Casey Family Programs

For several years, Seven November served as communications advisor to Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest operating foundation serving children in foster care. Our work centered on raising awareness of and inspiring action in support of foster families and policy improvements within the foster care system. Additionally, Susan Pierson-Brown has twice served as Interim Managing Director of Communications for the foundation.

We crafted annual strategic communications plans that incorporated messaging, public affairs, earned media and marketing strategies targeting very specific populations.

For example, our national media relations work included releasing new research into the health of children in care to influence national and regional policy, including hosting media events at the National Press Club in Washington DC, hosting congressional briefings and coordinating national satellite media tours.

We also led the original message development and media training of national spokespeople for Casey’s powerful initiative to reduce the number of children in foster care in the U.S. by half by the year 2020. We employed a variety of strategies, and leveraged the capabilities of the in-house communications teams to bring new audiences and new awareness to a perennial problem and to ultimately drive changes for families in care.

Constituent Training

For Casey Family Programs, Seven November designed and led a multi-year initiative to media train and coach over 100 foster parents, birth parents, grandparents raising their grandchildren, social workers and alumni of foster care so they can be powerful advocates for positive change in the foster care system.

Representative Casey Family Programs media placements

• Washington Post

• New York Times

• Time magazine

• ABC’s The View

• NPR

• 20/20

• Op-eds written and placed in five major metropolitan papers, including the Seattle Times, Phoenix Sun and the Sacramento Bee