Illuminate Irving: Domestic Violence Is Everyone’s Business
After a continuous flow of domestic violence calls and a several tragic murders, the Irving Police Department, the Irving Family Advocacy Center and Irving Communications Department took a stand: the time had come to declare a community conversation about this highly misunderstood, pervasive, violent and hidden crime.
We developed a common look and feel to all material and employed each Irving communications channel to educate residents. The work began in February with a public introduction in May. We staggered topics over the next five months and capped the campaign with a community event, Illuminate Irving: An Evening of Remembrance and Hope, during October’s National Domestic Violence Awareness month.
IRVING CITY SPECTRUM
The city’s monthly print publication was an integral piece of the plan to get information in the hands of residents.
Print Newsletter –97,000+ circulation
A dedicated event page was launched Sept. 1, 2016 to serve as a reference point for all social media and news stories.
To help people find the page easily on the City of Irving website, we created an easy to remember redirect, CityofIrving.org/Illuminate, which was used in social media, video and print. View page
Social media drove the campaign to get the word out in a cost‐effective manner.
Over a period of five months, 32 posts were strategically placed on the city’s social media channels promoting education, awareness and the Oct. 18 event.
The posts were targeted and key posts were boosted through Facebook Ads.
Social Media
View the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRZqfUhvx8U
The Event page created on the city’s Facebook account illustrates community interest.
The Irving Community Television Network, the city’s television production group, produced a number of promotional videos and programs prior to the event, as well as follow‐up stories post‐event.
Pre‐event:
• Interview: Illuminate Irving: View video
• Illuminate Irving Coverage Preview: View video
Post‐event:
• Longer news story for local access broadcast: View video
• Short story for social media: View video
Video Production
In the days leading up to the event, the city encouraged residents, civic groups and its own employees to wear purple on Oct. 18 to raise awareness of domestic violence.
Miscellaneous
October 18, 2016: A Night of Remembrance and Hope
The Event
Luminaria bags bore the names of victims of domestic violence. Friends, relatives or victims themselves decorated the bags. More than 200 people attended, approximately four times the size of previous domestic violence awareness events.
The Event
The Event
The community responded in a very positive way to the event.
The work continues with engaging the community. This teen dating class for girls was well attended.
In addition, the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) Systems classes, offered free to any female 10 years and older, are consistently filled weeks before they start. These classes are taught by Irving police officers who are certified RAD instructors. Classes are offered in English and Spanish.
We met our goal to reach the Latino and Indian‐American communities.
BAPS invited the FAC to set up a booth at its annual women’s conference to be held in May 2017. BAPS also made the FAC a beneficiary at its annual walk.
The goodwill continues from the event, as community groups have named the Irving Family Advocacy Center as the recipient of upcoming fundraising events.
Community Engagement