Developing Relationships with the

University of Arkansas and NWA

Elementary Schools
Full Communications Plan
Situation
The Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life Foundation is an

informational non-profit organization located in Rogers, Arkansas that

was created to promote proper hydration and prevent heat illness

through education and supporting activities. The organizations vision

is to improve safety for athletes and reduce the number of injuries and

deaths from heat-related causes for all ages. The organization has

major partnerships with large corporations such as Gatorade, Del

Monte and Cherokee Casino and Hotel, which signifies the potential to

create additional partnerships.

With Northwest Arkansas being the home to the University of

Arkansas, many public libraries, and local elementary schools, the

organization could utilize these systems as centers of promotion and

networking. The Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life organization does

not currently have any formal relationship with the local county level or

elementary school level library systems for collaborative efforts. The

University of Arkansas, elementary schools and the collection of library

systems are crucial resources for general awareness and community

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outreach. The focus of our campaign is to create alternative methods

to targeting elementary-age children and college-age students at the

University of Arkansas in order to increase awareness, support and

involvement by including these new demographics.

Research

Heat-related illnesses are some of the most common problems

for youth athletes playing in the heat. These conditions can be

dangerous, or even fatal in some cases. Heat-induced illness is one of

the most preventable sports injuries. Parents, young athletes and

coaches need to understand the physiological factors that increase the

risk for heat-related illness and take steps to prevent it,

(http://kendrickfincher.org/). Northwest Arkansas is home to a

multitude of library systems and the states Flagship University.

Northwest Arkansas is a hub for education. In Northwest Arkansas

alone, 5.3 percent of the population is between the ages five and nine,

five percent of the population is between the ages of 10 and 14

(https://www.census.gov/topics/population/children.html). These age

groups serve as the target age group of the elementary school

objectives.

A significant portion of the local population fits within the

organizations target age cohort and, with 14 Elementary schools in

Fayetteville alone, collaborations with the local library systems would

allow the Foundation to reach a large number of students from a

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variety of demographic backgrounds. The mission of the local public

libraries in Fayetteville aligns nicely with the mission of Kendrick

Fincher Hydration for Life, to ensure that students use ideas and

information effectively, enjoy reading, and exhibit a spirit of inquiry.

The programs missions aim to educate youth populations to benefit

their growth and development, making them excellent collaborative

partners.

Our campaign has two goals: one, reach elementary-aged

students in an alternative format and, two, to raise awareness and

increase involvement with college-aged students. The University of

Arkansas is a ready-available resource, within the extremely close

proximity to KFHL headquarters in Rogers, Arkansas. In August 25,

2016, 27,000 undergraduate students were reportedly enrolled for the

Fall 2016 semester. Thirty percent of the 27,000 undergraduate

students are involved in Greek Life, which require their members to

complete community service hours every semester. Reaching out to

students on campus would create increased awareness of the

Foundation while also potentially increasing the number of participants

in sponsored events and the amount of volunteers overall.

According to Forbes.com, students who complete an internship

during their college career are 60% more likely to receive a job offer

post-graduation. This would promote awareness and increase

involvement on campus. Several departments at the university require

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their students to complete internships prior to graduation. This would

help in the diversification of interns backgrounds.

The Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life Foundation should reach

students in Northwest Arkansas through attractive social media

presence. If the Foundation makes it a goal to reach college-aged

audiences, their publicity will skyrocket along with their health

message. They could also capitalize on advertising efforts in February,

as the month is dedicated to heart health.

Audience

As previously stated, the goal of the campaign is reach

elementary students with new techniques and increase involvement

and awareness on the University of Arkansas campus. The first

audience our campaign targets will include the students of Northwest

Arkansas public schools between kindergarten and fifth grade,

especially student athletes. The Foundation will request the

participation of local public elementary school libraries with a Bailey

the Bee reading program. Through this collaboration, the Foundation

will reach students, parents, teachers and coaches.

