Our Work and Impact
America in One Room
In 2019, America in One room delivered 526 Americans representing 50 states to Fort Worth, Texas. Participants spent the weekend discussing and sharing their opinions and experiences about national policy issues…
AARP
AARP is the largest membership organization in America.
Over the course of 10 years, our evolving role with AARP has ranged from strategic communications to building community…
Airbag Recall
Outreach Strategists led public engagement for the largest auto safety recall in U.S. history. In major Texas markets, including Houston and Dallas, we successfully organized a coalition of more than 140 community leaders and groups…
BlueCross
BlueCross BlueShield, the largest health insurer in Texas, approached Outreach Strategists to educate the public about their coverage options under the recently passed Affordable Care Act. We organized community leaders across major…
Census 2020
Outreach Strategists managed regional efforts to maximize 2020 Census response rates in Harris County, the City of Houston, and Fort Bend County, with a combined budget of over $9 million. We oversaw a data-driven campaign…
Outreach Strategists is leading and implementing a community engagement initiative focused on diasporic communities and remittances (sending money to a person in another country). Working with partners and contacts in…
Harris County Resources
In 2021, Harris County Resources for Children and Adults (Harris County Resources), formerly Harris County Protective Services) adopted a new name. Harris County Resources launched a rebranding initiative to increase public awareness…
Houston Police
The Outreach Cultural Intelligence training was developed for the Houston Police Department to highlight officers’ connections to the community, the effects of implicit bias, an understanding of the different roles members of society play…
Uber
When Uber first arrived in Texas and needed help navigating the regulatory and public policy landscape, they turned to Outreach Strategists. We helped Uber negotiate an effective regulatory framework, enabling Uber to stay in Houston…
Helped to cultivate a distinct brand for Harris County Resources, creating a positive public perception for the organization.
SCOPE
In 2021, Harris County Resources for Children and Adults (Harris County Resources), formerly Harris County Protective Services) adopted a new name. Harris County Resources launched a rebranding initiative to increase public awareness of the free services they provide to the community. Outreach Strategists was engaged to help Harris County Resources reach the people it needs to serve, and to help the broader public understand their mission with our communications and marketing support.
ROLE
To create a rebranding initiative, Outreach Strategists began by engaging in a discovery process to inform research strategies. Outreach Strategists utilized findings from the research phase to guide the strategic plan for increasing brand and organizational awareness. The discovery process included individual interviews with stakeholders as well as a series of focus groups – exploring how target audiences acquire information and make decisions as well as specific messaging to evaluate salience and effect.
Informed and empowered with critical take-aways from this research, the Creative Team at Outreach Strategists designed content to elevate the understanding of Harris County Resources, increase trust, and ultimately increase brand awareness. This involved a 3-part process including a brand audit, development of the brand, and development of a brand manual. Brand elements were developed simultaneously to define: Who we are, and how we serve our community, How we look, to conceptualize creative materials and How we sound and write to communicate with a consistent voice. With input from key stakeholders including staff, board and community input, our team employed an iterative process to develop a new logo, a messaging guide, and a communications strategy. A formal brand manual was developed as well as new collateral for the organization and guidance for launching the brand on social media and in other digital spaces.
OUTCOMES
Outreach Strategists produced high-quality marketing materials, including a logo designed to reach key audiences with specificity and precision. By utilizing a number of strategic tactics, Harris County Resources for Children and Adults is now positioned to reach more individuals and reduce previous confusion on who they are and the services they provide.
Outreach Strategists work is helping Harris County Resources fashion a distinct and effective brand with the public, manage their interactions with the press and generate earned and digital media coverage. Outreach Strategists is also promoting the agency as a source for reliable information and subject matter experts on topics ranging from family and domestic relations, caregiving, social service provision, and more with the overall goal of creating positive public perception for the agency and cultivating a distinct brand Harris County Resources.
Facilitated a unique national research convening
“Together, their faces are a portrait of the American voter.”
