Photograph taken by Angels' Place teacher.
As part of my time with the Change a Heart Franciscan Volunteer Program, I spent the 2017–2018 school year working as a Marketing and Communications Fellow and Artist in Residence at Angels' Place, a non-profit child care, early childhood education, and family support center that serves low-income, single, student parents. As I quickly learned, working at a non-profit means wearing many hats, and I am fortunate to have had countless opportunities to learn to take on these different roles.
Social Media
In my year, our Facebook account grew more than 25% without paid advertising. Followers were updated several times a week on what the children were doing in class, which prioritized high-quality photography, both from myself and the teaching staff. Profile pictures, cover photos and videos, and story were updated to better reflect the organization.
Annual Report
The Annual Report allows Angels' Place to showcase the work of the organization, clients, and volunteers throughout the year. It is especially important to inform foundations because it provides quantitative data on our impact.
Brochures
Establishing a strong brand standard was important in order to maintain consistency between our different digital and print pieces. There were certain elements, such as color and typography, from previous pieces from which I drew inspiration from to create a more consistent palette.
Photography
Photography is pivotal to telling our story to donors, foundations, and prospective clients. Additionally, I organized and categorized over 30,000 image files from flash drives, hard drives, and emails onto one external hard drive.
Digital Outreach
A strong alumni network provides networking, community, and support. Angels' Place "alumni" had historically referred to parents who sent their children through our program, but as time passed, an increased number of those children are now adults. These "child alumni," the first of whom would now be in their late thirties, were provided with an amazing head start. As a program that works with both parents and children, I restructured alumni outreach to apply to every generation we serve and create a broader picture of our impact, especially for foundations. This involved a new alumni survey, as well as the use of social media as an outreach tool.
Updating our client application streamlined the process for busy parents. Previously, a client would need to print out an application, complete by hand, and scan, fax, or mail it in to our office. Many of our clients do not have access to desktop computers or printers - complicating the process toward applying for much-needed child care. Our new online applications can be filled out on desktop or mobile and take, on average, around ten minutes to complete. Once parents enroll in our program, their schedules could interfere with attending weekly parenting classes. I worked closely with our Family Support Director to create an online alternative to help parents who were unable to make the in-person meetings.
I also worked closely with our Director of Development on Constant Contact email campaigns to promote events and encourage donations. We put a particular focus on the Pittsburgh Foundation's "Give Big Pittsburgh" initiative, end-of-year giving, Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community, and NAEYC's Week of the Young Child.
Emergency Contact Cards
Creating a wearable, transportable contact card for children in our care was important in the event of an emergency, but the cards also served practical day-to-day purposes. Each teacher puts a child's card on her lanyard when the child arrives each day, serving as a quick and easy attendance check. When a teacher moved a child on to another classroom, the teacher for that room would also receive their contact card to ensure every child was assigned to a specific teacher at any given time. Although this type of system is not yet required in Pennsylvania, Angels' Place strives to go above and beyond to ensure the highest levels of safety for our families.
Rebrand
Angels' Place began a project in 2017 to expand their presence in the community. With a generous foundation grant, we were able to work with a marketing and consultant firm to learn how to best reach prospective clients and donors. An official rebranding initiative began in January 2018 launched in October 2018.
As an in-house team member with a background in design and technology, I was able to navigate new programs like Gather Content and Basecamp. I generated needed content and serving as a liaison between Angels' Place and the marketing firm.
Administration
As a small non-profit organization, every staff member performs many tasks. Outside of my marketing and communication responsibilities, I also served on the Leadership Team to discuss program, outreach, and operations. In the office, I also answered the phone, managed client applications, assisted with technology, worked on mailings, and planned events. I also attended field trips and occasionally took on a child care role.
Artist In Residence - Creative Education
Photographs taken by Angels' Place teaching staff.
I created and implemented weekly lesson lesson plans for our children that strengthened fine motor skills, emotional regulation, literacy, math, and science through creative exploration. The process-driven projects were often inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.