Overview

• On May 11, 2010, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced the most significant private effort in our nation’s history to bring racial healing to communities and dismantle structural racism in America.  The America Healing initiative – a five-year, $75 million commitment – will fund community efforts across the country that address the consequences of racism, including disparities in education, economic achievement and health attainment to create equitable opportunities for all of our nation’s children.
• The Foundation engaged Widmeyer Communications to develop and execute a strategic communications plan which included media relations, branding, launch events and creative material development.

Communications Challenge

In a culture that has started to question if racism still exists, how do you introduce, explain and generate widespread awareness of the long-standing effects structural racism has in America and the urgent need for social and institutional reforms to combat its effects?  Widmeyer Communications was challenged with laying the groundwork to strategically communicate the unprecedented nature of the Foundation’s commitment to dismantling structural racism in the United States and helping to ensure a brighter future for all of the nation’s children. We addressed this by developing and executing a plan that incorporated the following overarching objectives:

• Develop a brand image and voice to position the initiative as the nation’s most significant private-sector effort aimed at ending structural racism in the United States.
• Reinforce the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as the key private entity that is helping vulnerable children to achieve their full potential as individual members of society, as well as contributors to its betterment as a whole.
• Generate informed and open dialogue on the national, local and personal levels so as a nation we put racism in front of us to, ultimately, put its effects behind us.
• Lay the foundation for ongoing media coverage of America Healing grantees and the initiative as a whole.

Strategy/Tactics

• Widmeyer hosted an intensive message development workshop to define the goals and voice of this huge endeavor.
• Working closely with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, we guided branding exercises to create the name America Healing: A Racial Equity Initiative of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, as well as a unique logo.
• To launch America Healing, Widmeyer developed a two-part launch event plan including a press event with rigorous discussion followed by an evening reception hosted on Capitol Hill.
• To add a human face to the importance of the initiative, the Widmeyer Creative Team produced a signature video for event screening, to distribute to online video channels and to send to funders.
• We identified America Healing grant organizations that had compelling media stories, and invited representatives from the organizations to attend the May 11^th events.
• Widmeyer conducted target media outreach to top-tier national and regional outlets of the America Healing grantees in attendance at the launch events.

Results

• With a defined voice, logo and launch plan, Widmeyer Communications’ research and creative teams created an overall message framework and branding guidelines for America Healing to ensure consistency throughout all materials, both physical and digital.
• Widmeyer executed a morning press event with a panel discussion including, Fred Keller, Trustee; Congressman John Lewis; Sterling Speirn, President and CEO, W. K. Kellogg Foundation; Dr. Gail Christopher, Vice President for Programs, W. K. Kellogg Foundation; Dr. David Williams, Professor of Public Health, Harvard University; Brigadier General David L. McGinnis, United States Army (Ret.); and three grantees.
• More than 200 interested stakeholders attended the press event along with media outlets including Washington Post, Chronicle of Philanthropy and New America Media, among others.
• The event was streamed live on www.AmericaHealing.org where viewers from across the country joined the launch experience.  Social media was also utilized throughout the event with real time photo uploads to Flickr and tweets kept @america_healing followers updated on significant quotes.
• Later that evening, on Capitol Hill more than 100 Hill staff members, grantees and stakeholders congregated to further the discussion on racial equity.  Representatives Mark Schauer (MI), Vernon Ehlers (MI), Melvin Watt (NC) and Hank Johnson (GA) each made remarks during the reception.
• As a result of the Widmeyer team’s efforts, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and America Healing grant organizations were covered in Associated Press, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Battle Creek Enquirer, Oakland Tribune, CBS Radio (National), Tell Me More (NPR National) and The Huffington Post, among others.

View the Huffington Post piece

Read the Washington Post article

During the first phase of America Healing, 119 organizations will receive grants totaling $14,613,709 specifically to support community-based organizations’ healing efforts among racial and ethnic groups that address historic burdens, disparities and barriers to opportunity. To highlight the desire of communities to work together on racial healing, the foundation created a signature video, which captures the spirit of the initiative.  The video can be viewed below or at www.AmericaHealing.org. Read more about this announcement.

Many people may believe that we now live in a colorblind society. Their daily experiences—where they work, shop, go to church—may even support this belief. But racial disparities still exist across the institutions that surround us—education, healthcare, the justice system and the business world. For example, whites are more likely than African-Americans and Hispanics to have college degrees and own their own homes. Minorities are more likely than whites to suffer from diseases, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And among black males in their 20s, one in every eight is in prison or jail, according to the Sentencing Project, an organization promoting changes to sentencing laws and alternatives to incarceration.

I am proud that Widmeyer Communications is part of this initiative. With the launch today, 119 organizations from 29 states and the District of Columbia are receiving grants to confront racial issues and promote healing and reconciliation in their own communities.

They include non-profit organizations such as People’s Grocery, which is working to build a local food system in West Oakland, California. A low-income, predominantly African-American community, West Oakland has plenty of liquor stores, but currently no grocery store where residents can purchase fresh produce. People’s Grocery began addressing this problem by establishing community gardens and offering residents weekly “grub boxes” full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy ingredients. Along with cooking demonstrations and other events, the organization is working to improve health outcomes among families in the community.

Another grantee, the North Lawndale Employment Network will expand its U-Turn Permitted program, which helps formerly incarcerated individuals find employment. North Lawndale is particularly impacted by a large population of former offenders, most of them African-American, who return to the neighborhood after they are released from prison. The grant will help fund a curriculum that helps these men and women learn how to conduct themselves as well as addressing how local police perceive these residents.

And in Oklahoma, the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League will implement a Tulsa Race Riot curriculum in local schools. The program will both educate students about the 1921 race riot, which currently receives little attention in Tulsa history classes, and teach conflict resolution skills.

View a statement from Sterling Speirn here and watch him speak below, president and CEO of the Kellogg Foundation.

Learn more at USABudgetDiscussion.org.

“Dwayne’s deep strategic communications background will further enhance the level of service we provide our clients as we increase the firm’s presence in the health and wellness space,” said Henry Engleka, Senior Vice President and head of the Health and Wellness practice.

Lawler has nearly two decades of experience in corporate, executive and public policy communications having worked at PepsiCo, Inc., S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and for Members of the U.S. Congress.  As Vice President of Executive Communications at PepsiCo, he developed and implemented strategic communications plans for the chairman and CEO and other senior executives to successfully position the company, its senior leaders and global brands among key internal and external stakeholders.  At S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., he worked as Director of Reputation Management, where he rolled out the company’s first-ever global issues management strategy.

Lawler has also served as communications director to U.S. Senator Kent Conrad, U.S. Representative Peter Visclosky and U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez as well as the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee.

Lawler earned his Master’s Degree in American Literature from the George Washington University and a Bachelor’s of Arts in English from Guilford College.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded Fellowship program provides promising future teachers in the State of Michigan with an exemplary, intensive master’s degree program in education and places those Fellows in hard-to-staff middle and high schools for a minimum of three years.  Through this program, approximately 90,000 students will receive high-quality instruction in the critical subject areas of STEM from Fellows during their first three years in the classroom. 

 Read the January 6, 2010 Washington Post article