Division/Category:
Communication Management/Media Relations
Organizations:
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Ryan Companies US, Inc., Padilla Speer Beardsley
Intended Audiences:
Low-income families with children about to enter high school, Twin Cities businesses and media


The new Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, opened in fall 2007, is part of a network of schools serving urban and low-income students in more than 16 states. The Minneapolis school was founded in partnership with the Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation, the Jesuits, and Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies US, Inc. Cristo Rey asked Padilla Speer Beardsley to help recruit student applicants and donors for the school.

Padilla’s campaign focused on media that would reach low-income families with children. The team offered journalists tours of the school, informational materials, a variety of proposed story angles, and briefings with select editorial boards. One feature that Padilla highlighted: Through the school’s corporate internship program, students gain valuable work experience with local companies, which pays 75 percent of their tuition.

A hard-hat tour of the school featured the first four students to be accepted. Retired General Colin Powell attended the grand opening of Cristo Rey and its Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center. The school achieved its goal of enrolling 100 students in its first-year class, and more than 20 businesses agreed to provide 100 students with internships.


Award of Merit Winners in Communication Management/Media Relations:

•  Semicon West Media Relations Campaign; Entegris, Inc., Padilla Speer Beardsley

•  Using Technology to Save a Language; Prairie Island, Weber Shandwick

•  2006 Rice Park Winter Wonderland; Capital City Partnership, Padilla Speer Beardsley

•  Gold Medal Park Grand Opening; Gold Medal Park, Padilla Speer Beardsley