The second audience will be students, staff and faculty on the

University of Arkansas campus. Choosing this demographic activates

tactics to increase awareness and recruit student interns. Currently,

the Foundation mainly focuses their recruiting efforts by targeting the

kinesiology department for potential interns. To recruit diverse interns,

the college-based audience will include students enrolled within the

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journalism and communication departments. Additionally, the team will

focus on the specific subset of students that are involved with Greek

Life. This audience subset will consist of individual sorority and

fraternity members and each chapters philanthropy chair.

Objectives

Our first objective is to raise awareness, increase involvement

and help launch the Bailey the Bee Foundation into a national light

through the means of a campaign for elementary schools and public

libraries in Northwest Arkansas. Our second objective is to strengthen

and emphasize the Foundations volunteer base with members of the

University community mainly students through organized internship

and volunteer opportunities. These newer objectives will be different

from the past objectives by using more social media and engagement

strategies to gain elementary school and university involvement.

Strategy and Tactics

For our elementary demographic we plan to achieve these

objectives by educating the local youth community about heat-related

illness through collaboration with local library systems and elementary

schools. By implementing a reading program featuring the

organizations already existing mascot, Bailey the Bee, Kendrick

Fincher Hydration for Life will be capable of impacting a larger portion

of the target population. By educating students from a young age, they

are more likely to practice proper hydration techniques as they grow

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into young adults and athletes. There are six public libraries in

Northwest Arkansas alone that our Foundation can reach out to at the

beginning of this national campaign and fourteen elementary schools

(http://www.publiclibraries.com/arkansas.htm).

With summer months around the corner, Kendrick Fincher

Hydration for Life staff and interns will begin reaching out to library

systems and schools in Northwest Arkansas as soon as possible to

begin setting up Bailey the Bee events for our younger demographic

target. At these events, we will have a dressed up Bee (intern) that will

act as the live mascot for the campaign. The children will be educated

on heat precautions for the summer months, and left with a fun take

home package. In this package will be a small Bailey the Bee toy, some

information for heat health for kids, as well as a brochure for parents.

Interns will set up Bailey the Bee social media accounts for the kids to

track where Bailey is traveling next. Our long-term goal in this specific

campaign is for Bailey the Bee to be launched on a national scale. Our

short-term goal for this campaign will be to reach our target audiences

at a local level in Northwest Arkansas. The goal this summer would be

to reach all six public libraries in Northwest Arkansas and when school

begins in the fall, to begin reaching elementary schools.

Our second objective is to strengthen and emphasize the

organizations internship base with members of the University of

Arkansas community, and reach a larger audience in the Northwest

Arkansas area. While the organization currently staffs Kinesiology

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interns, ideally, the recruited interns would come from the Lemke

Journalism Department in the advertising and public relations

sequence. This would create a cohesive collaboration of ideas from

different schools and practices.

As previously stated, the Foundation will reach out to the

University of Arkansas and get in contact with pre-established Greek

life organizations as well as student volunteers. A partnership between

a large demographic of the student body and the Foundation would

enable community engagement and increase awareness of the

Foundations mission statement and goals. To gain Journalism interns,

we will set up a channel of communication between the Journalism

Internship Coordinator, Professor Shelton, and the Foundation.

In our campaign we will specifically target the Advertising and

Public Relations sector within the journalism Department. Our team will

create a cohesive and collaborative statement that outlines the skills

needed in the internship, highlight the competitive nature, promote a

rare hands-on experience with a non-profit organization and lastly give

students additional opportunities to increase the breadth of their

professional portfolios. Interns would be in charge of volunteers (as

talked about below) to direct and explain responsibility of their

involvement and roles in their time of serving. This would allow interns

to have more ownership, gain valuable leadership experience, and it

would lighten the load for full-time staff. In addition, our team will

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create a similar channel that links the organization to the

communication departments internship supervisor.

