White River School District:

2016 Bond Proposal Outreach

A small community with a big need

The community of White River is a mostly rural one spread out near the base of Mt. Saint Helens. They had passed a bond a few years back to build a new high school, and now their elementary and middle schools were in desperate need of renovation, along with improvements to the high school athletic field that could not be accomplished with the first bond. School supporters were worried that the bond proposal of $98.8 million would give many voters sticker shock.

Good communication saves the day!

The League met with CSG and district leadership to brainstorm a community outreach plan based on community pride to communicate the need. The plan included photography at each school, including a photo with four generations of district students to use in custom materials designed for each school that outlined what improvements were proposed. The bond passed with a 68% approval from voters!

Samples of Design Work Completed

Q&A Booklet mailed to voters in the fall after the bond resolution passed

Layout for the local newspaper in place of a regular newsletter

Postcard mailed to voters just before election

Informational poster (one created for each school)

Large entry poster (one created to display in the entrance of each school with a fact sheet nearby)

Award-Winning!

The Washington School Public Relations Association presented this project with several awards at the 2017 award ceremony, including Best in Category for Marketing/Branding and awards for photography.