Advocacy & Communications Volunteer
The Sierra Club: The North Star Chapter
This past spring, I volunteered for 40 hours at The North Star Chapter of The Sierra Club. Throughout the course of my semester with them, I learned about three key things: a nonprofit's function and growth, the promotion of environmental advocacy, and my role in these two areas.
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As someone who loves the outdoors, sharing The Sierra Club's mission with their audiences came naturally. I was eager to encourage people to spend time in nature; I knew that a personal connection to nature was the clearest way to inspire people to learn about their environment and become ambassadors for the outdoors too.
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I played a role in advocating for the outdoors via three main avenues while I was a volunteer. First, a major task I took on was brainstorming, developing, and finally creating two print informational pieces to promote Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO), The North Star Sierra Club's outdoor program for children. I had the opportunity to write a blog post as well, venturing into a personal perspective for my writing style. Beyond tangible promotion of the outdoors, I also assisted in the remapping of their website to make it more user-friendly and aesthetically formatted.
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During my time with The Sierra Club, I developed my skills by using a variety of platforms for communications and marketing, along with growing in a deeper understanding and appreciation for nonprofits.
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INSPIRING CONNECTIONS OUTDOORS: BROCHURE & HALF-PAGER
Coursework
In Spring 2017, I took a COJO class in which each group partnered with a business or organization and created a communications plan for it. My group of 5 chose BrightSide Produce, a local nonprofit that serves to eliminate food deserts in urban areas.
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For our communications plan, the main goal was to create videos that BrightSide could utilize on their website. We videotaped, edited, and published four videos throughout the course of the semester. Take a look:
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These videos are now housed on the BrightSide Produce website. Beyond the hands-on work with an actual client, the culture of BrightSide created an incredibly impactful and reflective experience. The BrightSide volunteers and staff's enthusiasm, initiative, and dedication are accentuanted in the communications plan my group crafted for them.
In Fall 2017, I took another COJO class that focused on building a partnership between Metro Transit, our client, and my classmates. This communications plan was even more extensive and elaborate than BrightSide's. We began by establishing a campaign slogan: "See Your City."
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"See Your City" was created to showcase to St. Thomas students the many venues and experiences near campus that are accessible simply by riding the bus routes 87 & 63, which are located near campus.
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The prime components of the campaign included an updated map of the main routes near St. Thomas, "package" ideas for venues around St. Paul, and kits filled with Metro Transit information.
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All of these components were gathered together for a Metro Transit booth that we hosted in our Anderson Student Center at St. Thomas. This booth was our main opportunity to spread knowledge about Metro Transit and express its convenience and accessibility to St. Thomas students.