Transmission Project

Richard Beckermeyer led efforts to develop media curriculum and marketing materials for CMC’s California Voices program. This included the updating of an 80-page curriculum focused on digital storytelling and civic engagement in the after-school environment. Richard collaborated with about a half dozen staff in two regions to make the required changes and update the graphical appeal of the new curriculum. Richard was also helpful in troubleshooting technology and equipment problems in our Sacramento office and training staff in new programs.

Donna completed several significant web-based graphic design and technical projects during her assignment with NAMAC. She has significantly built the capacity of NAMAC’s online interactivity and resource-sharing to reach and assist members and the public around the country and globally.

Donna’s primary focus has been on developing the interactivity of the NAMAC website, in particular the Idea Exchange. This entails identifying which actions/networks are key for building our online presence and in building strong relationships with a team of bloggers who represent a cross-section of our online community, in terms of region, discipline, generation, and other important demographic criteria.

We have received increased traffic to our website, and conduct most of our membership business via the website: from conference and event registration to promotion and marketing, to resource-sharing, news and analysis across the field. The new look and architecture that Donna instituted has branded NAMAC as a leading web presence and has integrated well with our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social media platforms.

Nickey has totally revamped our social marketing presence and strategy, increasing our Facebook network to over 1200 fans and bringing our Twitter followers to over 1700. She also revived our long-dormant blog - helping develop a schedule and model for posts from staff and participants, redesigned our YouTube channel, participated in our website redesign project with the Taproot foundation, and redesigned our templates for program outreach and registration. Nickey has done a great job of developing new ideas and really showing leadership in terms of growing our online community - and understanding how to be an active contributing participant in networks like Twitter and Facebook. Where many organizations will simply Tweet or post about their own successes, Nickey has helped us learn to offer interesting articles, videos, analysis and funding opportunities to our networks. That way, when it does come time to promote our own programming or events, our network doesn’t feel bombarded by asks. She and I have worked closely together in developing strategies and making decisions, and she has shown great initiative and leadership skills in being able to take projects from idea to execution.

Thanks to Nickey’s efforts at developing our online presence, Reel Grrls has become a significant contributor to online discussions of women and media within the Twitter community. Many of our outreach materials - in print and online - have had major facelifts. And we’ve finally launched the “GAB (Grrls Advisory Board)” - a youth-led advisory group that was in the works for a long time before Nickey’s energy was able to bring it to life. We are currently working to reframe our intern job descriptions to include some of the work that Nickey has been doing on an ongoing basis. Additionally, Nickey is developing a social marketing handbook that will help us integrate ongoing social marketing tasks into permanent staff members’ duties.

Nickey has a great eye for graphic design, so she has pitched in to help redesign program outreach materials, event programs, enewsletters and DVD covers - which has been a huge asset in presenting a vibrant image of Reel Grrls to the outside world. Nickey has also jumpstarted our Grrls Advisory Board, led a couple of Reel Grrls Productions projects for clients, and started a plan to create a sales catalogue of our DVD library.

The three main project goals for this position were to support the Girl Tech Collective program, support a media assessment of New Mexico, and support a project on media monitoring.

The Girl Tech Collective program began this past year, but was shifted to another staff person. Instead, Candelario supported another youth program in New Mexico called Digital Justice for Us! (DJ4U) program. This was a more strategic move because it connected to MLP’s work on broadband in New Mexico, a project that this VISTA member would already be working on. The Digital Justice for Us! program was successful and MLP learned a lot from this first year. Cande supported the youth involved in this program, assisted in organizing the event to showcase the young participant’s video work, lead an evaluation on the program, and documented the process. His work will make the DJ4U program stronger for the coming year. MLP’s Program Director helped support this program.

The second project goal was to support the New Mexico media assessment. This project took on the form of an assessment of broadband access in New Mexico. Cande helped to host researchers from the Social Science Research Council in our state as they conducted focus groups in the greater Albuquerque area. Cande also formalized new organizational partnerships around the broadband issue, helped to build MLP’s base, and participated in community conversations. The increase in supporters of MLP and the collection of stories and information on how broadband affects rural and low-income communities has greatly strengthened MLP’s programs and projects. All MLP staff, partner organizations, and community members helped support the goal for increased access to broadband in New Mexico.

