Communities In Schools (CIS) of Georgia and Ogilvy Public Relations were recently awarded a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil Award of Excellence for collaboration on the parent engagement campaign Everyday Leads to Graduation Day: Parents Hold the Key. The award was presented at the Silver Anvil Awards Ceremony in New York City.
The Silver Anvil, which symbolizes the forging of public opinion, has been annually awarded since 1946 to organizations that have successfully addressed contemporary issues with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness, while meeting the highest standards of performance. The award is the oldest and one of the most prestigious competitions for outstanding achievement in public relations, based on its rigorous judging criteria and emphasis on measurement and evaluation.
Parent engagement, which is a key initiative for CIS, was brought to the forefront as an answer to Georgia’s dropout epidemic through a detailed campaign. Highlights of the campaign include a parent engagement toolkit distributed to over 600 community organizations/schools throughout the state, the re-launch of the online Parent Resource Center at cisga.org and an education roundtable that brought together working parents with education, government and business leaders to further discuss how to reach Georgia parents.
An integrated communications campaign helped spread the word on the importance of parent involvement in a child’s education. Through social media, more than 60 million impressions were generated, while the CIS of Georgia website received over 12,000 visits, with 85% being first time visitors. Through targeted websites, print, broadcast and online advertisements, there were more than 22 million earned media impressions.