Metro RFP 4328
Category 1: Strategic Communication Services
Section D. Experience: Visual Work Samples
Sheepscot Creative
Josephine Community Library/Josephine Community Library Foundation
Strategic Communication Services
Description
In 2019, Sheepscot renamed and branded the foundation that raises and manages funds for Josephine Community Library (JCL). Since then, Josephine Community Library Foundation (JCLF) has raised millions of dollars—enough to renovate one library branch, rebuild another entirely, and purchase a city block in downtown Grants Pass that one day will be home to the system’s flagship location.
This year, we’ve been helping the library and its foundation develop strategies for just about every kind of communication challenge. The effort to build a new downtown library has become a flashpoint for criticism along what these days are all too common cultural divides. As JCL faces threats of defunding from a small but vocal political faction, its leadership hired Sheepscot to help devise strategies and talking points that will equip staff and volunteers to respond to and cope with wild public accusations, and provide tools for those who want to advocate for the library and its rightful place in the community.
Earlier this spring, a series of interviews and listening sessions with library staff and community leaders (the County Sheriff, high school teachers, and city councilors, among others) gave us the timely context and perspective we needed to craft talking points and responses for any situation library staff and advocates might encounter.
Taking that messaging one step further, we want to empower the library, its foundation, and thousands of loyal library patrons to help others understand what a new library will mean to the community. Next week, we’ll be back in Southern Oregon to conduct on-camera interviews and capture b-roll for a campaign to raise awareness of the beneficial economic development that a new downtown branch will bring to all of Grants Pass, library users and non-users alike.
A message grid organizes talking points and strategies for staff, volunteers and board members.
Work Samples
Willamette Partnership/Oak and Prairie Conservation Coalition
Oak and Prairie Conservation Strategy
Description
Willamette Partnership, acting on a grant from Pacific Birds, hired Sheepscot Creative to:
gather baseline knowledge about oak and prairie conservation from Northern California to British Columbia;
determine key target audiences and constituencies; and
build an effective communication strategy to generate support that results in increased capacity for on-the-ground work.
The project started in earnest with a kickoff meeting and workshop attended by eleven key stakeholders. Sheepscot took what we heard in that workshop and began our research by diving to a set of strategic action plans, funding strategies and communication reports published by participating partners: Willamette Partnership, the East Cascades Oak Partnership, the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network, The Intertwine Alliance and the Oak and Prairie Working Group, as well as a collaborative that included representatives of the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Lands Management, Klamath Bird Observatory and Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture.
Next we conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with a range of individuals whom the partners believed could collectively provide deep, actionable perspectives on the state of oak and prairie funding, policy and communication.
With interviews and research complete, Sheepscot presented its findings and proposed strategies to achieve the coalition’s objectives to the project partners for review and discussion.
Emily Irish, Willamette Partnership’s project manager, attests that “throughout our projects together, Sheepscot Creative has been adaptable, responsive, and solid communicators with our team. Their ability to define, build, and pivot within a comprehensive scope has allowed us to bring the partners we need to the table, consider multiple perspectives to tell a clear story, and has grounded our work through the effective end products we needed.”
A strategic communications plan summarizes our findings and outlines actionable steps forward.
Work Samples
Tualatin Valley Water District
Service Line Inventory Communication Strategy
Description
In 2022, Sheepscot Creative partnered with Brown and Caldwell, the largest engineering consulting firm in America focused exclusively on the environmental sector, to develop a communication plan and toolkit for Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD.)
To meet the federal government’s new Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), TVWD would be excavating and testing nearly a thousand randomly selected service lines (the pipes that connect water mains to homes and businesses) in the coming year. Sheepscot designed and developed a set of strategies to effectively communicate with ratepayers about the project.
Washington County’s construction history and years of past inspections indicated that no lead would be found, but the public’s anxiety about lead pollution is rightfully high, so we framed the inspection work as one element of a larger campaign designed to raise awareness about the tasks TVWD employees complete every day to keep drinking water safe. After all, the lead inspections were only one small part of their ongoing efforts. We named the project the “Service Line Inventory,” which clearly and accurately describes the work without unnecessarily drawing attention to a problem—lead—that doesn’t exist locally.
A suite of printable campaign materials developed for English- and Spanish-speaking audiences includes communication guidelines, FAQs, fact sheets, door hangers, a microsite, videos, and more.
The microsite acts as a hub, conveying key information to property owners. KeepingWaterSafe.org is accessible from TVWD’s homepage and via QR codes on door hangers and fact sheets. A video greets site visitors at the top of the home page with a friendly introduction to TVWD and its people. By providing more information about the Service Line Inventory project through custom illustrations, original photography, and carefully crafted messaging, we show customers how TVWD delivers clean, safe water to their homes.
Work Samples
The Keeping Water Safe campaign microsite.
A clearly worded, graphically appealing brochure provides information to ratepayers about the Service Line Inventory.
The Service Line Inventory video, with captions in English and Spanish.
Sheepscot designed a branded door hanger so that inventory results can easily be reported to homeowners.
TVWD employees can utilize these custom social media templates to bring brand cohesiveness to their communications.
Photographs of TVWD employees can be used for social media and other communications for years to come.