Katelyn Beno Ariana Conklin Ava Frakes Kelly Hudson Kaylin Knowles JRN 551, MW 2:00 April 28,

2014 Isabella County Restoration House Communication Plan Client Research A. Background Travus Burton worked as a case manager in the greater Lansing area and truly understands what it is like to be homeless. Burton learned how everyone is not much different or far off from being in that scary position and that so many people here in our community are struggling with this reality. Burton realized there was a need in Mount Pleasant to help homeless individuals and provide assistance. When interviewing Burton, he made the comment about how we live in one of the richest countries yet some cant have basic living conditions. Nobody deserves that, everyone deserves that their basic needs are met. Isabella County has resources help homeless individuals but there were a lot of gaps where assistance was needed. The Isabella County Restoration House started in hopes to fill these gaps and provide all the services people need to help them in their current situation. The ICRH plans to provide shelter, transportation and meals, along with services for laundry, job placement and medical assistance. Most people who are homeless are in a fight for survival and sometimes they are only thinking of immediate living conditions, not long-term solutions. With the help of the ICRH, these people can start helping themselves through the organizations resources. Financial Status

The ICRH is a nonprofit organization so it cannot run without the help and support of others. The workers of the ICRH are made up of board members and volunteers. Right now they receive donations to keep the rotating shelter in operation. However, the main goal is to establish a concrete facility that can provide all services under one roof. The ICRH is in its first year and has not yet met financial goals to achieve a stable, long-term facility. The board hopes that as the rotating shelter develops more people will realize that there is a problem in the Mount Pleasant community and recognize that ICRHs goal can help solve this. Financial support for the ICRH has been received collectively by countless donations from local organizations, individual community members and churches, and also from individual members of these churches. There are very few grants to help with what the ICRH is trying to achieve, making donations an extremely important part of this facility and process. Reputation The ICRH is in its first year and so far it has had an outstanding reputation with community members, clientele and outside organizations. That reputation can be seen through local broadcast news channels, local papers, individuals who are directly working with the organization, and those who are using the shelter. Past & Present PR efforts / practices The ICRH has used social media as a way to distribute messages across as effectively as possible. Videos have been posted to their Facebook page that can be easily shared to help reach a mass audience. Using social media and these other mediums have started a small but effective PR campaign for the ICRH. Weaknesses

One of the biggest weaknesses of the ICRH is that they are a new, nonprofit organization. Because of this the ICRH needs help from various other businesses and organizations. However, because they are a new organization, businesses and corporations have turned them down when they have asked for help or donations. With Central Michigan University being a major part of the Isabella County, community the university has not helped or donated at all. The ICRH has asked for the use of the Student Activity Center for showers, activities and various other items for homeless individuals. Strengths Some of the strengths of the ICRH have come from team efforts with Mount Pleasant churches. The churches worked to help out with the efforts of the ICRH. Most churches have hosted fundraisers, set up ways for members to donate time, money and other goods. Having people of faith work with the ICRH has helped this organization and has directly benefited the individuals using the shelter. Even if the churches were not able to host the weeklong shelter, they were still able to help with food and donations such as toiletries and clothing. The churches have an outstanding audience to help spread the ICRH messages to get more involved with the organization. D. Clientele The ICRH is an open door rotating shelter for people who are struggling to make ends meet in the community. The clientele consists of homeless individuals and families that are unable to provide a stable or safe living situation for them or their loved ones. The clientele varies in demographic. People who have used the shelter have been from the Mount Pleasant area but others have also traveled from the surrounding area in order to use the ICRHs services. Most shelters in Michigan have a 30 day policy and when that specific time frame is up the

