Today five public relations (PR) students from the University of Oregon’s (UO) School of Journalism and Communication are wrapping up a two-month PR campaign for the United States Census Bureau as part of the national Bateman Case Study Competition.
University seniors Sarah Lilly, Emily Olson, Kristina Rhodes, Amy Ruben and Seth Thompson comprise the team. By participating, each member had the chance to gain practical public relations experience and to raise the Eugene community’s awareness about the 2010 Census.
The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), a professional development organization for public relations students, is sponsoring the competition. The PR campaigns will be judged in April and the top three teams in the country will fly to Washington, D.C. in May to present their campaigns directly to the U.S. Census Bureau. The winning team will receive $2,500 and national recognition in the public relations field.
“Our goal is to educate, motivate and activate University students and Eugene community members to participate in the 2010 Census,” Rhodes said.
“Information from the Census will tell the government how much federal funding the Eugene community should receive.”
“Information from the Census will tell the government how much federal funding the Eugene community should receive,” Ruben explained.
Over $400 million in federal funds to create hospitals, bridges, senior centers and other establishments for communities will be allocated based on Census results, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The results will also be used to determine the redistribution of congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives and realign the boundaries of Oregon’s legislative districts.
Olson explained that the team’s public relations plan targeted three groups in Eugene that typically have low Census return numbers and are referred to as “hard-to-count” groups: college students, Latinos and low-income families. The campaign aimed to increase returns from these groups.
In order to reach out to college students, the team produced educational videos and created a Facebook page called “Do You Count?” The team reached out to low-income and Latino communities by partnering with local non-profits and community organizations to get the word out.
All five team members are looking for post-graduation public relations positions and believe that their participation in the Bateman competition will be attractive to employers. “My participation in Bateman will benefit me in the future,” said Lilly. “I was able to put the skills I am learning in the classroom to use to better our community and campus.”
“Small numbers of people really can change big things if they know how,” Thompson said. It is the team’s hope that their campaign activates the Eugene community to make those big changes, he said.
NOTE: All Census forms are due on April 1, 2010. All Census workers will be carrying official badge identification.
Paige Landsem is a sophomore at the University of Oregon studying journalism and public relations. She is an account executive at Allen Hall Public Relations, the UO School of Journalism and Communication’s student-run public relations agency. Connect with Paige via her blog, The Opinion Paige, and follow her on Twitter.
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