Community AIDS Resource and Education Services

Evaluation Report
Introduction
The client I worked with over the course of the semester is Community AIDS Resource
and Education Services (CARES). I have been in contact with Kelly Doyle, Director of Client
Services at CARES, to learn about the organization and their public relations efforts. CARES is
the only community-based non-profit AIDS organization that serves 11 counties throughout
Southwest Michigan. For this project, we had a number of written assignments to complete for
our client. The tactics we created are intended to engage and inform the target audience with
current news about the organization, upcoming events and ways to get involved. The primary
audience of CARES is individuals HIV positive or at high risk for the infection. Secondary
audience of the organization include: community members, funders, donors and volunteers.
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of CARES is to get people into care, services and treatment they need
in order to live a healthy lifestyle. They offer a variety of programs including: HIV testing and
counseling, STD testing, support groups and annual events. Their goal is to promote these
services and provide help to people in the community affected by HIV. The organization creates
different campaigns for three major events they host each year. CARES uses social media to
reach different audiences and educate people on HIV and current medical news. There have been
several medical advancements for HIV/AIDS over the years, and CARES makes sure everyone
is up to date and has accurate information about this. The staff sends out email blasts to keep
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their supporters updated about the organization and current news. They also spend time working
to reduce the stigma of testing for HIV and reduce the stigma of those individuals living with the
disease.
Tactics
In order to achieve the clients goals and objectives, I have created several tactics that
cover a variety of areas within the organization. These tactics are intended to reach the target
audience and create awareness about events, programs, medical advancements and ways to get
involved with the organization.
News Release
When I started this project they were unsure of what the theme would be for World Aids
Day this year. I came up with an event they can use in the future for World Aids Day. This news
release was centered around a holiday party supporting World Aids Day. The party would take
place at Bells Eccentric Caf with activities, games, prizes and drinks to kick off the holiday
season and educate the public about the organization.
Fact Sheet & Media Advisory
This fact sheet is another event I created for CARES to possibly implement for a World
Aids Day theme. This event is a fundraising event called Raise Awareness in Red. A local
restaurant will host a spaghetti banquet dinner, where individuals will dress up in red attire and
support World Aids Day. There will be a silent auction and presentation from CARES staff about
the organization and the importance of World Aids Day. I provided statistics about HIV on the
fact sheet to show people how serious HIV is. The media advisory is a quick synopsis of the
World Aids Day event and includes information on what, who, when, where and why.
Feature Story
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I was really interested and curious when I heard about the Mr Friendly campaign. Mr
Friendly is an innovative program of CARES and is used to reduce stigma of HIV. I created a
feature story on Mr Friendly, to provide background information on the power of this symbol. I
wanted people to know the full history and background of this character. Mr Friendly has been a
very successful tool to initiate conversation about HIV. I thought it was important to highlight Mr
Friendly because he has become a trusted symbol and helps individuals worldwide fight the
stigma of HIV.
Public Service Announcement
I felt the most impactful Public Service Announcement for CARES would be a television
message. I created two PSAs, one that is 30 seconds and another that is 60 seconds. The first
PSA gives a statistic about the amount of people living with HIV worldwide. Then a man and
woman each say a sentence about the importance of testing at CARES. The second PSA contains
the same information about getting tested, but adds more individuals talking about why they are
getting tested. There are many reasons people get tested and by hearing these reasons, it could
impact someone in the community to get tested for HIV.
Newsletter
I created a January newsletter sent out to the external audience. This message contains
information about ways to get involved with CARES this upcoming year. The newsletter starts
out with a message from the Executive Director and states how the organization wants to reach
out and get more people into testing. There is a section about ways to get involved by donating,
volunteering or becoming an eAngel. The back page consists of information about upcoming
events. There is a January spotlight, which features a staff member and her contributions. It ends

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with a section on Mr Friendly, in order to promote the mission of creating a stigma free
environment.
Speech & Presentation
I wrote a speech for Executive Director David Feaster to give at a conference. The title of
this speech is Treatment Equals Prevention, and is intended to reach out to individuals in the
state of Michigan. It talks about services CARES offers for individuals affected by HIV. Its also
directed to those at high risk for the infection and getting these individuals into treatment. The
presentation goes over statistics, CARES mission, high risk individuals, support groups,
treatment options and prevention.
Email
The email I created is from David Feaster and would be sent out to the email list CARES
has of friends and families involved with the organization. This email is a wrap up of what has
occurred within the organization over the past year. It talks about areas volunteers are needed and
hopes to gain 10 new volunteers. It discusses the three annual events and ends with asking
individuals to become an eAngel and donate certain items to the organization.
Blogs
I created five blogs posts covering topics including: PrEP, HIV criminalization,
Treatment equals prevention, Mr Friendly and annual events. The PrEP blog consists of 5
common questions and answers to this new HIV medication. The HIV Criminalization blog
informs people on what these charges are, the states that individuals may be prosecuted in and
ways to end it. The treatment equals prevention blog talks about how to prevent HIV, statistics,
the importance of testing, treatment and medication. The Mr Friendly blog is written from Mr

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Friendly himself, and talks about everything he does. The annual events posts informs the public
about the three annual events CARES takes part in and how to contribute.
Twitter
I had the privilege of tweeting off the CARES twitter page for three months. I took
articles from the body.com and created awareness on social media about HIV health related
topics. I also took information from CARES Facebook and website, to inform the public about
their services. I retweeted important HIV news and added pictures from CARES events to
showcase the culture of the organization.
Instagram
I created a private Instagram for CARES and uploaded five pictures. The first picture was
about HIV criminalization and supporting the Positive Justice Project. The second picture was
Mr Friendly holding a sign saying Im here for you, Poz or Neg. The third, was a reminder
about World Aids Day and to unite in the fight against HIV. The fourth, was a picture of aids will
end only when and different ways to end aids. The last post was a lady holding a sign saying I
am facing aids to fight stigma, to show reasons why people face aids.
Measuring Success
Success can be measured in different ways for these tactics. For the tactics that promote
the events such as news release, fact sheet, media advisory, newsletter and email, you can
measure success by the amount of people that attend the event. You can compare numbers from
previous years and see if there is more in attendance. You could also have individuals take a
short survey after the event, to see how they heard about this event. For tactics such as the PSA
and client speech and presentation, you can measure success by the amount of people that get
tested for HIV this upcoming year. You can compare statistics from the previous years and see if
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numbers have increased. For social media, you can see how many followers on Twitter and
Instagram you have and also how many likes or retweets each post gets.
Future Steps
Going forward, this is how I would rank order these tactics.
1.

Social media is extremely important in todays society and by creating a presence on

social media people will be up to date on information regarding the organization.

2. I believe external newsletters and emails should be sent out every month, in order to keep the
public updated and informed about the organization and ways to get involved.
3. News releases and fact sheets are important when an event is coming up.
I think a PSA would be impactful for CARES to implement on TV to get the message
across to test for HIV. A speech is only necessary when staff attends a conference. Lastly, a
feature story is not the most important tactic for the organization, but is a useful tool to talk about
specific programs the organization offers.
Conclusion
I believe these tactics will help CARES reach their goals of promoting their mission and
getting more people into testing. CARES offers many great services and should utilize more
public relations efforts to reach their audiences. CARES hosts three annual events and creates
campaigns for them. This portfolio provides new ideas for the organization to work with on
future events. CARES has a twitter page, but I feel an Instagram and blog site would benefit the
organization and reach more of their target audience. If CARES implements the tactics in this
campaign, I believe they could raise awareness of HIV in the community, get more attendance at
events, and get more people in testing.

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