individuals are no longer able to stay. The ICRH does not want this opportunity to be a BandAid but rather create a stable shelter for these individuals. Services Provided The ICRH provides an open door rotating shelter to people in need. Each church hosts the shelter for one week. At the location people are provided with transportation to that weeks hosting church, a hot meal, a place to sleep, entertainment, bathing amenities and toiletries. The supplies are transferred to each church every week. The ICRH plans to expand services that will be provided after a full time facility can be obtained. Donor / Supporter Organizations: A & D Home Health Care, Chippewa Cab Company Comfort Inn, Crme de la Crme, EZ Clean Laundromat, Kentucky Fried Chicken, ICTC, LaBelle Management, Morey Courts, Mt. Pleasant Transportation, U-Ride, Isabella Community Credit Union, The Red Hat Society of Isabella County Donor / Supporter Churches: Central Michigan Christian, Church of the Latter Day Saints, Community Church, Community of Christ Church, First Church of Christ, First Presbyterian, First United Methodist, Free Methodist, Immanuel Lutheran, Leaton United Methodist, Sacred Heart, St. John's Episcopal, St. Joseph the Worker, Unitarian Universalists and Wesley @ CMU. E. To provide immediate, temporary housing to homeless individuals of all social and cultural identities in Isabella County and to advocate for access to services needed by patrons to address their individual needs. Managements Goals 1. Develop a rotating shelter for the winter months that will be in operation seven days a week. The shelter will provide a safe haven to those in need and provide an evening meal. (Accomplished)

2. Gain a full-time, functioning facility that will provide shelter on a year-round basis. 3. The end goal is The Isabella County Restoration House Transformer. This would be a single facility that would provide temporary shelter, hot meals, groceries and other basic living supplies, job search assistance, educational and job training services, and other social services under one roof. Priorities & Problems Obtain proper funding to achieve the organizations goals, and create a proactive campaign that would highlight the ICRHs goals and the process. Opportunity or Problem Research The ICRH should conduct a PR campaign at this time because it is crucial to the overall goals of the organization. This organization is in the stage where the campaign would be more effective because they are showing the public what they are hoping to achieve in an objective format. If the ICRH is working towards a full time facility, the organization needs to begin immediately. It will take a long time to obtain all the financial needs, receive proper authorization, receive government support and set up the proper foundation to support homeless individuals. If the ICRH allows any time to pass before creating and implementing an effective PR campaign, people may forget about the homelessness problem in Isabella County. Proactive public relations campaign A proactive PR campaign would be critical to the ICRHs overall success. The campaign will focus on the opportunities in place while working to fulfill all of the goals of the organization. A proactive public relations campaign that the ICRH could create and implement would highlight the organization and the message it is working to spread. Proactive campaigns

are long-term ordeals because they maintain the favorability of the organization as well as strong relationships with the supporting community. The campaign would focus on creating awareness to support the organization, increase fundraising efforts by attracting possible donors, and creating events that would raise money for the organization while increasing homelessness awareness in the surrounding area. The strategy for this proactive campaign would be for audience participation, as well as media and news coverage. Audience Participation: A great way for the ICRH to gain audience participation would be to host events to allow the public to view what the organization has accomplished. An idea for an event could include an open house at one of the churches to let the community see first hand what the ICRH is doing and trying to accomplish. The ICRH could provide information at the event with handouts on the statistics about homelessness, show videos such as the video Travus Burton made on homelessness, include discussions from board members and people who have been using the shelter as well as people who have volunteered at shelter. This would provide a greater opportunity for possible donations and sponsorships, along with providing an opportunity for news coverage. Media: A goal and major factor for success with the ICRH would be to increase the awareness of the organization to as many media outlets as possible, including a plan to be more active on social media. It would be ideal for the ICRH to keep daily updates for followers to stay interested and aware of the happenings and progressions with the organization. This can be done with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and a blog. Informational posts can be easily shared and can serve as a great way to keep communication outreach growing. Using print media can also serve as a vital form of communication. Sending out mailings to the community

about events, newsletters or even fact sheets will increase awareness while keeping the campaign going. News Coverage: Though younger generations think otherwise many publics are still greatly influenced by the news and other specific mediums. Creating good relations with news outlets can provide amazing opportunities for the ICRH. Sending press releases, fact sheets or invitations to events will provide news outlets a chance to cover an interesting and beneficial organization that would ultimately spread awareness and coverage of the restoration house. Audience Research To conduct an appropriate proactive PR campaign is important to identify and target specific media outlets and audiences. The majority of the audience this campaign needs to reach is located in Isabella County and the surrounding area. This would include community members, mass media outlets, businesses, organizations and local government officials. The Mount Pleasant community receives their information from media outlets such as 9 & 10, CM Life and The Morning Sun. Giving them information through social media along with email notifications and invitations to events will cover many of the media outlets. Creating events and media that is local is the best way to reach these audiences. Media- Providing audience members with fact sheets, press kits and event information can be an effective way to reach the media. Features can be done with providing the audience with access to this information and also by having them attending events the ICRH hosts. Government Publics - Attending and setting up meetings and speaking with officials is the best way to approach the government publics. If the local officials are not aware of the organization this can create a relationship with these specific representatives. Non-quantitative data that we will use for our plan includes published materials and facts

