Morreale Communications - Community Involvement Program of the Year

Company: Morreale Communications - Chicago
Company Division/Group:Morreale Communications
Company Description: Morreale Communications is an award-winning, WBE/WBENC certified strategic communications agency. Founded in 2006, Morreale has an all-female leadership team and a 90% female and minority workforce. Our specialty areas include strategic message development, stakeholder engagement, branding and creative strategy, digital & social communications, diversity & inclusion, policy and media relations.
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Community Involvement Program of the Year

Nomination Title: Connecting Communities to COVID Resources - Pandemic Public Health Navigator Program

Morreale Communications is a leading strategic communications agency working at the intersection of business, media, policy and people. Driven by the desire to empower our clients by elevating their voices during times of change, crisis and opportunity, Morreale offers an integrated suite of solutions. Core capabilities include strategic message development, stakeholder engagement, branding and creative strategy, digital & social communications, diversity & inclusion, policy strategy and media relations. Founded in 2006, Morreale brings unrivaled experience from a wide range of backgrounds to provide deep insights and counsel to our clients. Headquartered in Chicago, Morreale is proud to be a certified WBE/WBENC agency with an all-female leadership team and 90% female and minority workforce.

With a specialty focus in healthcare, Morreale collaborates with clients like the Illinois Public Health Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois to build roadmaps that deliver the right message to the right people on the right platform. The Morreale healthcare practice delivers media, advocacy and community engagement plans that drive strong brand awareness, protect reputation and inspire action.

Morreale Communications has built a reputation for delivering advocacy, public education and media strategies that drive awareness, encourage engagement and inspire action from the public. When the Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) received a grant from the Illinois Department of Public to develop an action plan to mitigate the spread of misinformation and encourage vaccine participation, they contracted Morreale Communications to build an outreach strategy, develop messaging and content, inform the public about resources available to them and ultimately launch the Public Health Navigator Program.   

Through Morreale’s efforts with the PHN program, more than 85 community-based organizations and federally qualified health centers are partnering in the program and more than 500 Community Health Workers are providing services.

With the educational materials and Learning Management System Morreale developed, all Community Health Workers are trained and are utilizing over 20 different pieces of educational collateral in English, Spanish and French and can access 12 courses of PHN Program Curriculum online.

Millions throughout the state have been exposed to the PHN program. The press conference live stream garnered more than 40,000 views on Facebook. More than 265 million media impressions since the start of the program. The program has amassed more than 10 million paid advertising impressions. Traffic to the HelpGuideThrive.org website has continued to increase 25% month over month since the start of the program. Most importantly, over 10,000 Illinois residents have been provided resources across the state.

With over 15 years of deep Illinois experience, Morreale has its finger on the pulse and understands of the different needs and unique challenges that communities throughout the state face related to the pandemic.

The pandemic has shone a bright light on persistent, systemic inequities in this country. Unequal access to economic opportunities and healthcare facilities, structural inequality, bias and discrimination are just some of the systemic hurdles many communities face.

When IPHA/IPHCA identified a significant need for a strategic solution to help support Illinois’ most vulnerable populations, Morreale answered the call.

The Morreale team took careful consideration during research, development, outreach and implementation to create solutions that were culturally competent and tailored to specific populations to ensure that the hardest hit, underserved populations of Illinois were being prioritized, including rural communities, diverse communities, elderly residents, people at or near the poverty line, undocumented immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, disconnected youth, people with limited English proficiency.

With Illinois residents being constantly bombarded by misinformation online and political leaning pandemic-related messages, Now, more than ever, it's important for us to band together and support our most vulnerable populations. We are incredibly proud to partner with IPHA, IPHCA and all the organizations and community health works of PHN, as we continue to work towards a better world where access to resources, education, assistance and care, especially in times of crisis and change, is equitable for all.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials:

As documented in the supporting materials attachment, Morreale outlines multi-channel integrated marketing campaign helped spread the educational information and resources. with content pushed through paid, owned and earned channels

Technology was implemented to arm the Community Health Workers—from CRM, collaboration and training tools. Educational materials were printed and customized to the unique needs of different communities.

As a result of this integrated and mutli-faceted strategy, the Pandemic Health Navigator Program hit a number of achievements in the battle against COVID-19.

More than 85 community based organizations and federally qualified health centers partnering in the program
More than 500 Community Health Workers hired and trained
More than 265 million media impressions since the start of the program
More than 10 million paid advertising impressions
Traffic to the HelpGuideThrive.org website has continued to increase 25% since the start of the program
Most importantly- More than 10,000 residents have been provided resources across the state of Illinois

Thanks to the IPHA and the Pandemic Health Navigator Program, coalitions and partnerships were built and community health in Illinois is stronger than ever before. Because of strong public relations and demonstrated success, there is a renewed emphasis on public health infrastructure and the critical role this network will play in healthy communities for years to come.