We worked with the California Partners Project (CPP) to support their Listening Tour initiative. In partnership with the First Partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the purpose of the tour was to listen to caregivers across California about how they’ve navigated parenting and mental health challenges in a technology and media driven world, especially during the pandemic. We collaborated with organizations from the California Reducing Disparities Project to incorporate moms from different backgrounds into the conversation, provided media/social media strategy and videos, produced in person and virtual tours, and edited each recorded session for final copy.

We worked with California Pan-Ethnic Health Network to support a statewide mental health initiative designed to address systemic disparities in mental health services for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. This included media training, capacity building, and production across a network of 35 community based non-profit service providers from throughout California. Our team produced media forums with local journalism outlets that also provided a platform for advocacy with key legislative and government stakeholders.

Partnered with Foundation leadership to develop a feasibility study and operation plan for launching a Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. This first of its kind ‘superstructure’ is designed to respond to the pressures and rapidly evolving ecosystem for local reporting in the Central Valley. The feasibility reporting included landscape analysis, stakeholder interviews, and strategic planning.

Partnered with the CPI’s leadership on strategic communications, donor engagement, and development campaigns. Our team analyzed existing donor journeys and communications channels to then help guide an updated comprehensive architecture for sustaining the organization’s growth and impact. This work included the development and production of the CPI’s first publicly available annual report.

Our team led communications and implementation strategy for ABC for Students Program, a CARES Act funded public-private program that provided broadband access to over 200,000 low-income students in Alabama. Working with Alabama state departments and school districts, we were able to advocate for underserved, black belt school districts in Alabama by developing community-based solutions for access to the ABC for Students Program’s services.

Studio To Be was tasked with communicating the broadband access program’s offerings to technical officers in school districts and charters in the state of Delaware. We created solutions to support schools in distributing the devices and services to their low-income students.

Strategic consulting and development for philanthropic support of local journalism initiatives across the McClatchy family of newsrooms. Our work led to the launch of the first ever reporting labs within the company. The ongoing success of the Fresno Bee’s Education Lab and Fresnoland initiatives includes a diverse set of funders. Our work also supported the start up of the Miami Herald’s Investigative Journalism Fund, as well as the Sacramento Bee’s Equity Lab. The momentum from these also led to Microsoft’s decision to name the Central Valley as one of its pilot communities in its journalism initiative. Read more about this initiative here.

Provided Strategic consulting and support for their community funded initiatives. Partnered and launched investigative journalism fund.

Partnered on a series of community engagement events to highlight and explore the critical need for local journalism. This unique collaboration was launched in partnership with Community College campuses across California and continues to evolve with a new fellowship program for Spring 2021.

Partnered to develop and implement a curriculum design and support network of community college journalism programs across California. Ongoing projects continue to invest in the sustainability of journalism education on community college campuses.