that highlight the news articles, social media outlets and other forms of communication the ICRH uses to communicate their message with designated audiences. The ICRH needs help creating content for their social media networks and the website in order to fully broadcast key messages to designated target audiences. Our group recommends creating a social media calendar to plan out Facebook and Twitter posts throughout the week. A social media calendar can easily be created through a Google Drive s document with a Gmail address. Quantitative data used for our communication plan includes personal interviews from the volunteers and board members of the ICRH. Obtaining information from inside sources such as these will allow us to better understand the goals, objectives, successes and failures of the organization. The interviews will help conduct more research about the organization and the churches involvement with the ICRH. Objectives Output Objectives: 1. To create a website for the ICRH that will be updated frequently and incorporate the newsletter. 2. To post to Facebook and Twitter five times a week. Impact Objectives: 1. To increase discussion on social media sites to followers by 25 percent by December 2014 2. To develop 1,000 views on the new website from the outside public by December 2014 Part 1: Organization Specific Media Results Isabella County rotating homeless shelter in first stages The Morning Sun, Nov. 15, 2013 http://www.themorningsun.com/general-news/20131115/isabella-county-rotating-homelessshelter-in-first-stages Rotating homeless shelter in the works for Isabella County will open in January CM Life, Nov. 15, 2013 http://www.cm-life.com/2013/11/15/rotating-homeless-shelter-in-the-works-for-isabella-county/ Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hunters Ale House host raffle to help homeless CM Life, Nov. 24, 2013

http://www.cm-life.com/2013/11/24/immanuel-lutheran-church-hunters-ale-house-host-raffle-tohelp-homeless/ Restoration House to make debut The Morning Sun, Dec. 27, 2013 http://www.themorningsun.com/lifestyle/20131228/restoration-house-to-make-debut Rotating Shelter Aims to Help Homeless in Isabella County 9 & 10 News, Jan. 9, 2014 http://www.9and10news.com/story/24412434/rotating-shelter-aims-to-help-homeless-in-isabellacounty Rotating Shelter Aims to Help Homeless in Isabella County Fox 32 News, Jan. 9, 2014 http://www.mifox32.com/story/24412616/rotating-shelter-aims-to-help-homeless-in-isabellacounty Isabella homeless shelter sees success, roadblocks The Morning Sun, Jan. 10, 2014 http://www.themorningsun.com/social-affairs/20140111/isabella-homeless-shelter-sees-successroadblocks Churches partner to provide food, shelter to Mount Pleasants homeless CM Life, Feb. 6, 2014 http://www.cm-life.com/2014/02/06/isabella-county-restoration-house-rotating-homeless-shelterproves-to-be-early-success/ Part 2: Issue-Related Media Results Report: Homelessness In Michigan Continues To Decline CBS Detroit, Sept. 21, 2013 http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/09/21/report-homelessness-in-michigan-continues-to-decline/ New Homeless Shelter Program Starting up in Gaylord 9 & 10 News, Nov. 6, 2013 http://www.9and10news.com/story/23897801/new-homeless-shelter-program-starting-up-ingaylord Ann Arbor officials exploring daytime homeless shelter possibilities with Delonis Center M Live, Dec. 19, 2013 http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2013/12/ann_arbor_officials_exploring.html Ann Arbor officials say no one seeking shelter being left out in cold M Live, Jan. 7, 2014 http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/01/ann_arbor_officials_say_no_one.html

