A year ago – when we thought about CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, the first thing that happened is we’d get a heavy, sinking feeling in our chest. An unsettling feeling that accompanies a daunting task, a familiar and forever up-hill-battle.
Just the thought of a child (let alone hundreds of children in the Eastern Panhandle) navigating the foster care system is enough to bring on chronic heartache.
From the outside, being a Court Appointed Special Advocate seems like something only a select few are capable of. Maybe it’s the retired teacher who is used to maintaining the balance between stresses at work and home – ensuring they don’t bleed into one another. Or maybe it’s the social worker or lawyer who can differentiate between the task at hand and the emotional toil created by everyday life. But, as we’ve learned -the truth is that anyone can be a CASA.
“If the instinctive reaction to CASAs’ work is guided by heaviness and heartache, then how do we redirect the messaging, fast? How do we focus on the good that is done and the network of support available to volunteers, making CASA recruitment more approachable? This continues to be our focus when we’re planning for a campaign launch, or building out messaging for CASA of the Eastern Panhandle. We’re not sugar-coating it – but we want to show the happiness on the other side. The results of helping a child find their permanency.”
– Jessi Knipe
Anyone that is familiar with the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia has witnessed its economic growth over the past few years. It is a broad geographical area with a staggering amount of residential communities popping up (you know things are going well when the rumor mill around town is saying there is a Costco coming to town)! As historic walkable downtowns are thriving within sprawling, rural communities – the attraction to affordable living, proximity to opportunity and momentum within the business community has lead to a population #boom.
With all that prosperity comes growing pains – including more kids that are pulled into the foster care system, and in need of a CASA. As I write this, there are 379 kids in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia who have a CASA and around 371 children who are still waiting. I imagine by next year, that trend will continue to be the case.
Interested in collaborating with LovelyPixels?
It starts with a simple conversation.
Focusing on the great ground work the staff and Shepherd Consulting LLC had built over the previous years, our team started with an audit of existing assets and ensuring that their content plan had a uniform look, tone and launch plan.
Ensuring the website was a cornerstone to their marketing efforts, we optimized for conversion, performance and data tracking, as well as engrossed ourselves into funneling visitors towards unique stories that amplified CASAs local needs.
Creation of 5 core video productions that covered staff and volunteer stories, a foster family, challenges and what it really means to be a CASA in the Eastern Panhandle.
This multi-day, multi-location shoot included coordination of around 35 local actors and volunteers, schedule management, location scouting and post-production.
Expanding on their existing infrastructure and doing a facelift, LovelyPixels audited every webpage and visitor flow to strategize a multi-phase site relaunch that would do the following:
