Portfolio Highlights

The Blount Education Initiative is a Maryville, Tennessee-based non-profit organization with a mission to make education the Blount County community’s top priority by:

• Developing a sustained public awareness campaign focusing on the critical issues related to education;
• Supporting local schools in their efforts to provide a top-notch education for all students; and
• Serving as a bridge between the educational community and businesses to develop meaningful collaborations.

Mary Beth West Consulting currently manages an 18-month campaign to educate and inform the Blount County community about the value of education and to change community perceptions – in particular, those surrounding the value of a high school diploma and the need for life-long continuing education. The campaign has involved proprietary stakeholder research, local and regional media relations, third-party organizational outreach and coalition-building, website development (in partnership with Tori Rose of Blue Media Boutique) and event planning / implementation.

Results of the campaign (still in progress) have included successful re-engagement in the organization by influential community leaders and businesses, confirmed speaking engagements by the organization in the community, a host of media coverage placements resulting in 409,000 local audience impressions in three months, and successful ramp-up of a new organizational web site and blog.