In 2019, America in One room delivered 526 Americans representing 50 states to Fort Worth, Texas. Participants spent the weekend discussing and sharing their opinions and experiences about national policy issues.
In partnership with Stanford University’s Center for Deliberative Democracy, the National Opinion Research Center, and with funding from the Helena Foundation, Outreach Strategists helped recruit and train facilitators who led small group discussions over three days.
The experiment’s findings supported the original hypothesis- When Americans are provided with information in an environment where they can exchange ideas in a moderated space, their views move to the center of the ideological spectrum.
AARP is the largest membership organization in America.
Over the course of 10 years, our evolving role with AARP has ranged from strategic communications to building community coalitions and implementing programs across Texas. On an ongoing basis we help AARP manage community engagement efforts, such as roundtable discussions, and provide local public affairs support in key markets.
Our efforts with the City of Houston on “Complete Streets” led to an executive order in October 2013, and our payday lending work resulted in an ordinance being adopted in December 2013.
Our findings from a report on the South Asian community of Greater Houston led to the creation of a non-profit focused on meeting the needs of seniors.
Partnership with AARP, a 38-million-member strong organization, making Houston a better place to live
Created and implemented the public outreach and canvassing campaign for the Federal Monitor appointed to oversee the largest product safety recall in US history
Outreach Strategists led public engagement for the largest auto safety recall in U.S. history. In major Texas markets, including Houston and Dallas, we successfully organized a coalition of more than 140 community leaders and groups, who shared critical, life-saving information about the recall with their constituents. With a focus on minority and low-income communities, our engagement efforts included a first-of-its-kind recall canvass operation, knocking on 135,000-plus doors to urge vehicle owners to take advantage of the free life-saving recall.
Designed and managed an innovative grass-tops community healthcare coalition for the state’s largest insurer
BlueCross BlueShield, the largest health insurer in Texas, approached Outreach Strategists to educate the public about their coverage options under the recently passed Affordable Care Act. We organized community leaders across major markets to help provide Texans with more information and resources. Community partners were supplied talking points, collateral materials, and social media content, which drove engagement to constituents. The campaign directly reached over 670,000 people and an additional 1.5 million were exposed to social media content.
Outreach Strategists managed regional efforts to maximize 2020 Census response rates in Harris County, the City of Houston, and Fort Bend County, with a combined budget of over $9 million. We oversaw a data-driven campaign targeting hard-to-count and rural regions with major advertising buys, digital ad placement, and community outreach and engagement.
We delivered unprecedented results, with Harris County and Houston exceeding the statewide average response rate, and Fort Bend County achieving the highest self-response rate in Texas.
Successfully led the most effective local Census efforts in Texas, maximizing response rates in Harris County, the City of Houston, and Fort Bend County
Built community support for Facebook’s cutting-edge digital wallet technology
Outreach Strategists is leading and implementing a community engagement initiative focused on diasporic communities and remittances (sending money to a person in another country).
Working with partners and contacts in the Los Angeles area, home to one of the largest and most diverse immigrant populations in the county, we have organized an ongoing series of roundtables, both in-person and digital, to discuss remittances and the digital wallet solution.
Facebook uses the consensus built from these roundtables to demonstrate support for their product.
Navigated local and state affairs for a global transportation disruptor
When Uber first arrived in Texas and needed help navigating the regulatory and public policy landscape, they turned to Outreach Strategists. We helped Uber negotiate an effective regulatory framework, enabling Uber to stay in Houston during Super Bowl LI and beyond.
Developed a groundbreaking Implicit Bias Training curriculum and successfully trained 5,200 officers for HPD
This has been the best in-service class I’ve had in 23 years.
December 2015
As police officers the relationship we have with citizens of the community is crucial. This class can, and did, help me develop perspectives from different roles related to policies and media. Great course. Very helpful.
May 2016
The roleplay is strong and the class does a good job of getting you to step outside your normal role. Made me focus a little more on dealing with people as individuals, not representatives of groups.
August 2016
