From the Ground Up

Campaign Proposal 

Prepared for: Prepared by:

Northwest Youth Services JJL Public Relations

   
1020 N State St  Bellingham, WA
Bellingham, WA 98225
 Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Action Plan 3
Project Narrative
Situational analysis
Research
Plan of action
Evaluation

Timeline 17

Budget 19

Related PR Materials 22
Partnerships
Social media guide
Media kit
Press Release
Promotional materials

Personnel  50

Appendix 52
Survey 
Research paper
 Introduction

Northwest Youth Services’ mission statement

“Northwest Youth Services collaborates with at-risk, runaway and homeless youth
to foster self-reliance.” 

JJL Public Relations' mission statement

JJL is committed to providing fresh, forward thinking public relations services

designed to meet our client’s highest expectations. We work in a collaborative,
competitive and creative environment, assuring that our clients receive a unique and
customizable experience. We aim to help our clients expand upon their endeavors
without compromising professionalism.

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Action Plan

3
 Project Narrative

JJL Public Relations has created a campaign that focuses on The Ground Floor, a center
for at-risk youth to receive services and resources including showers, cooked meals, rest
space, computers, a space to pick up mail and participate in vocational programming and
case management.  When creating this campaign, we tried to highlight the key features
of this project as well as its benefits the community. 

Through our research, we discovered that there was a lack of awareness of NWYS. We
also discovered we are targeting a wide demographic that includes those ages 18-24
and those over 45 but under 75, those with a household of less than $39,0000 and over
$70,000 and women. 

Our campaign aims to increase awareness, donations and volunteering for The Ground
Floor and NWYS.  We also aim to involve not only our target audience but entire
Whatcom community and engage them in this project. 

We created the campaign From the Ground Up. The campaign title was inspired from a
combination of The Ground Floor project name and anecdotally because everyone has
to start from somewhere including this project as an undertaking. 

Included in the campaign is a grand opening event, partnerships, social media plan,
media kit, promotional materials and press releases. 

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Events

We have designed a grand opening event for the Ground Floor. Based on our research
findings, we found that a tour of location and services was the most popular response for
an event to learn more about the Ground Floor and NWYS. The opening would include tour
of location, keynote speakers including director of NWYS and David Weasley of First
Congregational Church and a NWYS client speaker. The event would be informative and
open to public.

Promotional Video

To bring awareness and support of the Ground Floor Project, we propose a promotional
video that will showcase what the Ground Floor offers. The video would include a virtual
tour of The Ground Floor as well as brief interviews with key persons of the project and
clients of NWYS. To keep the cost down, we propose a service learning collaboration
Western Washington Universities visual journalism students where they will produce this
video. The video can be used on their website and social media.  

Partnerships

To connect and gain support with the community, we propose partnerships with
organizations to help with volunteer staffing. These organizations include the Volunteer
Center of Whatcom County and Western Washington University's Circle K club. These
organizations will provide volunteers to help with any situations where volunteers are
needed including events and construction of The Ground Floor. These partnerships will
create long term relationships for future events.  

To help with fundraising, in-kind donations and education, we propose partnerships with
Lydia Place and Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center. 

5
Social Media Guide

Based on our survey, social media was one the most popular responses to how respondent
get their news. The most popular social media was Facebook followed by Twitter. To reach
this audience, we created a social media guide that would help NWYS promote their
content through these platforms. The social media guide includes best practices and post
examples.

Media Kit

Since we are going to be sending press releases and pitching stories to newspaper sources,
we felt a media kit would be beneficial asset. The media kit will include a media
backgrounder, FAQ, logo and tagline of NWYS and the Ground Floor, potential feature
stories, media contacts and photos. It will be given to news outlets as a one-stop for all
information on NWYS and the Ground Floor that journalists need to write a story.

Press Release

Based on our survey, a significant amount of respondents get their news from The
Bellingham Herald. To target The Bellingham Herald and this style of news source, we have
created sample press releases that will be sent out to newspapers that will further promote
the Ground Floor. The press releases have been . The press releases have been made to
inform the newspapers of the Ground Floor construction, progress and opening.

Promotional materials

To promote the our tactics of the campaign, we have created promotional materials that
will spread awareness about the Ground Floor and NWYS. Our promotional materials
include poster, flyer, handbill containing information about the Ground Floor. We have also
created a logo for the Ground Floor to used throughout these materials.

