Notes from the Field:
The National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy

Feature

Integrity: Episcopal Church Votes for Full Inclusion
At the 2009 General Convention, the Episcopal Church agreed that gay and lesbian members are eligible for any ordained ministry in their church and that they will recognize same-sex blessings. Specifically, The House of Delegates and the House of Bishops voted to allow ordination of gay and lesbian priests and bishops and all affirmed that God could call to ordination anyone, including people living in a same-sex marriage or partnership.

This was a major turn of events for the Church, which has been publicly embattled over this level of acceptance and inclusion since the ordination of openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop in 2003.

Integrity, USA an advocacy organization and grantee of the Arcus Foundation, has been a leading voice working towards full inclusion for the LGBT community in the Episcopal Church. A primary goal of Integrity was to have the Church’s ban on ordination and same-sex blessings overturned. To support their efforts in reaching this particular goal, we undertook message research and created and published a "graphic novel" that tells the story of the historical evolution of inclusion of suppressed groups throughout Church history.

View the Flash presentation.

Lutherans Concerned: Celebrating the Passage of the Social Statement and Elimination of the
20-year Ban

Following the major announcement of full inclusion of by the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) announced the passing of the Social Statement on Human Sexuality, lifting a 20-year ban on partnered gay clergy and acting as a major milestone in the development of church policies and practices to support full inclusion and positive change.

Emily Eastwood, executive director of Lutherans Concerned/North America, said,” The social statement is tolerant of our differences both in scriptural interpretation and practice. The social statement supports our unity without requiring uniformity. There is still much work to do, but the door to full inclusion of LGBT members and their families is now most definitely open."

Lutherans Concerned works to ensure the acceptance and full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, within the Lutheran communion and its ecumenical and global partners. DGC is working with Lutherans Concerned on effective communications and education efforts around the issue of gay and lesbian rights.

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Notes from the Field

The National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy

With the goal of creating the finest urban waterfront recreation and educational park system in the world The National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy is tasked with providing philanthropic and earned revenue support to preserve and protect the 23 national park sites that ring the harbor.

The Harbor Conservancy hired Douglas Gould and Company to create and launch its first public awareness and marketing campaign aimed at creating buzz and driving traffic to the Web site and to the Conservancy’s newly launched series of ranger-led and boat tours.

After interviewing key leadership, conducting audits of print and Web materials, and exploring the media landscape the DG team brainstormed values, messaging and themes for a marketing strategy. Creative concepts for the campaign, consumer positioning statements, key messaging frames and strategies to leverage current news hooks resulted in effective earned media placements across platforms including the Daily News, WOR, NY1 News, and Newsweek's Budget Travel.

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On My Radar
by Doug Gould

Communications Trends: Evolution or Revolution?

We are living through rapid social and cultural change. In addition to the flagging economy, the nonprofit sector has been doubly hurt by a pull back in charitable giving and a sinking stock market, which undermined foundation support. Add to this an apparent revolution in the field of communications. It is easy to think everything’s new - even revolutionary. Sadly, its not.

The constant barrage of new tools can put communications experts and organizations in "rapid-response" mode, fighting to understand the "latest trends" while the fundamentals get lost. Social media has exploded, offering new ways to slice and dice audiences and providing new forums for social change communications. The traditional business models of public relations and advertising have been upended by the rapid shift to Web-based communications and the explosion of the blogosphere, all at the expense of collapsing traditional media. I could go on.

But organizations that need to advance policy in the public interest should know - this is not revolution. The crucial fundamentals remain the same; we just have to build on trends of the last 15 years, in particular, media consolidation at the top and fragmentation at the bottom. Until the financial crisis, newspapers and other media were merging into news and entertainment conglomerates. Simultaneously, many Web-based specialty publications and blogs offered more places to acquire information, albeit without the verification applied by traditional media.

Many forget that the evolution of online media and social networking is really about delivery systems. We recently commissioned an analysis of the blogosphere and our research partners found that the two mother lodes of information that feed the bulk of blog posts are "old media" stalwarts such as The New York Times and NPR.

