New Resident Welcome Packet

Our goal in creating the new resident welcome packet is to welcome new members into our community and share helpful information about Reading—from fun facts to answers to most-asked questions to a list of our parks and businesses.

We started this project with a trip to the water department. Every new homeowner in Reading needs to stop by the water department to turn on their water, so we decided water department employees would be great people to ask about what information new residents request the most.

It turned out that the water department already had a stack of helpful documents they handed out to new residents: a local guidebook with a list of businesses, churches, parks, and more; recycling and trash information; a copy of the most recent City newsletter; and a list of perks offered by the City.

This accomplished many of our goals. We decided to suggest adding a few items to what the City was already handing out: a list of trash/recycling collection days by street, a WeTHRIVE in Reading brochure, and a FAQ sheet answering questions like “Can I have a campfire?” and “When/where are City Council meetings?”. The City helped us in finding and fact-checking all of the information we added to the packet. Our WeTHRIVE team also designed a folder to contain all of the welcome materials in one unified package. The beauty of a welcome folder as opposed to a booklet is that it is modular. If one part of it becomes outdated, it is quick and easy to replace only that part.

The new resident welcome packet is still in progress. We hope to print and launch the packet in 2023.