On behalf of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, Global Policy Solutions led the media and policy-maker outreach efforts for the release of The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males. The report was featured in print, online and broadcast outlets that reached a potential audience of more than 120 million. It was featured in an Associated Press article that was published in outlets across the country including USA Today, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Newsday, National Journal, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and hundreds of other local and regional papers and online news sites. In total, the Associated Press story was published in more than 300 outlets across the country.
The report was also featured in articles in Education Week, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Thegrio.com, The Daily Kos, Uptown Magazine, Wave Newspapers and on NPR’s Tell Me More, the Daily Circuit on Minnesota Public Radio, the Roland Martin Reports podcast as well as in editorials in the Seattle Times and the Orlando Sentinel. The report was also featured in numerous local television broadcasts, including in Rochester, N.Y.; New York N.Y. Baltimore, Md.; and others.
Our social media campaign engaged Schott Foundation grantees, partners, allies, advocates and the general public. The Urgency of Now was disseminated online through social media and direct email to more than 1.5 million people.
Over the first two days of the campaign we sent out more than 75 tweets to highlight statistics from each state as well as the broader campaign talking points. The Associated Press (@AP) tweeted its story on the report to 1.2 million followers and received 152 retweets. Other influential tweeters potentially reached nearly 250,000 people in their networks.
The report was sent to over 7,000 policymakers at the local, state and federal level, including staff and members of Congress and state legislatures, mayors and city council-members, superintendents, school board members and other elected officials.
