Douglas Gould and Company is a strategic communications firm dedicated to helping progressive nonprofit organizations and foundations use communications tools to advance important causes.

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Women's Community Revitalization Project

The Women's Community Revitalization Project is a community development organization that works with low-income women and their families in Philadelphia. WCRP develops housing and neighborhood facilities; provides supportive services; advocates for policy change; and honors leadership, dignity, and equity in Philadelphia's communities.

In the midst of the Philadelphia primary season, WCRP grappled with how to break through the typical election stories in order to highlight the destructive epidemic of blighted land in the city. They commissioned Douglas Gould and Company to facilitate the communications around the launch of The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land a citywide collaboration dedicated to fighting blight and promote the release of the Campaigns report, Put Abandoned Lands in Our Hands, which provided concrete solutions to combat blight by developing a community land trust.

We took a comprehensive and collaborative approach to the project by first soliciting WCRP and coalition partners to help identify communications messages and vehicles that would resonate with the various stakeholders. By monitoring local media coverage we were able to gauge public opinion on economic and community development issues, and ascertain who the leaders and key players are on the issue. We also sought opportunities to capitalize on the buzz around the elections, strategically position WCRP and the Campaign and insert land bank efforts into the conversation through a proactive media strategy and the following supporting communications tools:

  • Developed a suite of materials including campaign hand-outs, media advisories, press releases, fact sheets and targeted talking points based on the communication messages.
  • Placed a letter-to-the-editor to the Philadelphia Inquirer addressing candidate positions on creating a community land trust.
  • Supported and publicized two public events to highlight the blighted land issue.
    • A community garden event to revitalize blighted land into sustainable green space.
    • A press tour event to expose the vast amounts of blighted land in the community and discuss solutions provided in the Put Abandoned Lands in Our Hands report.

We were successful in garnering broadcast (KYW/CBS-3, WHYY-TV, WPVI/ABC-6, KYW-1060AM), as well as social media coverage to encourage community participation and push policymakers to take a stance on building lasting social change and sustainable development to Philadelphia.