The Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program focuses on empowering youth to make positive change happen—for people, for animals and for the environment. With tens of thousands of young people in more than 120 countries, the Roots & Shoots network connects youth of all ages who share a desire to create a better world. These young people identify problems in their communities and take action through service projects and youth-led campaigns.

In addition to handling media relations for all of the Jane Goodall Institute’s wildlife conservation and fundraising efforts (and serving as a true extension of JGI’s 1.5-person in-house Communications “Department”), Maroon PR provided a variety of services for JGI’s Roots & Shoots program including graphic design, event promotions, media training, and local market media outreach.

JGI wanted the young people of the Roots & Shoots program to be recognized for their commitment. In response, Maroon PR created an ongoing program called The Roots & Shoots Group of the Month. Each time a group was recognized by the national R&S headquarters, Maroon PR developed target media lists for each specific market, prepared all media materials and secured interview opportunities for both the local awardees and the National Director of Roots & Shoots to promote the program through media in those markets. Additionally, Maroon PR’s designer created a map of the US that was updated each month to show the growth and reach of the project to JGI donors, corporate partners, and its Board of Directors.

The results were terrific. Maroon PR earned considerable media for the program in every monthly market, including feature stories in newspapers, radio interviews, TV news segments, and more.

Maroon PR also handled all media relations surrounding Roots & Shoots events, programs, projects and major new initiatives requiring coordination and planning with city and state officials, sponsors, and other VIPs, including:

• The launch of the Roots & Shoots Service Learning Curriculum in Chicago Public Schools;
  
• The annual Roots & Shoots International Day of Peace (including local activities, national celebrations and international recognition events at the United Nations in New York City);
  
• The first-ever North America Training Summit for Roots & Shoots group leaders and service-learning professionals, held at Western Connecticut State University;
  
• The launch in 2011 of its “One Million Hours of Service” campaign.