Promoting the Honorees: Focus and Strategies

The California Wellness Foundation employs an array of communications tactics — including publications, media relations, print ads, web-based advertising and video productions — to amplify the voices of the honorees and their underserved communities. The goal is to inspire policymakers and the general public to support violence prevention as a key aspect of community health and wellness.

The focus of our communications message is neither the Foundation nor the California Peace Prize itself. Rather, we spotlight an important public health issue and highlight how people — many of whom have been largely ignored by the media — are making a difference in their communities. This message is consistent with the Foundation’s goal of recognizing and encouraging leaders who are working to increase health and wellness within their communities.

Our strategy is to counter the excessive coverage of the traumatic effects of violence with a viable alternative to those reports that seem to portray violence as inevitable. The Foundation makes a persuasive case for utilizing a public health approach to violence, framed as a preventable problem that can be effectively addressed by empowering individuals and communities to reduce the risk factors that lead to violent behavior. This violence prevention approach is exemplified by the work of the California Peace Prize honorees.

The California Wellness Foundation chooses to dedicate a portion of nongrantmaking resources to publicizing the work of the honorees. Why? Because the people most affected by social problems often have little or no opportunity to contribute to policy changes and proposed solutions for the issues that disproportionately affect their lives. In the same vein, the community leaders we honor are frequently so absorbed in their work that they haven’t the time to pursue major media coverage about this important issue. So it is our charge to amplify their voices so that their stories are heard by the news media, policymakers and opinion leaders.

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