Local shelters provide warmth for homeless The Michigan Daily, Jan. 8, 2014 https://www.michigandaily.com/news/local-homeless-population-copes-chilling-temperatures Homeless expected back on streets of Ann Arbor as winter shelter programs end M Live, March 21, 2014 http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/homeless_expected_to_back_slee.html Part 3: Organization Communication Materials/ Social Media Channels Social Media Channel 1: Facebook 1,587 likes 10 taking about this 2 pictures The Isabella County Restoration House currently has a Facebook page that started Oct. 29, 2013. Since the launch, the ICRH posted quite a few times and generated likes and interactions from its audience. Currently there are 1,587 people who like the ICRH Facebook page. The ICRH has not posted since Feb. 3. It has been nearly two months since their last post. A lot of the posts from the ICRH have been them sharing articles about their organization. When they do post, the posts are engaging and get a lot of views from the public. We recommend shortening the posts on the Facebook page. From the previous posts, a lot are lengthy and that can lose the interest of the reader. We recommend posting a lot more, possibly a minimum of five times per week. Keep the information short and to the point, and then tell them where they can go for more details. We also recommend engaging with the audience more instead of just using the page as an informative pathway to post articles. The ICRH can post about volunteer opportunities and update their audience during the time of the rotating shelter. Social Media Channel 2: Twitter 5 tweets 1,394 followers 1 video Along with having a Facebook account, the ICRH also has a Twitter page. The page started on Dec. 6, 2013 and since then has only tweeted five times. The tweets have contained links connecting their audience to a video they produced and a few articles. There are 1,394

followers on Twitter and this is a decent number of followers to have for as little as the ICRH has tweeted. Their Twitter could be very successful because of the amount of followers they have. They could use this channel to release more information and keep their audience up to date with what is happening with the ICRH. We recommend posting at least five times a week and changing the background of the page. Posting photographs is more likely to get your tweet viewed by more people. Try to view the trending hash tags daily to incorporate them into your tweets as well. Creating the organizations own hashtag can be effective to use with posts to help engage the audience, such as #ICRH. We also recommend informing the audience on Facebook about the Twitter page to continue generating a larger audience. Asking questions and knowing what your audience expects to learn out of the ICRH is a great starting point for engaging their members. Recommended Social Media Channels Social Media Channel 1: We recommend starting a Pinterest account for the Isabella County Restoration House. Since Pinterest is a growing social media network, we think it is of best interest to start working on it right away. Start by promoting through the Facebook and Twitter pages that there will be a Pinterest account for members to interact with each other and get ideas from the Pinterest boards. Some recommended boards that can be used on Pinterest could be about cheap recipes or easy crafts to do for the home. Once you start the Pinterest account, make a goal to have at least 30 pins to each board by the two weeks.

Social Media Channel 2: Another idea for a potential media channel is to start a blog. A blog that members of the executive board can work on that will help to improve the overall success of the organization. Even if it is limited to just one blog post a week, it could be effective. Talk about homelessness facts or give tips on how to make healthy, cheap meals. The blogs should

then be connected to Facebook and Twitter to help promote them. Instead of focusing on the executive board writing all of the content for the blog, ask if there would be volunteers willing to contribute to the efforts. Having real people share their experiences with the ICRH would be a great way to highlight the overall message of the organization and get more people involved. Communication Material 1: We recommend updating the ICRH brochure to make it more visually appealing to the audience. Using Adobe InDesign is our recommendation to developing a new brochure. Some kind of light green background would work so it isnt just a plain white background. We would keep the logo on the front page and have contact information on the back. The front inside panel should include the mission statement, Facebook and Twitter handles. All of the inside panels can be updated whenever possible and should include volunteer opportunities, a calendar of events, objectives and a thank you to the sponsors. Any other information that you feel is important can be added as well. Communication Material 2: We also recommend updating the ICRH website. Something simple that includes basic information such as the mission statement, volunteer opportunities and links to the social network sites. We recommend having the new blog being incorporated into the website. The newsletter will also be connected to the website so viewers can keep up to date with what is currently happening within the organization. Comparative Analysis The Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team is a rotating homeless shelter that started in 1988 with the mission of providing homeless and displaced individuals with opportunities to successfully transition to independence. MCREST has been hugely successful and has now grown to over 90 congregations participating in helping these homeless individuals. These churches provide much more than just a place to stay to those who seek help; they provide

