THE CLIENT
The Nashville Child and Youth Collaborative (NCYC) elevates community conversations about the city’s youngest citizens to ensure their needs remain a priority for leaders and citizens.
THE TEE UP
Over the last decade, Nashville’s status as an “It City” has created economic growth and ambitious investments in the city’s business and tourism industry, but not for Nashville’s children and youth. Even after decades of intense focus on the city’s growth, concerns for the area’s youngest residents were consistently overlooked.
Ahead of the 2023 municipal elections, NCYC engaged Tiny Mighty Communications (TMC) to position the needs of Nashville’s children and youth at the top of the priority chain for the city’s next mayor and cabinet.
THE STRATEGY
TMC and NCYC collaborated on a mayoral candidate forum – For Nashville’s Future – to ensure that city officials remained accountable for the well-being of the area’s youth. TMC and NCYC activated a full communications strategy to support the forum, including:
- Media coverage
- Multi-lingual survey
- Media outreach
THE ACTION
TMC led all messaging and media relations to raise awareness and educate the community on NCYC’s work, including:
- Encouraging voter participation and creating anticipation for the forum
- Amplifying key issues
- Driving stakeholder attendance
- Securing media coverage
- Strengthening NCYC’s digital presence
For the advance survey, TMC and NCYC collaborated on the questions while NCYC programmed and managed the process. TMC promoted the survey for participation.
Ahead of the forum, TMC also attended four unrelated candidate forums to
- Observe audience engagement
- Inform Q&A development
- Determine benchmarks and best practices
The team also leveraged data from event polling and the survey to inform strategy.
For the forum, TMC developed a run of show and script and provided on-site management support to keep the event running smoothly – on time and on topic.
| Multi-lingual Youth Survey | Mental health issues Unmet needs Loss of voice. | English Spanish Arabic | 350 respondents (ages 13-16) |
| Media outreach | Targeted pitches Crafted press materials Updated media contacts Managed distributions | Tailored strategies to engage other media | Partnered with Nashville Public Radio |
| Media outreach | Nashville Public Radio 90.3 WPLN Podcast “This is Nashville” | The Tennessean The Nashville Banner Nashville Noticias | WPLN Live coverage of the forum |
THE RESULTS
For Nashville’s Future marked a significant achievement in civic and media engagement for NCYC:
- 300 attendees at mayoral forum from 400 RSVPs
- 6 key media placements
- Widespread social media engagement
- Cumulative potential audience reach of 10M
- Pitches resulted in a successful media partnership with Nashville Public Radio – 90.3 WPLN News and its daily podcast This is Nashville, with two full episodes dedicated to the city’s youth and the forum
The campaign not only magnified the forum’s visibility but also underscored TMC’s ability to mobilize and engage a community. Through meaningful dialogue and purposeful interaction with citizens, mayoral candidates and civic leaders, For Nashville’s Future successfully elevated the needs of Nashville’s once forgotten children and youth.
Media Placements
The Tennessean – Nashville Mayor’s Race: Candidates Answer Students’ Questions During Youth Forum
Nashville Noticias Facebook Live recording
Nashville Banner – Where to See the Mayoral Candidates
WPLN – Listen to the Kids! Here’s How Nashville Mayoral Candidates Handled Youth Questions – Part 1
WPLN – Listen to the Kids! Here’s How Nashville Mayoral Candidates Handled Youth Questions – Part 2
