Building Student Competency for Community Advocacy: Development of a Media Advocacy Kit for Safe Haven, Statesboro

During the Fall 2016 semester, our team was tasked with developing a clear and concise media advocacy kit for a local community-based organization to be disseminated locally. Through a student-directed partnership with Safe Haven of Statesboro, GA, we organized and developed employee biographical statements, organization information sheets, transmittal letters, an infographic fact sheet, press release, brochure, website, and kit cover. This process included regular meetings with organization staff and group coordination to ensure accuracy and thoroughness of information provided. Since completion of this project, Safe Haven has adopted use of our created materials, including brochure, infographic, and organization information sheets, with our collaboration culminating in final migration of the Safe Haven website domain in February 2017. Through this experiential, service-learning experience, we learned how to establish collaborative partnerships with community organizations, develop effective advocacy materials, and implement community-based research and leadership skills into successful project design and implementation