Nonprofit publicity
Client: Volunteers of America
Background:
Volunteers of America wanted more visibility on its veterans program and veterans housing program.
Objective:
To work with VOA and other veterans groups in promoting their national report on homelessness among veterans.
Challenge:
Volunteers of America (VOA) represents multiple demographics and has a lengthy list of national programs administered through its state affiliates. In addition to offering housing, food, job training, family support, senior and youth programs, halfway houses, and running soup kitchens, the organization serves a significant veterans population.
The Solution...
Strategy:
In addition to national radio tours that were conducted by BCI with VOA executives to discuss the issues, BCI pitched CNN for a documentary on the plight of homeless vets.
Results:
A CNN crew was dispatched from Washington, D.C. and sent to a VOA project in Florida and it resulted in a CNN documentary on veteran homelessness that included prominent discussion of VOA’s programs with interviews with VOA clients. The program aired in March 2007 and ran again on Memorial Day weekend. It has since aired multiple times.