Lucas Held’s Post

An important reminder that the revolutionary spirit that animated the founding of our nation came with a high price for many.

Another installment of the lively and timely discussions sponsored by the Museum of Public Relations is coming soon.

I'm pleased to be part of the recently-formed Change Leadership Collaborative announced below. New organization – The Change Leadership Collaborative – Formed to Help Institutions Turn Vision into Sustained Reality CONTACT: Lucas Held, [email protected] or 646-942-1894 New York, N.Y., May 23 – A group of experts in leading successful change efforts has announced the formation of the Change Leadership Collaborative, an organization that helps public and private institutions turn vision into sustained reality. The Collaborative – whose 30 members have deep experience and expertise in K-12 education, higher education, philanthropy and the non-profit sector –provides a range of consulting services including strategic planning, grant development and proposal writing, planning for sustainability and scale, stakeholder analyses, and communications strategies, drawing on the expertise of members, among other services. The group meets every month virtually and in-person once a year. Its members also support each other by learning together, partnering, supplementing expertise and incubating new projects. “Leading change effectively is one of the most important aspects of effective leadership, especially these days when the only constant is change,” said Jody Spiro, Ed.D., the Collaborative’s founder. “It requires not only building a shared vision, strategic planning and early wins, but also ensuring successful implementation through ongoing learning and revision, and effective communication.  All community members have designed and implemented positive change that in many cases has endured for decades. As a learning community, we learn from, draw on and apply those experiences in working with others.” Organizations currently undertaking projects with the Collaborative include Learning Forward, a national membership organization of educators focused on professional learning, the National SAM Innovation Project, San Diego State University, Florida Atlantic University, and the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. The management committee for the Collaborative incudes: Jody Spiro, the author of High-Payoff Strategies: How Education Leaders Get Results (Jossey-Bass, 2015), and Leading Change Step-by-Step: Tactics, Tools, and Tales (Jossey-Bass, 2010), and is an adjunct professor at several universities; Aiesha Eleusizov, a consulting strategist with experience in managerial and analytic roles at The Wallace Foundation, and other U.S. and global non-profits; and Lucas Held, a strategic communications consultant who has led communications teams in philanthropy and higher education.

I'm attending IPR Webinar: Collaborators for Change Report. I'm looking forward to hearing about the intersection of these two roles, especially in our polarized context.

On Thursday, March 14 at 6 p.m., the Museum of Public Relations will host a conversation on PR Women Who Changed History: Women's Rights at Risk https://lnkd.in/gEUjdcMp featuring the remarkable Muriel Fox, the PR pioneer who co-founded the National Organization for Women. Register for the Zoom event here: https://lnkd.in/gWNqbPNZ Register for the in-person event ($25 or $10 for students) here: https://lnkd.in/gVvmuW22 As the Museum notes: "Had it not been for Muriel Fox and the National Organization of Women (NOW) starting in the 1960s, women today would not be able to apply for a credit card, get a car loan, or be approved for a mortgage without their husbands' signatures. The most highly educated women could only apply for secretarial jobs, even when their skills exceeded those of their male colleagues." Fox will share her personal story and reflect on today's context. For more on her, see: https://lnkd.in/eVRyvqS5 Fox will be interviewed by Caryn E. Medved, Ph.D., professor of corporate communications at Baruch College and an expert on how we talk and think about work and family as well as women's leadership. Shelly Spector, a PR pioneer in her own right and co-founder of the Museum, will deliver closing remarks. The event follows on the heels of the Museum's inspiring event for Black History Month on how to bring more Black men into the profession. I'm proud to be on the Board of the Museum with great colleagues. And thanks to Hunter https://hunterpr.com/ for its sponsorship of this event.

A great opportunity with a great team for a communications professional interested in making a difference by sharing evidence and ideas that can improve practice and policy in K-12 education, afterschool and summer learning and the arts.

