Pacoima Beautiful is a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley communities on environmental, health, and social justice issues. The organization does this work through grassroots organizing, community workshops, and influencing public policy. In April 2018, Pacoima Beautiful contracted Resource Media to provide earned and social media support for its first-ever youth environmental conference thanks to funding provided by the California Endowment. Resource Media was able to help Pacoima Beautiful promote its youth environmental justice conference, increase online engagement from local youth, and educate the community on environmental and health inequalities experienced by San Fernando Valley communities.
Resource Media’s approach to communications is to listen first, act based on evidence, leverage available resources, and enact efficient and effective strategies. In collaboration with Pacoima Beautiful, Resource Media developed a plan to:
•Equip students with knowledge of digital communications to help increase online engagement among local youth,
•Create branded digital and print promotional materials to help mobilize youth conference participants and local community around environmental health hazards, and
•Amplify the community’s message through earned media outreach.
Resource Media developed uniquely tailored trainings on digital strategies for Pacoima Beautiful’s youth program student leaders. Over 25 students took part in two workshops on how to engage online audiences, develop compelling messages for social media, and produce effective storytelling visuals. We worked with Pacoima Beautiful to design visual content consistent with the organization’s brand that would help recruit participants for the youth conference and support future advocacy efforts.
Resource Media also helped generate messaging and press materials, pitch media, and prepare local spokespeople to speak with reporters. Students were front and center at Pacoima Beautiful’s youth environmental conference: facilitating workshops, educating peers, and speaking to news reporters. The energy was palpable among participants and new momentum was generated beyond the conference as a result of the news coverage by Los Angeles Daily News, La Opinión and Univision—which delivered Pacoima Beautiful’s message to millions of people in Southern California.
