note: this is an asssignment. we were asked to choose …

NOTE: THIS IS AN ASSSIGNMENT. WE WERE ASKED TO CHOOSE A CAUSE AND CREATE A CAMPAIGN.

CADET & MORGAN

PR Performed by Valery Cadet, Tyree Morgan

◊ Foundation for our Children Future ◊

Holy Family University Communication Student

Spring 2010

Client

TOCFWH

To Our Children’s Future With Health (TOCFWH) is a community based

non-profit agency serving over 1500 youth, adults, and families in West and

North Philadelphia and Harlem, New York since 1992.

Supported by government grants, private foundations, donations, and corporate generosity, their mission is to empower youth, adults and communities toward healthy living through comprehensive

community health and education services.


TITLE: To Our Children’s Future

Aiming to increase awareness for after-school and summer

programs for children in the Philadelphia Area.

Proposed by: Valery Cadet, Tyree Morgan TOCFWH 1914 N.63rd Street Philadelphia, PA 19151

SUMMARY:

Today, millions of children return to an empty home after school. When the school bell rings, the anxiety for parents often just begins. They worry about whether their children are safe, whether they are susceptible to drugs and crime. In response to this pressing concern, many communities have created after-school programs to keep children and youth out of trouble and engaged in activities that help them learn. Recent polls have found overwhelming adult support to personally ensure access to after-school programs for children in their community. First and foremost, after-school programs keep children of all age’s safe and out of trouble. The after-school hours are the time when juvenile crime hits its peak, but through attentive adult supervision, quality after-school programs can protect our children. As this report shows, in communities with comprehensive programs, children are less likely to commit crimes or to be victimized.


Our Public Relations campaign, To Our Children’s Future, seeks to alleviate the burden and anxiety of parents whom worry about their children where about after-school while there are at work. We seek to raise awareness and motivate parents to enroll their children in local after-school programs with our organization- TOCFWH or other quality programs in the Philadelphia Area. Research performed by Pierce and Vandell demonstrated that academically at-risk children who attended after-school programs more frequently, as compared with children who attended less often, developed better work habits in their school classrooms, attended school more often, and endorsed less aggressive strategies to resolve conflicts with peers. I chose the title of our campaign based on the name of my organization TOCFWH which stands for “To Our Children’s Future With Health.”


SITUATION ANALYSIS:

An estimated 162,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 live in Philadelphia, and 89,000 of them -- well over half -- have no adult at home after school. Even when school, church and civic after-school programs and other family members are taken into account, it’s estimated that at least 50,000 of those youngsters don’t have a safe alternative to the streets until Mom comes home. As Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth points out in the compelling advocacy material for its innovative Campaign for Kids: “When kids are left alone after school, bad things can happen.” In my research, I came across an interesting common thread between parents -- Nearly 80 percent of parents surveyed in a study by Wallace-Reader's Digest said that after-school programs helped their children cope with behavioral problems and helped them obtain new skills to meet increased demands in school. At a time when states and the federal government are pressing harder than ever for improved academic achievement by all children, a three-year study shows that after-school programs, particularly in low-income communities, are an effective and affordable way not only to keep children safe and out of trouble, but also to keep them engaged in school. The report concludes that children in school-based after-school programs benefit both academically and socially in programs that offer a diverse set of activities.

So how do you raise awareness for a non-profit organization that provide after-school programs for our youngsters? The answer lies within the Community!


OBJECTIVES/Strategies:

1.0 Increase Awareness for after-school and summer programs 1.1 Outreach to working parents through new media and community. 1.2.0 Conduct Focus groups with Parents and Children. 1.2.1 Create and Distribute posters, newsletters, Press Release to the

Northeast and South Philadelphia area. 2.0 Steadily improve Social Media presence and involvement 2.1.0 Post most recent updated stories and news though social networks: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blog site. 2.2.0 Provide suggestions how to revamp organizations website. 2.3.0 Conduct communication Audit 2.4.0 Conduct Website Critique 3.0 Boost Sponsorship and Donation, while recruiting more volunteers 3.1 Leverage existing programs and aid (donation, volunteer, community awareness) to minimize costs

3.2.0 Create partnerships/sponsorships with a well-known and trusted business within the community 3.3.0 Use Church Bulltins to promote information to community 3.4.0 Create Media List for local media relations to share Press Release, events to the general Public.


