Thornton Township was awarded two prestigious media awards at the annual Township Officials of Illinois honors. The township won best Illinois Township Website and best Illinois Township Social media.
“Thornton Township underwent a complete Website overall this year. The purpose was to create a more informative, interactive, and visually appealing site that would be useful to all our residents regardless of age,” said Ernst Lamothe Jr., community relations manager for Thornton Township. “We consider a Website the front door to the township. When people want to know about your government body, the first thing they do is search your Website. The expectation is that they should be able to find the information quickly and clearly.”
“We have never won an award for our communications before and I am proud of our department that they are doing such great work to educate the community about our services,” said Frank M. Zuccarelli.
Some of the changes included Department pages: Created a detailed department site for each of our 11 departments: Assessor, Clerk, Community Relations, Food and General Assistance, Other Services, Senior Services Special Services, Transportation, Youth and Family Services, ZAP. Each page has a blue header that describes in a few short sentences the department’s goal along with a photo of the head of the department and a phone number to reach them. It also has a short video of the director of that department explaining the highlights of their program.
Jobs page: Even with the economy doing better, people are still either looking for work or are underemployed. We believed it was important to also host a jobs pages on our Website. Any company from within or outside the township can give us a flyer and we will post available jobs for the community. Thornton Township looks to be a resource for our residents who are both on general assistance and those who are not. We want to be a one-stop shop for many of their needs.
Social Media: At the top of the page are all our social media icons that people can click directly to log onto. Also, we made it easier to always get back to the homepage by clicking on the Thornton Township icon.
