through easy access links from my account. 

Best and Worst Case Scenario

The best case scenario with my account is to be able to reach a broad audience and inspire people to go out and try the places I am talking about.  It would be awesome to see people going out and telling business owners they found out about their business through my account!  I know this probably will not happen in the short time frame until final presentations, but if I continue this account and I am able to have businesses reach out to me to come and try out their food/product in exchange for a post that would be amazing too!

The worst case scenario with my account is I am not able to differentiate myself from similar accounts enough.  There definitely are accounts that highlight Philly events, but I have a few key components that I think will help me stand out.  First, most of these account primarily promote through TikTok and my main platform is Instagram.  These other accounts also mainly highlight popular places that can be very expensive and unrealistic to be able to go to on a weekly basis.  My account takes the approach of also giving my audience exposure to events that do  not require them to tap into their wallet at all!  I want to showcase free public events, as well as ways to volunteer and get involved in the community.  Other Philly event accounts do not have this quality which is why I feel mine will have a more balanced feel and reach a broader audience of viewers.

Inclusivity

Some perspectives that may be missing from my account is representation of race, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities. In the beginning stages of planning this page I did not fully take into account inclusivity and highlighting all demographics on my page. Since then I have found some ways to incorporate a more diverse community.

I plan on incorporating inclusivity into my account by highlighting diverse small businesses and events.  For example, if I am able to physically attend Philly Fashion Week I want to highlight diverse designers of all races, genders, and sexual orientations.  I will promote their brand and designs through my account and see if any of them are open to being included in a quick video.  If I am not able to physically attend I can still make a video discussing these designers, who is attending, and a little bit about their shows.

In addition, I plan on making my page accessible to everyone.  Since my posts will be primarily videos with audio I will create closed cations on them to make them more functional.  I will also create transcripts as well as use descriptive langue.  Descriptive langue can be huge when describing a restaurants ambiance including things like the decor, colors, seating arrangements etc for individuals with sight impairment and cannot see the videos/pictures I include.

Another way I can include DEI into my account is by promoting small businesses and black owned businesses to promote their organizations.  While I will promote some established restaurants on my account, I also want to talk about some “hidden gem” restaurants that may not be talked about as often.  I want my account to highlight all different cultures, from black owned business to Israeli and Indian restaurants in Philly.  I want my account to be a melting pot of all organizations in Philly.