The third project goal was to support the media monitoring project. Cande helped to support Siembra la palabra digna, MLP’s initiative to address responsible speech in our media. Cande assisted at outreach events, collected video stories from community members, and monitored media clips to examine how issues and communities are framed and reported on in various media. Support for this project has helped MLP develop better workshops and materials that connect responsible speech with access to media and storytelling. MLP’s Campaign Coordinator assisted the VISTA member in this initiative.

Ben successfully created a content moderation module for Drupal using PHP for comments, users, and submitted content. Ben also created an Amazon Lists type module, that allowed users to create lists of things like on Amazon, and get them in an RSS feed.

Ben also did a huge amount of outreach and networking for the “DigitalBicycle” project. He spoke on the New Media Distribution panel at the B&H Photo conference in NYC and at the Beyond Broadcast Conference.

Ben also created logos and graphics for “DigitalBicycle” using inkscape.

We have increased our publicity through our VISTA’s work on designing our annual report, developing a template for our newsletter and designing our website. Dan Chen worked on the design and layout of the annual report which was published in December. The design was significantly more professional than in the past. It is sent out to donors and other interested individuals as part of our year-end donation appeal. This past year, the year end giving exceeded the amount raised in past years. Although we can’t determine if it was due to the design of the annual report, we did receive many comments about how well done it was. The Pui Tak Center has not had a regular newsletter for 7-8 years and has intended to restart it. Dan assisted in developing a design template. The newsletter will be mailed to supporters and donors as well as distributed in local churches. Dan has also begun work in redesigning our website. He has completed the initial design and site map. We are currently working on the content. After that is completed, Dan will work with a programmer to get the site up and running. All of these efforts improves our communication with current and potential supporters (donors, volunteers, etc.).

Kristen produced a variety of written materials and marketing collateral for potential partners, funders, and clients. She assumed responsibility for our quarterly newsletter; created and distributed flyers, postcards, and brochures for all three sites; and provided the photography, design, and some of the written content for our annual report. In addition to Kristen’s writing and design work, she organized several events designed to increase public awareness of our offerings, including job fairs and open houses. Finally, Kristen helped NTRC evaluate and improve its community engagement efforts through focus groups and an internal SWOT analysis. Although marketing was the main focus of her VISTA year, Kristen contributed to NTRC’s day-to-day operations by representing the organization at meetings and outreach events; contributing research, editing, and proofreading services; and performing or creating interviews, surveys, and other workforce development tasks. Kristen’s impact on the organization can be seen in three major ways: first, NTRC marketing materials have stepped up several levels because of her efforts; second, NTRC hosted a successful job fair in August 2007 with over 100 participants; and third, NTRC produced a visually impressive and content rich Year 2 Report for our Chicago Housing Authority funded “Make IT a Priority” Training Program Report in the Spring of 2007.

The best story to demonstrate Kristen’s contributions to NTRC is to tell you what we did when Kristen’s year-long commitment was complete. Despite the fact that prior to her arrival, the position that Kristen filled did not exist, NTRC offered her full-time employment at the termination of her VISTA year because during that year, Kristen proved herself to be a vital member of the team and not someone we were willing to give up. Other than that, most of Kristen’s contributions are best viewed, rather than told. The dramatic improvement in our marketing materials, quarterly newsletters, and reports speak for themselves.

Tony successfully created a project plan, lesson plans, program write-ups and evaluations for programs in the past year. These programs provide valuable skills to students in the following areas. Photoshop- design and tools, , Movie making, Robotics, Music Making, Diversity training, Literacy enrichment, Web Design, Graphic Design/Arts and the Techathalon (a state wide event). The Americorp Vista participated in outreach and recruitment with several community groups. He secured several donations for fundraising efforts through community relations he developed. During the past year, he visited the Young Champions program and urged them to participate in after school programs at the club site, greatly increasing the size and reach of our programs.