meals, shower facilities, transportation, and laundry, along with resources to help provide individuals with the tools to transition successfully back into a stable life. MCREST provides up to 90 days in the shelter. There is a maximum capacity of 60 beds per night, but no one is turned away without being informed of viable options for alternative shelters. A criminal background check and drug screening is required for admittance into their 90 day programs. Self-declared drug users are offered assistance in resolving their addictions and alternative shelter accommodations are provided. A case manager is assigned to each family or individual enrolled in the 90-day program. Some of the resources MCREST provides to those it shelters include rental assistance to help people transition into affordable housing, learning and resource centers, which provide computer labs to search for jobs and create resumes, and employable skills training. Mental and physical health is also a concern that MCREST addresses. Counseling services are provided are provided along with other services. Medical and dental care is also provided thanks to collaboration with the Downriver Community Services project. To accommodate children of homeless families MCRESET has also partnered with Macomb Intermediate School District Homeless Education project to provide consistent schooling. Children are also able to receive counseling services. Funding for MCREST comes primarily from the Salvation Army. Additional funding is provided by corporate and local support. These businesses include the Metro Health Foundation, Art Van, the Charter One Foundation, United Way of Southeast Michigan, and the Detroit Lions. MCREST has been successful since its humble start in 1988. In 2011 approximately 90 congregations provided over 19,500 shelter nights and over 60,000 meals to those in needs.

Many successful transitions back into mainstream society thank the efforts of the Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team. Programming for the ICRH The Isabella County Restoration House has already made an impact on the surrounding community. Churches across the county have worked to host individuals in need, donate items that would benefit those using the shelter, and providing endless volunteers for baking, supervising and making sure the process runs smoothly. With the importance of such a generous organization and the success the ICRH and helping churches have had, their story and achievements should be recognized. In order to highlight the successes of the rotating shelter our team recommends several outlets and options regarding programming. The ICRH is not only working to provide shelter for these homeless individuals but also generate an awareness of the organization itself and homelessness in the Isabella County community. One of the easiest and most effective ways to demonstrate the accomplishments the ICRH has had would be posting them to social media sites, utilizing the direct contact and connection to followers and members. Using pictures, videos or even simple posts can feature things the organization has done. For example, the church St. Joseph the Worker had students make place mats for the individuals that came to the ICRH. Posting pictures of the place mats or students creating the mats and posting quotes from students to social media sites would visually connect followers to the successes the ICRH has accomplished. Although social media is a virtually free expense and a relatively easy medium to use, it is still a combination of both uncontrolled and controlled media. The ICRH is able to communicate messages specifically governed by their organization (controlled media) to various

media forms, including social media. However when their message is received via social media the audience is able to provide feedback stating whatever they choose to communicate (uncontrolled media). Because the ICRH has no control over what people are responding about, social media is somewhat a gray area regarding the type of media it fits under. Social media is still a productive and efficient way of communicating messages. Using quantitative data, such as statistics, to showcase how many people are utilizing the shelter would be a great way to display how the ICRH is helping the community and how successful it is becoming. The first week of the rotating shelter the ICRH did not have much business. Food was cooked, donations were brought in, volunteers were eager and ready to help but for the first few nights no one showed up. After a few weeks of the shelter up and running, more people started to come in. The shelter is now has a consistent flow of people, ranging from an average of eight to nine people a night, sometimes up to 12 or 15. Providing these facts through uncontrolled media, such as social media, would be an effective way to display the importance of an organization that is making an impact in the community. Media outlets would be able to efficiently and quickly receive information regarding the ICRH and its accomplishments. Then these media outlets would be able to publish material or allow the media to contact the ICRH in order to cover news within their organization. Other efficient ways to showcase quantitative data would be through printed materials provided by the ICRH itself. These materials would include brochures, newsletters, press releases websites, videos, etc. These outlets would be considered controlled media, because the ICRH is directly publishing these materials. Once these materials are distributed to media outlets they are no longer controlled media. Because these specific media organizations have the ICRHs information they are free to choose what they do with the materials.