6
 Situation Analysis

Located in Bellingham, Washington, Northwest Youth Services is a nonprofit organization

that serves at-risk, runaway and homeless youth in Whatcom and Skagit counties. They
offer a variety of services including housing, job and education help, LGBTQ support,
restorative justice and more to young people from the ages 13 to 24.Their primary mission
is to collaborate with at-risk, runaway and homeless youth to foster self-reliance.

Recently, NWYS and First Congregational Church have partnered together to create The

Ground Floor. The Ground Floor will be located in the basement space of the church and
will be a safe space where homeless youth can come to escape the weather, shower, cook
meals, rest, use computers, pick up mail, laundry and access to resources and services. The
project is set to be complete by September 2018.

NWYS is looking for a public relations campaign that will showcase the opening of The
Ground Floor, create awareness of NWYS and their services and generate donations and
volunteers. NWYS wants a PR campaign to inform the community and bust stigmas about
youth homelessness,  encourage people to support the space through volunteerism, peer
advocacy and donations. In particular, they are looking for donations to help build and
renovate The Ground Floor project.

7
 Research
In order to create our campaign, we conducted a convenience survey to determine target
audience and awareness of NWYS and The Ground Floor. We created strategies and
tactics that reflected our findings. 

Survey 

JJL Public Relations surveyed 100 people at various locations in Bellingham, including
Trader Joes, Haggens at Barkley Village, Safeway and Community Food Co-Op. 

How do you get your news?

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 Research
 What type of event would you be interested in attending to learn more about NWYS and
The Ground Floor?

Have you heard of NWYS?

9
 Research
Do you financially donate to charity? If yes, how much in a year?

How many hours per month do you volunteer?

10
 Objectives 

JJL Public Relations developed three objectives for this campaign:

Increase community awareness of

Northwest Youth Services and The
Ground Floor by at least 40 percent. 

Increase donations by 30 percent.

Increase volunteer recruitment by 30

percent.

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 Plan of Action
Target Audiences 
The Whatcom and Skagit community of all genders and of all ages
Young adults ages 18-25, women 40-65, men of all ages
Those with less than $39,000 and over $75,000 household income

Strategies and tactics

Ground Floor Opening Event - September 2018

The purpose of The Ground Floor opening event is to introduce the new space and the
services that will be offered to the community. It will serve as a way to give the public an
opportunity to see first hand what is happening in their community.  It will also educate the
public on NWYS and what this new space means for not only at-risk youth but also for the
community. It will also inform people on how they can get involved and donate. 

This event will give tours of the space and hold discussion sessions with at-risk youth and the
public in order to understand the goal and who it is designed to serve. Catering will be done
by Haggen street catering who is known for supporting nonprofits in the Bellingham area. 

Tour of facility 
Explanation of services 
Food and beverages (Sponsored)
Donation collection 
Volunteer recruiting table
Promotional video reveal 
Live music (Sponsored by indie/alternative rock bands such as Middle James, The Dawn Bombs
and/or Step Dads will be performing throughout the event, free of charge)
Correcting the narrative activity 
                - Place a wrong term or perception of at-risk youth on a piece of paper in a
person's hand. Then they say what they think that term means and the discussion leaders
will then have them flip over the piece of paper revealing the correct term. The discussion
leaders will then lead a discussion and explain why it is important to know the real correct
definitions and the negative terms implications. 

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Partnerships

WWU Visual Journalism - Promotional Video

A partnership with the WWU Visual Journalism department will benefit both parties
involved. VJ students will create a video for a class as a service learning project. There will be
no costs for the video. We have reached out to two professors in the department, Joe Gosen
and Stephan Howie, who both are interested in this project. If this does partnership does not
work, we propose to create an VJ internship position to create the video. 

This video will be used a promotional material for both the website and social media
platforms. A promotional video will increase awareness and support of The Ground Floor. 

Volunteer Center of Whatcom County

The Volunteer Center of Whatcom County is a database of volunteer opportunities in the
Bellingham area. Organizations submit their volunteer opportunity and people then sign up
to participate. To take advantage of this resource, we propose to submitting any The Ground
Floor volunteer opportunity to this organization. This will help with recruiting volunteers. 

WWU Circle K 
WWU Circle K  is a Associated Students Club sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of
Bellingham. The local chapter of Circle K International is a collegiate and university
organization that promotes community service, leadership development and
friendship. This partnership can bridge the age difference between people who volunteer
and donate throughout the Whatcom community. Having Circle K involved with
volunteering will increase the interest of more college students to become involved with
The Ground Floor. 

