Brand Building & Government Relations 

Overview

PennSERVE is Pennsylvania’s State Service Commission, and a grantmaking partner of the federal agency, AmeriCorps. Each year, they award approx. $12 million to PA nonprofits. PennSERVE (PS) is housed in the PA Dept. of Labor & Industry (DL&I) and due to govt. regulations did not have a social media presence. The PS brand was struggling. Their limited communications were handled by the DL&I communications team and distributed through DL&I media channels. PennSERVE was eager to develop and control their own brand voice on social and traditional media, and wanted to enlist DL&I’s support.

Our Approach

PennSERVE and Maura presented a business case to the new DL&I communications team for why they should have more robust communications, including PR and media. We developed a strategic spotlight plan that would highlight AmeriCorps PA and link it to workforce development – issues important to the PA Gov. and the Dept. of Labor.   

We surveyed AmeriCorps PA program directors to ID high profile community events that would be suitable for site visits by the Secretary of Labor, the Gov. and the media. This culminated in a robust calendar of events in key cities and potential photo ops. Next, Maura interviewed select AmeriCorps members (below) who gained valuable workplace skills and created ‘Success Stories’.   

Armed with a calendar of exciting photo ops for the Gov. and a series of compelling stories, we set up briefing meetings to engage the DL&I comms team on a regular basis, and started pitching ideas.