We hope you'll join a special event (virtual or in-person in NYC) at the Museum of Public Relations at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 15: Celebrating Black PR History: Where Are All the Black Men in Public Relations? https://lnkd.in/e9-M2Xzk As the Museum writes: "Ninety years ago, the first African American man opened a public relations agency in the extraordinarily competitive New York market. Despite dealing with the Depression—and despite his race—Joseph Varney Baker thrived for decades by representing national corporations reaching out to the burgeoning Black middle class in the North." Today, though, Black men remain relatively under-represented in public relations. According to an article by Chuck Wallington, who will host the event, African-American men represent about 6 percent of men in the industry https://lnkd.in/e7qZw5GR. That's about half the proportion of Black men in the overall population, according to BlackDemographics.com. Given the gap, the intergenerational panel will discuss strategies to attract more Black men into the industry.  In addition to Dr. Wallington, panelists include: David W. Brown, of Temple University; Brandon Thomas of the Freuds Group; Emmanuel Reid, of Ogilvy Chicago; Devon Jackson of the EGAMI Group; and Toure Burgess, chair of Black Men in Communications. I am proud to be on the Board of the Museum and am looking forward to the event. Register here to attend in person: https://lnkd.in/evyjWP2Z Register here for Zoom: https://lnkd.in/e4v-taQp Become a sponsor here: https://lnkd.in/edmNnTnM

This sounds like an interesting conversation this Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on Political Violence in America: https://lnkd.in/enZHxDqm What is driving and enabling political violence in America today? Can law enforcement cope with these threats, and are the nation’s institutions strong and resilient enough to deal with these challenges in the years ahead? Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down in conversation with former U.S. acting assistant attorney general for national security Mary B. McCord to unpack these and other issues.

Over the past decade and a half, crisis communications has emerged as one of the most active research areas in the study of public relations. There's a good reason for that: Shifts in the media environment including the rise of social media and ubiquitous cable news channels, along with rising distrust of institutions, have meant that accusations, rumors and just plain bad news can spread with lightning speed. The best response to a crisis is to prevent it from happening in the first place. But when crises happen, and they will, organizations need to be ready to respond. On April 12, the University of Georgia's Crisis Communications Think Tank at the Grady College of Communications will hold a one-day, in-person training for leaders to help them identify potential threats, manage uncertainty, and deploy crisis strategies. https://lnkd.in/e46h8DGU . The seminar will feature experienced practitioners and leading scholars including Yan Jin and Tim Coombs. Full disclosure: I'm a member of the Crisis Communications Think Tank and can attest to its value.

The National Academies of Sciences (NAS) will hold what looks like a fascinating hearing from 1:30-5 p.m., on Thursday, Feb. 8, on afterschool programs, hearing from both youth and practitioners. The hearing is part of a larger NAS study funded by The Wallace Foundation on what's known about promoting learning and development in out-of-school time settings for K-12 students from low-income families. The report follows by 22 years an influential 2002 NAS report Community Programs to Promote Youth Development at https://lnkd.in/eWB3B_k3 that helped elevate the importance of community-wide efforts to increase access to high-quality youth development opportunities, and a 2019 study on Shaping Summertime Experiences https://lnkd.in/eb_ipDQH. National Academies syntheses -- called Consensus Studies -- are often considered the gold standard of literature reviews, as they bring together some of the nation's leading experts, practitioners and policymakers to capture a consensus of what is known on a particular topic. Because the Consensus Studies summarize many studies, as well as perspectives from the field, they can hold special value for policymakers above and beyond an individual study, especially if they plan to raise questions or educate colleagues on a specific issue, Karen Bogenschneider and Thomas J. Corbett point out in the book Evidence-Based Policymaking https://lnkd.in/ep7W8Sin We also know that perceptions of the scientific consensus on an issue can affect public support for policies to tackle problems. Climate change is one example. Sander L. van der Linden and colleagues have demonstrated experimentally, for example, that when people perceive a scientific consensus about global warming, they are more likely to support action to mitigate it. https://lnkd.in/e9p2VVXu . Fortunately, afterschool and summer programs already have broad support among voters as the Afterschool Alliance has found https://lnkd.in/eiCANMss. The NAS study will undoubtedly be helpful to policymakers in illuminating what is known about how out-of-school time programs can help contribute more specifically to learning and development among youth from families with low incomes.