San Rafael, CA – The County of Marin continues to accumulate awards for its communications with the public, capturing three trophies last week from a national organization that recognizes excellence in municipal publicity campaigns.
The City-County Communications & Marketing Association, known as 3CMA, honored Marin for two promotional videos and one photo gallery during the group’s national conference September 10 in Atlanta.
A video titled “Youth Working for Change,” created by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) media team and the Marin County Probation Department, garnered first place – or what’s known as a 3CMA Savvy Award – for governments with populations of 115,000 residents and up. A photo collection of nature shots by Marin County Parks Ranger Craig Solin earned a Savvy Award as well.
The “Youth Working for Change” video outlined a job readiness program for at-risk youths operated jointly by HHS’ Marin Employment Connection and the Probation Department. The program served 74 young people in its first 18 months, placing 49 in paid employment situations. The video provides first-person examples of participants interacting with their employers and customers.
“The video is an example of the multimedia work that HHS is doing to reach young people to let them know that that there are resources available to them,” said Racy Ming, the Social Services Division Director of HHS’ Employment and Training branch. “They are not alone in facing their challenges.”
Solin’s photos, featured prominently on many Marin County Parks webpages, showed off Marin’s breathtaking beauty. As part of his daily routine, Solin keeps a camera handy and is encouraged by Parks administrators to take photos for non-commercial promotional purposes such as pamphlets, fliers, social media posts, webpages, major reports and greeting cards. The contest judges described Solin’s shots as “gorgeous” and “striking,” adding that his work is “a great use of internal resources. … The photos seem more authentic than photos taken by a paid photographer.”
“Mother Nature made Marin County beautiful, and I’m just thankful that the Parks staff allows me to use my abilities to record it,” Solin said.
Marin HHS’ “Recovery is Possible” video earned a Silver Circle award, the equivalent of second place in its population category. The snappy video, with a musical backdrop of the pop song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, features an uplifting message from the Mental Health and Substance Use Services’ Adult Case Management team and includes appearances by clients who live with mental illness.
A year ago, the County won four 3CMA awards, including two first-place Savvys and two third-place Awards of Excellence. The County took home one Savvy in 2013, the second year it submitted entries into the 3CMA competition.
The Savvy awards salute skilled and effective city, county, agency or district professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations in communications and marketing. The awards recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing and citizen-government relationships. Judges from across the country reviewed more than 700 entries in 36 categories this year.
The County has a Public Communication Plan, approved by the Marin County Board of Supervisors, that outlines efforts to encourage meaningful participation in the governance of the County by all.