Communications Audit

Organizations communicate in two directions: internally to staff and externally to

clients, customers, shareholders, stakeholders, the media. Faulty internal communications can lead to mistakes, discouraged and unhappy staff, employees leaving the company. Poor external communications can jeopardize image and sales. It really is that simple. Any overall management strategy needs a communications plan or the whole operation might fail. We have conducted a communications audit for TOCFWH to improve these organizations communications strategies.

Internal Audience A two-component organizational structure -- a Board of Directors and a Parent Group --

governs the internal operations of To Our Children’s Future With Health. Because the

agency employs highly skilled professionals, many of whom represent the communities,

TOCFWH has been able to engage the community through the process of effective, reliable,

coordinated, and culturally relevant service delivery. Moreover, the staff is enhanced by

the generosity of the many volunteers and interns who donate their time, skills, and

expertise to this agency.

External Audience

Many of the TOCFWH initiatives operate through the partnership of community-based agencies, hospitals, universities, schools, churches, elected officials, block captains, residents, youth, parents, and families. Through the Haddington Community Health Project Collaborative, for example, they have developed relationships with many service providers, including Jefferson and Spectrum Health Systems, Children’s Hospital of the University of


Pennsylvania, the West Philadelphia Nutrition Center, and a myriad of creative youth programs through the Youth Development and Faith-Based Initiatives.

Website Usability Testing

Navigation Too many navigation buttons, while leading into more sections, may just leave a user with too many choices. A long list of options keeps the visitor from getting into the most important content areas of your site. Instead, consider drop-down menus that break down top-level buttons into sub-sections. It is common to have up to three options for member-based content-driven sites. However, if they aren’t clearly defined the user won’t know where to look, or click, and three separate choices already is pushing too many. For a simpler sites, stick to one. Graphic Files Graceful Degradation Graceful Degradation is the property of a web-site to present its content and its basic features even if some of its components (partly or at all) can’t be displayed or used. In practice it means that web-sites display their content in every possible “fault” scenario and can be used in every configuration (browser, plug-ins, connection, OS etc.) the visitor might have. “Power-users” are still offered a full, enhanced version of the page. For instance, it’s typical to offer alternatives for Multimedia-content (for instance image) to ensure that the content can be perceived if images can’t be displayed. Search Engine Some visitors to your site may not know exactly what they want, but if you include a search function on your site, they can look for it very easily. Like search engines, this feature will allow your visitors to type in a word or phrase and then search for it on your site. It's like having your own mini search engine, only instead of it searching the world wide web, it just searches your website. About US Section This is a very important page as it tells your customer about who you are and why they should buy your products, services and/or trust your organization. It can also feature your business hours or when they can speak to someone on the phone. Include your mission, details of staff (photos, biographies, qualifications), recently completed projects, directions to your office. It is also useful to include details of certificates and any awards you may have won.

Websites should:

� Be easy to maintain and update

� Permit visitors to execute what they need to do online with no or little assistance from others

� Accommodate additional content areas and added functionalities without major restructuring


� Integrate several communications vehicles, such as an e-newsletter

� Promote automated services, such as online registration for workshops, reducing staff interaction for routine activities

� Encourage users to share and exchange experiences, ideas, and knowledge

� Conform to user-centric design.

