Communications Committee

December 5, 2013

Participants:Thad Rosenfeld, Meals on Wheels and More; Iliana Gilman, ATCIC;Maegan Ellis, Literacy Coalition of Central Texas; Support: Sam Woollard, KWPM; Lily Wein, KWPM

Highlights

Following are the highlights and action items from the meeting:

  • Website – Timeline & Next Steps

Sam announced that One Voice has received a grant from St. David’s Foundation that includes a budget of $5,000 to redesign the website! Attendees set a goal of having a draft RFP for the website design by the January meeting. Website design groups that we should send the RFP to include Trademark Media and Capstone Works. Action Items:Iliana will send Sam and Lily ATCIC’s website redesign RFP to serve as an outline for drafting an RFP for One Voice’s website. In the next newsletter, Lily will include a request to members to send her recommendations for web design groups to send the RFP to.

  • Media Distribution List

Attendees reviewed the draft media distribution list and proposed additions and made suggestions for changes. Action Items: Lily will ask an intern to update the media list based on the Communications Committee’s feedback.

  • Poverty Information for January

Sam presented statistics on poverty in Travis County. Attendees identified the following as compelling facts to use in the poverty awareness campaign in January:

-Children in poverty: 25% of children under 18 in Travis County live in poverty (63,680)

-Growth of suburban poverty: Over the last decade or so, the number of people living in poverty in Austin grew by 77%. Between 2000-2012, the number of people living in poverty in the suburbs grew by 162%, making Austin the 2nd largest percentage increase in poverty amongst big cities across the US (Elizabeth Kneebone and Alex Berube).

-Obesity:Texas has the 7th highest child obesity rate in the country (Andy Roddick Foundation video)

-Statistic on therising cost of housing

Action Items: Maegan will ask a LCCT VISTA to draft an infographic of poverty statistics. The Communications Committee will draft Twitter and Facebook messages to share with the infographic. Lily will explore creating an online pledge to give money/time to help fight poverty through Change.org.

  • Social Media Training – Timeline & Next Steps

Attendees reviewed survey responses from One Voice members on what they would like to learn about social media. Maegan has access to a presentation on best practices in social media that we can refine. Iliana volunteered to assist Maegan and Cara with developing the presentation. Action Items: We need to set a date and time for the social media training. Lily will ask an intern to work on developing a contact list of the communications staff of One Voice member agencies.

  • Co-Chairfor 2014

Thad volunteered to continue to co-chair the Communications Committee in 2014. Action Item: Sam will call Cara and confirm if she can co-chair the committee.

Next Communications Committee Meeting: TBD