Professor Gina Shelton is in charge of the Lemke Journalism

Department internships program and creating a relationship with her

as well as the Journalism Department would be a strong asset to the

Foundation. Our team will create a description of what attributes are

desired for PR interns, which will be shared with Professor Shelton who

will later distribute the information to the appropriate professors and

websites. The internships are unpaid, but will provide college credit,

materials for a professional portfolio, and a look at working for a non-

profit organization. We will sell these professional aspects of the

internship to gain more applicants and create a colorful and appealing

jpeg advertisement to endorse the internship.

Additionally, we will have guest speakers to showcase their

organization and influence students to apply. This will spread

awareness through word of mouth. The deadline for students to apply

is May 12, 2017, and applicants will be selected within two weeks of

the deadline. This gives students time to apply, and it allows

graduating seniors to have an internship and experience after

graduation. Supervisors for interns will be assigned at the organization,

and they will lead interns through their duties and expectations during

their time as an intern. Interns will also be selected at overlapping

times so the current interns can teach the next interns on what daily

tasks they are expected to do.

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 Our team also plans to target Greek Life members. University of

Arkansas chapters require community service hours that an individual

must complete by the end of the semester. This requirement can be

utilized to gain volunteers for the organization. Our team will reach out

to each sorority and fraternity philanthropy chair or president to create

relationships or potential partnerships for future philanthropy events

hosted by the organization. A typed, brief message about the

Foundation, as well as posters, will be given to the philanthropy chairs

to be announced during chapter. These posters will be hung within

their individual houses and also emailed out to members. The brief

message will alert members of upcoming events, how to earn

volunteer hours and will reiterate potential internships. To increase the

emotional appeal to students, Rhonda Fincher could serve as a

potential guest speaker for the students participating in these

organizations. Hearing her personal testimony will encourage more

involvement and will also increase awareness.

Suggested Resources

The following are suggested resources to implement the

campaign strategies, tactics and successfully tackle all objectives.

Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences:

Department Head of Journalism: Larry Foley - lfoley@uark.edu

Journalism Internship Supervisor and Coordinator: Professor GIna

Shelton -

ginas@uark.edu

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 Department Head of Communication: Robert Brady -

rbrady@uark.edu

Additional Univeristy of Arkansas Websites:

http://career.uark.edu/new/students/job/jobsearch/RCL.asp

(Razorback CareerLink)

recruit@uark.edu

Journalism Department Facebook URL:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Walter-Lemke-Department-of-

Journalism/180039248709151

Calendar/Timetable

2017 Preparing for the Campaign

Late April - Post fliers on bulletin boards throughout University Campus

recruiting summer public relations interns from the journalism

department. Keep fliers short, sweet and to the point. Feature an

attention-grabbing image. Display the readily approaching deadline

(May 12th) For interns to be selected and begin by June 1.

- Reach out to local county and Elementary School Libraries, request

collaboration and share the organizations educational materials with

the library systems.

- Develop a narrative for Bailey the Bee and promotional items including

cups, pencils, and rulers (along with other school supplies that the

students can take with them back to class to further increase

participation and awareness among members of the Northwest

Arkansas community.)

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 May Host a fundraiser to earn money for Bailey the Bee costume and

promotional items including various school supplies with the

organizations logo featured on them. (Cups, pencils, rulers, etc.)

Begin reaching Public Libraries in NWA (6)

2018 Fall Semester: Implement the Campaign:

August Speak at club meetings when interest/attendance is highest

Invite Rhonda Fincher as guest speaker and focus talk on internship

opportunities as well as perks of being involved for University students

in terms of their careers.

Begin speaking at Elementary schools in NWA (14)

September Speak at Greek chapter nights At this time recruitment

for fall membership will be complete.

October Assuming library cooperation is obtained; begin hosting

reading nights and informational sessions at libraries with Bailey the

Bee for the Bee Hydrated campaign.

December Conduct post-campaign survey with both the local library

systems and the university to evaluate the effectiveness of message

transmission from the organization to students. Request that the

summary be sent out via Newswire, the weekly newsletter students

receive in their emails at the University of Arkansas.

