Author: Scott Ward
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Health and Health Equity by Design
The Joint Call to Action to Promote Health Communities is a collaboration of eight national organizations in the health, built environment and natural environment spaces aiming to spur their respective members to work together to achieve healthier, more equitable communities. The organizations (American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, American Public Health Association, American Society…
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The Truth is Out There
Dear PR Guy, Are you and your profession happy that the truth is finally dead? Signed, Wondering in Northwest Dear Wondering, Although these are surely depressing times, the PR Guy takes some solace in believing the truth isn’t dead. It’s just buried. It used to get buried under an avalanche of accuracy. Back in the…
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Better Data, Better Fishing
NOAA Fisheries monitor’s our nation’s fisheries and keeping them sustainable. For more than a decade, Fifth Estate has bolstered efforts to engage with fishermen, partner organizations, and other stakeholders through a range of strategies and channels for three different NOAA Fishieries programs: the Marine Recreational Information Program, an initiative to improve the way saltwater recreational…
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Making the Case: Parks and Health
The National Recreation and Park Association turned to Fifth Estate Communications to build a toolkit that would help members explain the link between parks and community health — especially to to elected officials weighing funding priorities. In a time of tight budgets and community health problems on the rise, it’s crucial that communities understand the direct correlation.…
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Building Sustainability from the Ground Up
Whether at work, home, shopping, or out for an evening on the town, Americans spend the vast majority of their lives inside one building or another. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is committed to ensuring that our built environment contributes to the wellbeing of people and the planet through a series of sustainability initiatives.…
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Trees are the Key
A perplexing challenge has perennially vexed the urban forestry community: With all the benefits we know urban forests provide, what is the most important issue to talk about when we’re trying to draw broad audiences under the urban forest canopy? Four years of work by a national task force convened by the U.S. Forest Service…
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A Unique Kind of Earth Day
Takoma Park is a famously progressive, environmentally active community in Maryland. And when the city to launch an Earth Day Festival, it turned to Fifth Estate Communications to help make the event a success. Fifth Estate worked with the Old Takoma Business Association to create a family-friendly community event that showcased environmental vendors and local…
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I Don’t Want to Look Desperate … But I Do Want an Internship
Dear PR Guy: While applying for PR internships, would you have any suggestions beyond barraging different firms with resumes/letters of interest? A way to make it more personal without it looking either A) desperate or B) like a match.com application? Signed, Don’t Want to Be “Match.com” PR Guy once applied for a series of jobs…
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Why Can’t the Boss Call a Dang Reporter?
Dear PR Guy: Why are nonprofit executive directors (not all, but a lot) so reluctant to call reporters up on the phone? They ask foundations and individuals for millions of dollars without blinking, but the thought of calling a prominent columnist or key reporter about a story idea turns them to mush. Is that why…
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Brand again?
Dear PR Guy: I heard at the Communications Network conference in Philadelphia you got into it with some folks about the use of the word “branding” when it comes to foundation communications. I guess I have two questions: Are you a stuck-in-the-80s pitch-and-spin-guy who’s just not caught up with the times, or do you really think this actually…