Insights

Creating Connections between PIO’s and Press Breaking down barriers between public information officers (PIO) and the working press can sometimes seem daunting. It doesn’t need to be. The Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Houston, TX brought together the best environmental reporters and leading policy leaders. The conference also attracted leading non-profit organizations like Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Several Biden Administration officials served as panelists and educators at SEJ. Attending PIOs were truly able to meet, mingle and provide context for their important jobs in this enviro-driven Administration. Working together, attending field-based education events, kayaking trips on local rivers and field trips to Houston Zoo to look at endangered species, journalists and officials unified. Barriers to conversation quickly dropped. Two notable panels of the event involved the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The first panel was proctored by Washington Post Environmental Justice Reporter Darryl Fears, who has served as the lead environmental correspondent for some 20 years. The second panel on Environmental Justice addressed the stark “cancer alley” health concerns of Louisiana and Texas; industrial pollution which impacts diverse or multicultural communities in disproportionate number; and how EPA is standing up Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) communications within its own ranks.

Yes& was called upon to deliver this year’s 16th annual Chesapeake Bay Report Card during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the question was—how to generate media interest without a live media event?

If the coronavirus has taught communicators one thing, it’s that crisis contingency planning is vital to any organization.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has selected Yes& to provide a communications audit—helping the civil rights and free speech organization prioritize top issues in 2020.

Chance for Life is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving every child a fighting chance by funding pediatric cancer research. Chance for Life was founded in 2005 by Brad Nierenberg – CEO of our teaming partner RedPeg – and is run by Brad and his wife, Callie Nierenberg. Last year, Chance for Life donated more than $1 million to pediatric cancer projects at The National Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for the fight to cure pediatric cancers.

HEAR Congo Foundation, an organization with offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Miami, Florida, has been recognized by the UN Foundation for Women & Girls, for its daring program to help Congolese girls find economic opportunity. GreenSmith PR is honored to bring such a life-changing client to Yes&.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation supports endangered species conservation with a Killer Whale Conservation Fund. Yes& and its PR team will handle special events, grant announcements, and on-site visits for reporters to killer whale breeding habitat in the Pacific Northwest. The NFWF Killer Whale Research Conservation program is supported by NOAA, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Sea World, and Shell.