Decibel Holds Third Sounding Board Meeting In Rundberg

On Sept. 13, the Decibel team hosted its third Rundberg Sounding Board meeting. With just a few months left in our reporting project, our team took this time to look back on the work we’ve done thus far, the community feedback we’ve received, and plans for the future.

We presented an idea that our team has not tried before–including an extension of our current project as an option for our next reporting cycle.

Our usual procedure is that, once the Austin PBS Community Advisory Board, or CAB, has selected a location out of three communities, our team is on the ground reporting there for a full 12 months. After that time, we start considering new locations that have also historically been underserved by the news media. We then present several new neighborhoods to the Austin PBS CAB, and our reporting project cycle restarts.

News never stops along with our reporting project. History is constantly being made in communities we previously worked in. But this year in Rundberg, it has felt especially true. Local issues like the city budget and Austin Independent School District’s school consolidation efforts are poised to have a major impact on the community in coming months. Nationwide news will also further crystallize in Rundberg in the upcoming year. Changes to immigration enforcement and cuts to aid programs are expected to take a toll on residents.

With all that in mind, we are considering a one year extension for our Rundberg reporting program as an option for our 2026 reporting project.

But first, we wanted to know if community members wanted us to stay. Thus far the response from our Sounding Board has been positive. Three members said they would like us to continue our work here. The remaining Sounding Board members will be asked to vote on our reporting project continuation. If they vote in favor, we will proceed with including the extension as an option in our 2026 reporting project. We will present these options to the Austin PBS CAB later this fall.

But we also talked about the present. We reviewed Sounding Board feedback we’ve received thus far, and it has largely been positive. When asked if our work accurately represented some of the Rundberg community, 93.3% have said yes, and 6.7% have said maybe. No one has yet said we have inaccurately covered the community.

And when asked if the story covered topics important to the community, 91.1% said yes and 8.9% said maybe. Again, no one said any topics were not important to the neighborhood.

Finally we ask members to rate the storytelling of the project, from ‘Excellent,’ ‘Pretty Good,’ ‘Neither Good Nor Bad,’ ‘Poor,’ or ‘Very Poor.’ 64.4% have rated our work ‘Excellent’ and 35.6% rated our work ‘Pretty Good.’ None of our work has been rated ‘Neither Good Nor Bad,’ ‘Poor,’ or ‘Very Poor.’ But our team still needs to improve our data collection efforts. Since May, our feedback form response rate has dropped about 7%.

Over the next few months, we plan to dive into how the city’s new budget will impact Rundberg residents, the future of neighborhood schools, and highlighting community restaurants. Sounding Board members approved of these topics. Members also suggested a story on the future of Marketplace Austin, which may be replaced by apartments, local sports leagues, and a gun safety grant that is poised to assist Rundberg residents. We also discussed expanding the Sounding Board to include more residents, and hosting monthly meet-ups for more casual check-ins, and as an opportunity for residents to meet each other.

Our Sounding Board meetings always provide a springboard for future projects, but this meeting may have set the stage much more than any meeting in the past. Our staff will meet with the Rundberg Sounding Board again in December.

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