These findings remind us of the importance of an integrated strategic communications approach that embraces traditional and new media. We now have a wealth of dazzling and fun venues in which to seed content, and increase engagement and interactivity. However, a common and often repeated narrative is still the key to facilitating public understanding of an issue.

Effective communications still requires:

• A viable strategy built upon a solid understanding of how audiences frame issues, behave and are motivated to act - which can only be learned through audience and message research.
• A solid narrative framed in ways that engage and move people. Too many people tell stories that inadvertently undercut their intended impact. For example, extolling the triumphs of kids who overcome poverty only proves to people that left to their own devices, kids can overcome poverty without society’s help.
• A good message that is values-based and touches people's hearts and minds is still essential but often ignored.
• Solid research and analysis are even more important today so that limited resources are spent effectively.
• Face-to-face engagement, that most traditional form of communication, is on the upswing. Think of all the meet-ups, community service projects, book groups, clubs and local political circles (post-Obama campaign). Yes, people still text away on their BlackBerrys; but more are seeking real time human connection in the fellowship of others.

Good communicators implementing strong strategies and winning messages really can effect change. Content is still king, despite the fun and excitement of the new delivery systems, and all of us need to remember this mantra as we advance public interest issues.

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Beyond the Click

Keep Arts in Schools Joins the Blogosphere

Blogging on all things arts learning at www.keepartsinschools.org opens up the conversation to new ways to think about and link to important issues. We want to hear from you!

Read and react to Jennifer Hahn's post on racial and cultural "education gap" research presented at an Americans for the Arts conference and join the conversation.

"I was enthralled to hear an expert talk about the race and culture of African, Latin, Asian and Native American (ALANA) children as assets. Their literature review revealed data that demonstrate how many children use their culture and racial identity every day in striving for success in school and life, only to have their race, language and culture disparaged in the process." - Jennifer Hahn, Douglas Gould and Company

Navigating the Blogosphere: Arts Learning & Education Reform

What if you could determine where the online conversations are taking place regarding education and arts learning, the ways in which people are talking about the subject and the key phrases that resonate with those who participate in the dialogue? Access the executive summary of our research, funded by the Ford Foundation, to learn how conversations in the blogosphere can inform strategic communications. Then learn about powering your own advocacy campaign with the information and insights this research provides.

Creating Skilled Workers for the Washington Wine Industry

South Seattle Community College’s Wine Making Program has changed the lives of its participants and fed the local economy with skilled workers for the growing Washington wine industry.

"As an adult, it's harder to go to school... I never thought I'd be here, starting a bright future and a great career." (photo of profile)

South Seattle Community College provides non-traditional students an accessible education and the greater Washington State community a skilled workforce. View the Profiles of Opportunity video of one student's experience and learn how this program has changed her life and had an impact on the local economy.

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Staff News

Congratulations to Dana Nachbar!

Congratulations to Dana Nachbar!  Dana joined us as a media coordinator in 2007 with a background in nonprofit communications in the arts sector. Since joining the firm, she has become an asset to its education and youth, and arts education practices. We are pleased to report that Dana has been promoted to associate and will continue to be a strong and diversely-skilled member of our team. 

DG Alum Making Change in the World

We miss our former Posse interns, but we know they are out in the world doing great things. Take Stephanie Morillo for example. While teaching English in Malaysia as part of the Fulbright Scholar program, Stephanie has taken on an ambitious effort to create a library of Western reading material for her students, to which we contributed.

The school's response to Stephanie's project has been overwhelmingly positive. Already dubbed "Stephanie's English Corner", the section of the library will kick off with an English Reading Challenge in which one student from each gifted class will have to finish two entire chapter books by October 1st, write detailed synopses and answer critical thinking questions. The winner will receive a prize.

Providing educational opportunities to all students is important to Douglas Gould and Company, and we are thrilled to see DG alum working to make great change in the world..

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