Budget

The entirety of this project will be collaborative with University of

Arkansas students and organizations and local library systems. This

means that the campaign will be relatively low cost. Distribution of

educational materials to the library systems may be offered free to the

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libraries due to their collaborative efforts. The cost of distributing this

information will vary. Assuming each library receives their own copy,

the price will increase by number of libraries visited. However,

assuming that the material is taken with the representative from the

organization to each library, the cost of the educational would be

limited to one bundle.

Cost Summary

Profile on the VAC GivePulse database -

$0

1000 Frosted Cups with Logo -

$650

1000 BIC Pencil with Color Connection with Logo-

$200 1000 Rulers with Logo -

$190 Bailey the Bee Costume -

$130

1000 Take-Home Brochures - $350

Evaluation

The success of this project will be evaluated by the increase in

awareness of the Foundation and an increase in interns and/or

volunteers. To measure the success, simply quantify the increase or

decrease in the amount of volunteers per event or time period, as well

as recording if there was an increase in interns of both fall and spring

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semesters. Also, it will be considered a successful campaign if 11 out of

14 elementary schools and 3 out of 4 public libraries in NWA were

visited by Bailey the Bee.

Second, volunteers within the Foundation could administer a post

campaign quiz for the elementary students to measure what theyve

learned about hydration habits. Contact the elementary schools that

Bailey the Bee visited and request that teachers administer this short

(5 questions) quiz to their students in their library class sessions, then

collect the quizzes to review what the students learned from Bailey the

Bee. After the Northwest Arkansas campaign is completed, evaluation

will need to be completed to determine what needs to be changed in

the Bailey the Bee campaign for future statewide and national

implementation.

A similar way to measure increased awareness and action among

college students would be to reach out to the Greek Life organizations

that were contacted in the campaign and obtain a list of members who

volunteered. This measurement would also include an optional email

survey (5 questions) for University of Arkansas students asking a few

questions regarding the Foundation to determine their level of

awareness.

Lastly, the Foundation would measure and track the growth on

the Foundations social media presence in terms of followers,

interactions and amount of postings. To evaluate the success of the

new and improved social media sites, we would need to evaluate the

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 pervasive nature of these digital efforts. There are several apps

available to track the foot traffic of each site as well as the

increase/decrease of followers and what their location is, which would

be utilized to determine success as well as areas of future

improvement.

Sample Surveys

Elementary Students:
1. Name one thing you learned from Bailey the Bee:
2. Is it more important to drink water before or after you play a sport?
3. Name one sign of heat illness:
4. What is a good thing to drink besides water to be hydrated?
5. If you feel sick while playing a sport, who should you tell?

College Students:
1. You can receive college credit for serving as an Intern.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree,
Strongly Agree
2. You will be paid for being an Intern.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree,
Strongly Agree
3. The target audience for the Foundation is for Adults.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree,
Strongly Agree
4. The target audience is Youth ages 5-14.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree,
Strongly Agree
5. This is a non-profit organization.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Agree,
Strongly Agree

[1] The College Survey will focus on knowledge about the Foundation because, this
demographic will be targeted to recruit volunteers/interns and raise awareness. The
Elementary School Survey will focus on hydration and heat-illness facts to evaluate
retainability and effectiveness of methods used.

References

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Adams, S. (2012, July 26). Odds Are Your Internship Will Get You A Job.

Retrieved April 17, 2017, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/07/25/odds-are-your-

internship-will-get-you-a-job/#543a90ca62e5

Bureau, U. C. (n.d.). Children. Retrieved April 18, 2017, from

https://www.census.gov/topics/population/children.html

By the Numbers. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from

http://www.uark.edu/about/by-the-numbers.php

U of A Enrollment Tops 27,000, With Record Number of Arkansas

Freshmen. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2017, from

http://news.uark.edu/articles/35160/u-of-a-enrollment-tops-27-000-

with-record-number-of-arkansas-freshmen

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