The Minnesota Association of Government Communicators (MAGC) named Roseville Community Relations Manager, Corey Yunke, Communicator of the Year at their annual Northern Lights awards ceremony.
This award recognizes individuals who have helped build public trust in government, whose work has gone well above and beyond the normal duties and responsibilities of their positions. Corey has been instrumental in building relationships in our community built on trust and respect, not only in his current position of Community Relations Manager, but throughout his work in the Police Department. These relationships have created a solid foundation for our organization to further build our engagement efforts and model them after his work. Much of his work is done “behind the scenes” creating, and tending to those relationships, but results in tangible outcomes through future engagement and other opportunities. We are fortunate to have him on our team.
You can read the nomination below and see the video at the link below created by our Community Relations team when we were notified he was chosen.
Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7HvFQGJnA
Nomination:
In the past year, Corey Yunke has helmed a huge transition in the foundation of how the City of Roseville engages with its citizens.
In 2021, Yunke led the change from a City “communications” department to a “community relations” department with a goal to address systemic inequities as well as to address the changing expectation of how stakeholders are involved in their local government. He has built an entire team dedicated to engagement, inclusion, and equity. His crisis communications methods are just as effective when handling public safety issues as handling citizen suggestions about pickleball courts—he strives to make sure that people feel seen and heard. This is evident in how he assisted with the community response to the recent shooting of a Roseville Police Officer as well as in his input and recommendations on how to engage the community in a Community Visioning process.
The transformation from the traditional model of local government communications to a community–based, public partnership model is seeing success due to his leadership and direction. Yunke’s style of communicating will serve as a helpful guide for cities to emulate as they work to increase citizen trust of government at the local level.