No Kid Hungry Virginia is helping ensure no youth goes hungry in the commonwealth
Client Goal: Leverage media relations to highlight the importance of school meals and solutions to end childhood hunger.
Hundreds of thousands of kids in Virginia live in “food insecure” homes. The number has serious consequences: Food insecurity means kids don’t have enough food, or might not have consistent access to food, because of lack of money or other barriers.
The team at No Kid Hungry Virginia, a campaign of the non-profit Share Our Strength, is working to ensure all children have access to the nutrition they need in order to grow and thrive. Through advocacy, awareness building and community relations across the state, the Hodges Partnership has been proud to provide public relations support to No Kid Hungry Virginia since 2017.
Hodges helps raise awareness about the consequences of childhood hunger and the array of ongoing solutions as well as spotlights the hard work of nutrition professionals through an ongoing media relations program.
Results:
- More than 135 print, radio and TV stories about No Kid Hungry Virginia and its work within a two-year period, including outlets like WTVR, Fairfax Times, The Daily Press, Richmond Times-Dispatch, CBS 19 and NBC 29
- Consistent news coverage in rural, city and suburban markets. This past year, the team secured coverage in every media market in the commonwealth.
- A virtual townhall with school nutrition leaders received coverage in more than 10 outlets about service meals during the pandemic
Why’d it work?
Nutritional professionals show up every day for kids and their communities. While they quietly work behind the scenes, their stories of commitment and dedication are worth lifting up, and the Hodges team has been equally committed to telling those stories through the news media.
Hodges stays on top of national child nutrition news and works to localize stories in Virginia. Whether it’s advocating for federal policy changes that impact programs or leveraging national observances like School Lunch Hero Day, we help provide local experts and perspectives that help us secure news headlines and coverage. We work with the No Kid Hungry Virginia team to proactively pitch newsworthy stories as well as place Opinions and Letters to the Editor in Virginia news outlets large and small.
We’re gaining momentum. Today, many reporters reach out to our team because of the credibility we’ve established related to childhood nutrition and hunger. And No Kid Hungry Virginia’s advocacy is helping lead to significant changes for Virginia kids: This year, more schools and districts than ever are implementing the Community Eligibility Provision, a program that allows schools to serve free meals to all students.