North American Data Center Community Relations Practice Launched by Milldam Public Relations

As data center developers continue to meet resistance from local communities, it’s vital that the critical infrastructure community has the tools necessary to properly communicate to local stakeholders and officials, while highlighting the benefits and economic development opportunities inherent in critical infrastructure development

Milldam Public Relations a full-service public relations firm,announced the launch of its Data Center Community Relations Service, the first community relations service exclusively serving the digital infrastructure sector. The new service is being launched in response to the recent widespread backlash to data center development and the lack of tools to combat this within the data center industry.

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“It’s imperative that developers and operators implement community relations to help ensure a seamless development process.”

For many years, the data center industry has operated under the radar, but has become more visible within the last few years. Communities throughout North America have taken notice and started revolting against proposed developments, most notably in Virginia and Arizona. For example, just last month, a number of Virginia environmental groups formed a coalition calling for more oversight of the data center industry. And just last week, King George County, Virginia officials voted to renegotiate a prior agreement for a large cloud provider’s $6B Virginia data center campus. The reversal is partly due to growing political opposition to data center development.

The new service offering will be overseen by Adam Waitkunas, utilizing his nearly twenty years of data center industry experience and his background in politics and public affairs. In addition to tailormade communication strategies, data center community relations will require coalition building and garnering influence with local officials and stakeholders.

To help data center developers achieve their goals, Milldam’s community relations practice offers the following services:

• Establishing partnerships with third-party organizations such as Chambers of Commerce.
• Communicating the numerous benefits of data centers in the community, including economic development, infrastructure improvements, and job creation.
• Developing and providing key talking points.
• Ensuring that local decision-makers hear our client’s messages.
• Implementing a wide variety of grassroots campaigns and community outreach.
• Enabling local supporters to serve as ambassadors and equipping them with the tools to communicate the benefits of proposed developments.
• Building coalitions.
• Garnering the pulse of public opinion.

“If the industry fails to properly engage with localities, years of industry progress will be in jeopardy,” said Adam Waitkunas, President of Milldam Public Relations. “It’s imperative that developers and operators implement community relations to help ensure a seamless development process.”

Critical infrastructure plays a predominant role in most people’s daily lives throughout North America, driving the need for data center operators. Strong community engagement is essential for data centers to properly communicate their value and successfully navigate the complexity of community relations.

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With the launch of Milldam’s Data Center Community Relations Service, the digital infrastructure sector now has access to an offering that will equip them with the tools necessary to articulate the benefits of data centers to the local community while proactively addressing local concerns such as traffic infrastructure management and noise, helping to ensure a smoother path to success for the development.