100 Things to Do In Charlottesville Before You Die

Media Planning for Nonprofits

This week, I was the guest speaker to an audience of nonprofit organizations. The topic was media planning, and I provided an eight-step guide, media interaction tips and thoughts on how to develop a media relations campaign. At Standing Partnership, we serve several nonprofit organizations as clients, providing public relations, strategic communications and issues management services.

Not much, besides a promotion, is more re-affirming than standing before an audience as the expert in your field.

I was delighted with the reception, and thrilled at the number of people who talked to me afterward or sent a thank you e-mail, sometimes requesting additional information.

Thanks again to Wendy Brown and Jessica Burshell of CNE for organizing and publicizing the event.

Comment away if you'd like to learn more about media planning for nonprofits.

CNE Brown Bag Lunch on Media Planning

I'll be dusting off my teaching skills and presenting a program for the Charlottesville Center for Nonprofit Excellence this Thursday. It's a brown bag lunch event, so pack your peanut butter and jelly and come on down to Live Arts for a lunch and learn opportunity.

The program topic is media planning for nonprofit programs and projects. I'll be taking the "class" through the steps to building a media plan, determining what's newsworthy about their programs and executing media strategy.

I hope to see you there! Details below:


Program/Project Media Planning
CNE Brown Bag Lunch
Date: Thursday, September 6 Time: 12 noon - 1:30pm.
Location: Live Arts, 123 E. Water Street
Presenter: Marijean Jaggers, Standing Partnership
Cost: Free for CNE members, $10 nonmembers

To find out more or RSVP, email jessica@thecne.org or call 434-244-3330.

New Crossing Guard Program in Albemarle County

After all of my posts about the crossing guard situation in Albemarle County, I was invited to attend a press conference this morning by both the Sheriff’s office and the Albemarle County school board.

I was of course, delighted to be present for the big announcement.

Sheriff Ed Robb greeted the small crowd gathered in front of Hollymead Elementary School to share the news that the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office, the Albemarle County Police Department and the Albemarle County Public Schools have collaborated to develop a certified crossing guard training program — the first in the state.

The program, to be held Sept. 4 and 5 and Oct. 6 and 7 in Earlysville, consists of two full-day sessions focused on training volunteer crossing guards. The program has been “approved, sanctioned and certified” by the Commonwealth, said Sheriff Robb. Trainees will learn traffic direction techniques, emergency reporting skills and earn CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) certification. The future crossing guards will be required to pass a written test and complete a practical exercise to graduate.

Diane Behrens, assistant superintendent, Albemarle County Schools said that the crossing guard problem began in February, 2007 when it was brought to their attention that according to state law, teachers cannot be crossing guards. Working together, the school administrators and law enforcement groups found a solution: train the teachers and other volunteers to meet the requirements and reinstate the crossing guards.

When asked, Behrens said that it was not clear whether bus service would be discontinued for the students designated as “walkers” in the district. “It’s hard to take something away once we’ve started it,” she said. Student walkers for the district did not have bus service prior to February 2007.

What took so long to get the crossing guard program up and running? I have wondered, as February was nearly seven months ago. Brian Wheeler, school board member and fellow blogger who was not present at the press conference but with whom I’ve communicated on this topic, said that the curriculum had to be developed and approved by the state. As any teacher or government employee knows, that kind of process takes time. It’s a miracle they got it done this quickly, in that case.

The program is actively recruiting crossing guard trainees. If you’re interested in learning more about providing safe routes to schools in Albemarle, contact Caroline Heins, program coordinator for the Alliance for Community Choice in Transporation.

Cross-posted to www.stlworkingmom.com

Leadership Portland

Congratulations to my colleague, Ann Smith, who has been accepted to the Leadership Portland program!

Ann and I are the coast-to-coast element of Standing Partnership, the PR firm we represent in each of our communities. Ann holds down the fort in Portland, I manage clients from Charlottesville.

I know that Ann will get as much out of and enjoy her community's leadership program as I have Leadership Charlottesville.

Del. Rob Bell in my Mailbox

Today, I received a hand-written note from Del. Rob Bell, congratulating me on my graduation from Leadership Charlottesville.

How cool is that?

Thanks Rob!

Voices of Poverty on WINA

Two of our team members, Becky Weybright and Joe Hughes were guests of Coy Barefoot last week on WINA.

Listen to the interview about the Voices of Poverty project.

We're excited about the exposure the project has gained. In the last couple of weeks, we've been invited to share the project with the United Way board at their annual retreat and this week, we'll be discussing options for a statewide initiative for the project.

One of the wonderful aspects of producing a podcast project is the flexibility of a Web-based initiative; it can grow, add layers and expand to accomodate any number of poverty awareness programs -- anywhere. Charlottesville becomes the pilot and model for other communities seeking to raise awareness of the issues in their communities.

Shoot me an e-mail to learn more about the Voices of Poverty project.

Graduating from Leadership Charlottesville

Tomorrow's the big day. It's sad that we've come to the end of this journey, but exciting to be moving ahead with new friends, projects and possibilities. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in one place tomorrow. While many of us have gotten together, certainly with our project teams, it's been since November that the majority of us have had the opportunity to spend the day together.

We lost one member of our team -- Jimmy moved back to Miami toward the end of our project. I think most of the original 35 have made it to graduation and will be there for the ceremony.

Tomorrow's events include presentations of our projects to the class. It will be great to share Voices of Poverty with them in person. I'm also looking forward to hearing more about their projects, especially the First Mile project, a program developed for seventh graders in Charlottesville city schools, to get them running and setting goals. I was there the morning the First Mile project team came up with the idea. Their energy and excitement were infectious and it was fantastic to see them take off and "run" with it. Theirs is certainly a story of success.

People I know are starting to think about applying for the program -- some have already signed up -- partly from all my touting, but also because they know it's a great vehicle to learn more about Charlottesville and create connections among people in the community -- something I believe all leaders crave.