CASE STUDY
MEDIA RELATIONS & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: URBAN RESOURCE INSTITUTE
The Challenge
Urban Resource Institute (URI) is the nation’s largest provider of domestic violence shelter services and a major provider of shelters for homeless families. The nonprofit retained The TASC Group for thought leadership and subject matter expertise development, media training, support with creating foundational messaging, media relations and crisis communications. As part of a multiyear engagement, TASC secured major media placements elevating URI’s programs and experts, managed a national thought leadership campaign during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, worked with URI to launch New York City’s first pet-inclusive shelter for homeless families and worked on reactive domestic violence issues that occurred in the news.
The Challenge
Urban Resource Institute (URI) is the nation’s largest provider of domestic violence shelter services and a major provider of shelters for homeless families. The nonprofit retained The TASC Group for thought leadership and subject matter expertise development, media training, support with creating foundational messaging, media relations and crisis communications. As part of a multiyear engagement, TASC secured major media placements elevating URI’s programs and experts, managed a national thought leadership campaign during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, worked with URI to launch New York City’s first pet-inclusive shelter for homeless families and worked on reactive domestic violence issues that occurred in the news.
The Strategy
To capture URI’s unique thought leadership voice, the team worked closely with URI’s CEO, senior leaders, clinicians, counselors and survivor spokespeople, providing them with media training, talking points and guardrails to protect all those involved in the process. TASC balanced hyperlocal outreach to New York-based outlets with national thought leadership pitching, prioritizing opportunities that framed URI as a national model for holistic, trauma-informed services or that elevated survivors’ voices. When TASC landed stories and meetings with reporters, the team went to great lengths to negotiate privacy and anonymity, especially when survivors were involved.
The Results
TASC secured over 120 unique media placements for URI. At the local level, TASC placed dozens of local broadcast, print and radio stories, including CBS 2 TV, FOX 5 TV, NY1 Noticias, New York Daily News, City & State and 94.7 The Block. At the national level, TASC secured a feature in People, numerous placements in The New York Times, a national segment on NBC News, a podcast interview with Ms. and placements in Jezebel, Mother Jones, Black Enterprise, Newsweek and a syndicated op-ed with the National Newspaper Publishers Association. In addition to these opportunities, TASC arranged introductory meetings between URI’s senior team and reporters at major outlets such as CBS News and The Guardian. Collectively, TASC’s concerted media relations introduced URI to a national audience, educated the public about the need to address domestic violence and garnered over 172 million media impressions, securing millions of dollars of equivalent advertising dollars.
TASC’s work with URI won two Public Relations Society of America Big Apple Awards.
MEDIA COVERAGE