Any sort of media coverage the ICRH gain is an easy way to reach a large audience. Contacting local radio stations, newspapers, and news channels can showcase the works of the ICRH on a variety of levels. Sending press releases regarding statistics or information on what is happening with the ICRH is an effective way for media sources to be aware of what the organization is doing. Press releases provide an accessible way for the media to write stories on or cover what the ICRH has accomplished within the community. Recommendations our group has regarding the effective programing and communication would include posting to social media sites more often, follow people within the community in order to gain more support, and to contact media outlets persistently regarding the success of the ICRH no matter how big or small (maintaining relationships). By posting consistently on social media sites the ICRH will create an established presence and therefore gain a larger audience. Posting to Facebook or Twitter is an easy, inexpensive way to share the highlights and successes of the ICRH. This organization has done a wonderful job connecting with the community already. However, keeping those connections and building more connections would help benefit the organization itself and also disseminate the accomplishments of the ICRH. Updating media outlets that have covered the ICRH before and or new media outlets would be an enormous benefit to this organization. Highlighting the ICRHs successes in a press release and sending it off to local media outlets is an easy and powerful way to spread the achievements this organization has had on the community. Evaluation for the ICRH The teams research and strategic approach to programming the ICRH proactive PR campaign thus far, contains a number of successes as well as the need for improvements. Because evaluation is an on-going process, it is crucial that measuring the teams efforts includes

persistent monitoring of social media sites and listening to overall opinions and reviews of the targeted audience to whom ICRH is affecting, through all sources and channels of communication. Specifically, ICRH should continue to measure what is effective and what is lacking by checking the linear graph showing the number of New Likes Per Week and People Talking About This on the ICRH Facebook page. To access these statistics, simply click on the Likes box at the top of ICRH profile page. The graph so far, has given a clear visual showing the inconsistency and decline of new likes and people sharing or posting about ICRH from its peak on Feb. 25 through March 10 of this year. ICRH has 1,586 followers and averages no more than seven new likes per week. Their most popular week is also shown to have been back in December of 2013. The team needs to refer back to the objectives and update posts at least five times a week. This will potentially spur an inclination o f Likes per Week and People Talking About This, as needed for the campaign. More posts about not only ICRH efforts in the area, but anything pertaining to homelessness in the U.S. may create more concern or sense of urgency to followers and keep the audience interested about the teams efforts on the issue. They will be willing to care more and share more. In addition, the ICRH website must become a source for inquirers who may not visit Facebook as often and wish to find out more information that isnt included on the social media sites. Twitter must be updated daily to obtain more followers and retweets. Followers can retweet your posts so their followers can view it as well. This is ultimately what the ICRH wants, so a new audience can view your posts and potentially start following the organization.

Utilizing Twitter to its full potential is a sure way to extend the ICRH audience outreach and increase awareness. Strategically, tweeting at least five times a day, similar to Facebook posts, will improve the chances of retweeting and number of follow ers. This will prove effective because followers are updated and reminded of the ICRH efforts through both most popular social media channels. To monitor and evaluate Twitter activity, the top left corner of the ICRH profile page provides the number of followers and the options to check out the list of followers by clicking on Followers, and people who favorited any tweets by simply clicking on Favorites. Scrolling down on the Twitter feed shows retweets and responses from followers. Twitter is another efficient way the ICRH can create two-way communication for short, quick news updates. Overall the proactive PR plan for the ICRH campaign has much room for progress, but objectives will be met by December 2014. If the team increases the number of posts on Facebook and Twitter and updates the newsletters and website regularly the ICRH will gain much more awareness. Measuring the success of these tactics depend on referring back to the output and impact objectives, consistent monitoring and checking in on the numbers of followers and people affected, as well as the positive comments and reviews that are provided. The evaluation process is crucial because it determines what the future looks like for any campaign. With studying the social media site and website statistics, the ICRH campaign team can make the appropriate changes to move forward and achieve the established objectives by December 2014. Improvements that must be made include updating the website and newsletters weekly, consistently posting tweets on Twitter and status updates on Facebook, and therefore spur an increase in awareness for ICRH friends and followers. Evaluation is a tool that works

hand in hand with monitoring, updating and measuring what is effective and what is lacking in the teams proactive PR campaign.