Safe Shores

Situation
Summary background of the organization
Safe Shores coordinates with legislature, police, social workers and teachers to provide a place where children can safely report violent and abusive crimes against them. Their service prevents children being questioned numerous times, allowing groups involved to see the interview together. Their process features interviewers trained specifically for children, and houses this all in a comfortable, age-appropriate environment.

Obstacles
The communication challenges faced
Safe Shores wanted to be able to take their messages to social workers and police without “preaching to the choir” about child abuse (i.e. selling them on something they believe they already know best how to do, though remaining unknowing how the tremendous resource of Safe Shores is available to them). The challenges all revolved around creating a strategy to deliver these messages and gain support from these audiences.

Solution
The steps and solution taken by the CreateAThon team
During the consulting session, a system of working with in-house advocates already using Safe Shores was developed. For example, a police officer in a precinct would be given a series of materials, that he could hand to colleagues including information about techniques that worked for him and how it can work for them as well. They also discussed developing a series of cards that contain messages about Safe Shores along with a testimonial that illustrates the message, creating one card for each type of agency. The CreateAThon team also reviewed their communications plan and identified key holes within it in need of addressing. A brief brainstorming session addressed these holes and offered a few options.

There were three main goals to the design materials: remind people that the issue exists, drive those people back to the Safe Shores web site, and improve overall organization visibility that lets people know that this group exists to help. The conceptual approach to the materials was created to be warm and friendly, yet striking, and also convey a sense of care and trust. All materials were developed within the existing brand parameters to keep the new pieces consistent with current brochures and other items. A poster was designed with a simple message: “We help keep children safe,” driving people back to the web site. A brochure was created that reinforced the message that children are not alone and need to be kept safe. The design team also came up with palm cards containing simple messages that could be easily distributed at events. Four web content templates were developed to give the group flexibility in getting information to users along with an email template for an online marketing campaign. A landing page for the web site along with online ads rounded out the web package to drive home the underlying message: “Do something.”

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