Focus Groups

TO confirm findings from Website usability tests and generating additional ideas for effective communication with target audiences. Focus groups can assess the communication wants, needs, and opinions of target audience groupings, supplying additional data on users’ expectations, frustrations, and experiences interacting with staff. The purpose of these sessions will be to obtain information and clarification on:

� Issues that are a priority

� Features that are important

� Extent to which users will have influence over the content of the various communications vehicles employed in future

Focus groups that are conducted will ascertain how effective communications efforts have been in the past and what might be done to improve them in the future. These sessions can help discern:

⦿ Awareness of the services offered and their relative value by participants

⦿ Known challenges for communicating with the community, such as

⦿ Confusion as to where to find information

⦿ Participation from Communities.

⦿ Lack of Website site clarity

⦿ Lack of knowledge programs

⦿ Potential solutions for addressing these challenges, such as

⦿ Clearer definition as to the contents of sections of the website

⦿ Definition of purposes of organization program.

⦿ revamping of the website pages

⦿ Increased and better explanation of organization duties.

⦿ Adequacy of communication about those services


Media List for TOCFWH

Online and Print Media - Philly News staff writer:

Kia Gregory at 215-854-2601 or [email protected].

City Paper.net

Lois Kuter at 215-299-1029 or e-mail [email protected]. city paper.net

Philadelphia neighborhood

Christopher Harper Co-director, MURL

Associate Professor

Department of Journalism

Phone: 215-204-5474 E-mail: [email protected]

Spirit Community Newspapers

Phone: 215-423-6246

Fax: 215-423-6308

News: [email protected]

chestnuthilllocal.com Local Life Editor

Len Lear

215-248-8807

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.temple.edu/sct/journalism





dailypennsylvanian.com Elizabeth Gormisky, Senior News Editor: [email protected]

thenotebook.org Paul Socolar, editor and director

215-951-0330 x2107, [email protected]

Dale Mezzacappa, contributing editor

215-951-0330 x2112, [email protected]

Local Church Newsletter Media –

Pastor. Wallace W.Bubar

215.877.2744, [email protected]






PLANNING:

• Research: To find more information on Philadelphia youth age ranging from 7-17 about their activities afterschool. And the best avenues to reach this age group I conducted primary and secondary research. o I reviewed a number of research studies examine the benefits of after-school programs and percentage of children that are left to fend for their self after-school. o Personal Interviews: conducted two one-on-one interviews with middles school and high school students. Have in-depth conversations to find out what are they doing after-school. o Surveys: Sent out surveys to local middle school and high school parents and students. The survey will include questions about their reasons for not enrolling their children in local after-school programs along with general questions to gain a perspective on these youngsters where about when school lets out.

TIMESCALE

School season began during fall time around the month of September.

Implementation of the campaign would start in early August and end in late May.

At that time News agenda is focus on students heading back to school. First week

of August contacts with local media relations would begin to increase awareness for after-school and summer programs.


BUDGET

TOCFWH budget is $45,000

Press Releases

Distribution costs, assuming the release will be mailed to 100 media outlets, should not exceed $500.To keeping mailing costs as low as possible, normally distributes 50 to75 percent of releases via e-mail or fax to a customer list of reporters and editors. Use of regional circuits of PR Newswire or Business Wire, rather than the more expensive national circuits. Regional circuits cost between $55 and $125 per release.

Website revamping cost : $1200

Social Media Cost: $0

Community Dinner: $2000

Total Cost for campaign: $3825

EXECUTION:

• Launch Event: To attract local attention, community leaders and local business owners would be invited to the “Children is our Future” community dinner where community leaders and business owners would be introduce to the organization and their duties which is perform in the community. • Leading up to and following the event, A “Children is our Future” PSA would air locally and advertisements would be placed in Philadelphia publications. Disturbution of a TOCFWH after school fact sheet which contains programs specific information to every guest of the event.


EVALUATION

1. Web stats hits increase by 45% site view per day: 34. Site views within a month 952.

2. Ask people if they heard about TOCFWH. Using polls and surveys. Hold focus groups, interception interview with random people within the targeted market.

3. Run specific offers with specific publications in target market. See who been writing about TOCFWH.

4. Count Number of attendees from Community dinner event.

note: this is an asssignment. we were asked to choose …

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