MEDIA RELATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
“Social media for us is the entire experience from the website through to the mission-appropriate platforms. Having each of these pieces work together to promote the consumption of the ‘bigger picture’ is key.”
-Stacy Miller, President & CEO
Case Study: Generation 1st Degree – Pico Rivera
When Gilbert and Jacki Cisneros created Generation 1st Degree – Pico Rivera (G1DPR), it was conceived as a grass-roots effort to provide support services for students in the hopes that one day, every child in Pico Rivera had the opportunity to obtain a college degree. The challenge was to create a presence that would support enrollment in the program, educate parents as to the benefits and accessibility of higher education, elevate the organization in the community and establish the Cisneros’ as leaders in the field of promoting higher education access and completion rates for Latinos.
SMPA established a social media presence and created a website, electronic newsletter as well as, profiles on social media to reach each of the distinct audiences that we identified.
Further, SMPA supported the creation and promotion of school and community events centered on promoting awareness of college opportunities, celebrating local college-bound students, encouraging literacy and a college mindset in kindergarteners and promoting careers in STEM. College Signing Day, Kindergarten Book Give-Away Day and the STEM career awareness fair called A Day in Space garnered local, state-wide and national attention for G1DPR.
Results
In 2017, the Cisneros’ were inaugurated into the Better Make Room Advisory Board, chaired by Mrs. Obama. Board members consist of educational luminaries and leaders who share best practices and ideas for improving college access and completion rates for underserved children.
In 2018 Gilbert Cisneros was elected to the United States House of Representatives to represent California’s 39th congressional district.
Stacy and her team helped us build awareness for Generation 1st Degree Pico Rivera from the ground up! With SMPA, our visibility in the community grew exponentially to where we now have thousands of Pico Riverans understanding why a college-going mindset is crucial for our kids. But more importantly, her team’s ability to build a complete social media presence and manage that for several years has meant that we were able to focus our attention on the kids and families we serve. That’s priceless.
Jacki Cisneros
President and Co-Founder of Generation 1st Degree Pico Rivera