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Lydia Place
Partnering with Lydia Place would help strengthen and expand on the support offered
through the Whatcom Homeless Service Center. The mission of Lydia Place is to disrupt the
cycle of homelessness and promote sustained independence for current and future
generations. Lydia Place could help with fundraising and in-kind donations such as a clothing
drive for The Ground Floor. 

Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center

The Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center offers conflict prevention and intervention
services for businesses, organizations, individuals, and families. WDRC seeks to build the
capacity of community members to better manage conflict as it arises, and to learn ways to
minimize the possibility of it occurring. WDRC can offer services to NWYS at The Ground
Floor in the form of training for adults and youth in an effort to build skills and reduce
unproductive conflict.

Related PR Materials 

Social Media Guide

The social media guide includes recommendations on how, when and what to post, as well
as information about how to reach and promote NWYS material to a younger and broader
demographic. It also includes examples of best practices when posting on social media.
These practices should be implemented during From the Ground Up campaign. 

Media Kit 
The purpose of the media kit is to serve as an informational tool that will be distributed
amongst different news platforms. It will be an accessible packet filled with NWYS articles
that have been written from the past and ideas for future articles. It includes potential
NWYS contacts for future articles. Along with a description of who NWYS is as a brand and
general information about The Ground Floor and NWYS. 

14
Press Releases 
The Ground Floor Announcement 
The purpose of this press release is to announce to the community The Ground Floor
project. It provides a description of The Ground Floor and what services are to be offered
there.  A date and quote from someone involved (E.g. Pastor David Weasley) is to be added
before distribution. 

The Ground Floor Opening Event 

The purpose of this press release is to notify the community about the event. It provides
information on the event and will both raise awareness of the event and The Ground Floor
in general. It provides The date, location and time are to be added when they are decided
as well as adding a quote from someone involved (E.g. Executive Director Riannon B)
before distribution. 

Promotional Materials 
For our proposed Ground Floor grand opening event, we have created a poster (18 x 24in)
and a flyer (8.5 x 11in) using imagery of the ground floor blueprints in a “Coming Soon”
construction style. The purpose of these promotional materials, as well as a brochure
designed to inform about The Ground Floor Project, will be to not only promote the space’s
opening, but the services that will be offered at the space.

15
 Evaluation

Public Relations is committed to reaching our objectives. In order to measure

the impact of our campaign, we have created the following for NWYS to analyze
whether our objectives have been met. 

To assess the awareness of NWYS and the Ground Floor,

a convenience survey of 100 people will be conducted a
year after the start of the campaign. 

To determine donation growth, NWYS will track the

number of donations after the start of the campaign to
compare to the year prior to the campaign. 

To determine volunteer increase, NWYS will track

number of volunteers after the start to compare to the
year prior. 

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Timeline

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 2018-2019 
April 2018
SPRING
            Send out The Ground Floor announcement press release 
            Add The Ground Floor info to website 

May 2018
           Start posting updates of The Ground Floor's construction progress on social media  

  SUMMER
July 2018
            Beginning of July: Begin planning stages for The Ground Floor grand opening event 
            Recruit volunteers through partnerships 
            Apply for event permit
            End of July: send promotional materials to printer
      
August 2018
            Send out The Ground Floor grand opening event press release 
            Create and publish grand opening event Facebook page 
            Distribute promotional posters and flyers for grand opening
            Finalize volunteers for grand opening event 

FALL
September 2018
            The Ground Floor Opening (date tbd): set up, host and clean up

October 2018
            Send thank you cards for volunteers and anyone involved with The Ground Floor
opening. 

WINTER
 February 2019
            Conduct evaluation through convenience survey and compare findings to 2018 survey
results. Compare numbers of awareness, donations and volunteers. 

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Budget

19
 Package 1

Brochure (100, Staples) $100.00

Social media guide  $0.00

Press releases  $0.00

Partnerships $0.00

TOTAL: $100.00

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 Package 2
Brochure (100, Staples) $100.00

Partnerships $0.00

Press releases  $0.00

Social media guide  $0.00

Media Kit $0.00

The Ground Floor opening 

50 posters (17 x 11 in.) $150.00
100 flyers (8.5 x 11 in.) $48.00
Food and beverage Sponsored:  $0.00
Live music  $0.00
4 tables (Bellingham event rentals) $46.00
20 chairs (Bellingham event rentals) $59.00
Compostable plates, cuts and utensils (Amazon) $50.00

TOTAL: $453.00

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