Portfolio

Experience Success with 17th Street Communications.
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A Campaigning Success Story – How Can Green Valley Fire Complete One of the Largest Fire District Annexations in Arizona?

The Client: Green Valley Fire District, Southern Arizona

The Scenario: The Green Valley Fire District (GVFD) wanted to annex its neighboring area of Sahuarita. To meet this goal, GVFD needed 50% of signatures from the area’s 5,000+ property owners, including residents and business owners.

The Big Win: GVFD successfully completed the annexation with overwhelming support from residents and businesses.

The Smart Tactics:

  • Government relations – developing outreach strategies with the Town of Sahuarita and Pima County
  • Internal communications – creating strategies for keeping District firefighters and staff motivated to help and inform the public over year-long life of campaign
  • Year-long awareness – maintaining top-of-mind public awareness through varied communication streams over course of a year
  • Writing – crafting clear communication pieces explaining what is a fire district and how does annexation work (intricately governed by Arizona law) to Sahuarita residents – for whom many are newcomers accustomed to fire departments being a part of existing local governments
  • Messaging – identifying calls to action that resonate, urging residents to sign the petition
  • Media relations – Regular writing and distributing of press releases and letters to the editor
  • Online and social media – managing Website (sahuaritafire.org), Facebook (www.facebook.com/GVFire) and email update system
  • Special events – hosting special events to maintain public engagement
  • Direct mail – motivating public to sign the petition with strong calls to action arriving at their home or business
  • Grass roots thinking – starting the Sahuarita Fire Crew, a community volunteer group, to promote campaign involvement

The Samples:

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Fighting Tax Increases – Taxing Renters is Not the Answer

The Client: Arizona Multihousing Association

The Scenario: The City of Tucson proposed a sales tax on rent three times (May 2009, January 2010, January 2011) as a solution to the City’s budget shortfall. I assisted the association, working with its leadership, staff and membership to plan No Rent Tax campaigns.

The Big Win: The Rent Tax was defeated every time by a unanimous vote of the Tucson City Council.

The Smart Tactics:

  • Strategy leadership – guiding the coalition of rental industry stakeholders and developing campaign strategies
  • Calls to action – working with property managers getting renters involved via flyers and newsletter articles
  • Online communications – web, email and social media updates
  • City Council relations – meeting with Council members and staff to explain impacts of a rental tax
  • Research & Reporting – preparing report based on Census Bureau data communicating impacts of a rental tax (report available on website). Presenting major findings, such as median Tucson renter income ($23K) vs. homeowner income ($50k)
  • Media relations – writing and distributing press releases to garner publicity for rental tax opponents
  • Grass roots – planning rallies against the rental tax

The Samples:

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Events that Grow – Pecans Provide Community Fun for 3 Years in a Row!

The Client: Farmers Investment Company (FICO)

The Scenario: FICO is the world’s largest grower-processor of pecans and is located in Sahuarita, Arizona. I was asked to coordinate the inaugural event in 2009, and after seeing spectacular results, FICO hired me to plan the event in 2010 and 2011.

The Big Win: Inaugural event saw more than triple the expected attendees and in only 2 years has over 15,000 attendees.

The Smart Tactics:

  • Planning & concept – developing event plan and timeline, creating general event concepts and positioning
  • Management – staffing all event planning meetings and coordinating group efforts
  • Publicity – handling communications activities: press releases, web and social media
  • On-site coordination – scheduling, site planning/mapping and directing festival vendors, entertainers, and volunteers
  • Sponsorships – designing incentives, negotiating and finding sponsors

The Samples:

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When Developers Need Government – PR for a 4,000 Acre Development

The Client: American Nevada Company (ANC)

The Scenario: ANC needed approval from both the Town of Sahuarita’s Planning Commission and its Town Council for a General Plan Amendment for a proposed 4,000 acre development in Sahuarita.

The Big Win: Both parties approved the plan.

The Smart Tactics:

  • Engaging stakeholders – developing strategies to engage local stakeholders and encouraging people to support the development proposal
  • Monitoring public conversations – helping the developer, located out of town, stay current on community news and issues by serving as the local liaison and reporting back information and public opinion on news, meetings, etc.
  • Government relations – meeting with Town officials and staff to communicate the development’s benefits.

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Supporting Entrepreneurship – Event Planning for Entrepreneurial Development

The Client: IdeaXchange

The Scenario: IdeaXchange, a group of well-known business men and women that are either entrepreneurs or work in a field related to entrepreneurship, hosts an annual conference for entrepreneurs. My entrepreneurial background was a perfect fit when the group chose her to plan its 2010 conference.

The Big Win: Introduced new components to the event marketing and the conference ran smoothly and received positive feedback from attendees and planning team members.

The Smart Tactics:

  • Leadership – staffing twice monthly meetings and keeping committee members up to date with planning timelines, developing detailed spreadsheets to manage tasks and committee member responsibilities
  • On-site coordination – working with event venue staff to ensure proper room preparations; tables, food, a/v, etc., coordinating event volunteers
  • Publicity – managing production of new design for flyer, postcards, and program
  • Media relations – writing and distributing press releases, pitching event to media
  • Agenda development – developing detailed schedule/agenda to keep committee members organized for event

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For more information, please contact Barb.

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