Great Communicators

When I take a first meeting with corporate executives, professional firm partners or non-profit executives, they almost always start our conversations with the same comment. “We’re the best kept secret in town,” they say.

Most of these decision makers usually have tried one solution or another to gain attention. They have rebuilt their websites. They have engaged Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists. They have pursued publicity. They have instructed their in-house colleagues to network. In each case, these organizations have pursued one strategy or another, perhaps responding to a contractor’s pitch or after reading the latest advice available on the Internet. Yet the end result has delivered little or no change to their invisibility.

The problem is that one approach in isolation is not enough to promote a brand or its identity. Public relations and marketing campaigns are successful when they are engaged as an interactive process, combining multiple approaches to achieve recognition.

The first step to take is to identify your audience. Who are your clients, customers or donors? Next, identify the most effective means of reaching them. Will they respond to publicity, to interactive media, to a better website, to community outreach?

Once you have answered these questions, meet with a public relations and marketing specialist whose professional tool box offers a variety of services that can simultaneously meet your communications needs. Branding support, media relations, social media strategies, website content, community relations and special events are among the many tools that can build a successful campaign.

Next, determine the core messages that distinguish your brand. Who are you, what do you do and why should anyone care? Build a unified approach to emphasizing those core messages and integrate them into your communications approach.

Recognition begins when your target audience sees your brand messages often enough to remember them. The key to overcoming invisibility is being seen.

In the aftermath of the worst anti-Semitic attack ever in the United States, hundreds of Miami residents will gather for an interfaith vigil at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach on Tuesday, October 30, beginning at 6 p.m.Their message will be to “Stand Up to Anti-Semitism, Stand Up to Hate”to prevent tragedies like Saturday’s fatal mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The Vigil is co-sponsored by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, its Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, the Consulate of Israel in Miami, and the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) and the City of Miami Beach. It has been organized as an event focused on prayer and community solidarity.

Eleven worshipers were killed and six persons were injured on Saturday morning when a lone gunman sprayed automatic weapons fire into a Shabbatservice at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. The ADL has reported that the number of anti-Semitic incidents throughout the United States was nearly 60% higher in 2017 than in 2016, a record, single-year increase.

For more information, please call the JCRC at 786-866-8486 or visit JewishMiami.org/solidarityvigil

 

As utility companies work to restore electrical power and communications services in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation is partnering with the Jewish and general communities to assess the needs of our local residents, mobilize volunteers and allocate other resources where they are needed most.

Hurricane Relief Donations

Federation has established an emergency relief fund to support urgent needs in the Jewish and general communities in the wake of Hurricane Irma. One hundred percent of all contributions to this fund will be directed to our community’s collective response to this emergency.

Those wishing to make online donations to this emergency relief fund should visit JewishMiami.org/irma. Donation checks with the notation “Hurricane Irma Relief Fund” should be mailed to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida 33137. You may also call 305.576.4000 for assistance.

Calling All Volunteers

If you wish to volunteer to help those affected by the storm, please contact the Jewish Volunteer Center (JVC) of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation at 877.879.5652 and follow the prompts. You also can send an email to IrmaVolunteers@gmjf.org. Leave your name and contact information, and someone will contact you.

Identifying Those in Need

If you or someone you know needs assistance, please call the Jewish community’s 24-hour helpline, 305.576.6550, operated by Federation’s local partner agency, Jewish Community Services of South Florida. If you are unable to reach someone at that number, call Federation’s emergency hotline at 877.879.5652 and follow the prompts. A representative will return your call as soon as possible.

Available Resources

Federation is providing an ongoing list of available resources in the Jewish community – including the opening and closing of certain institutions. Access this list at JewishMiami.org/irmaresources.This list will be updated as new information becomes available. If you have questions about a specific facility, please contact that facility directly.

Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired will give an audience of civic leaders and community philanthropists a glimpse into the future during the grand opening ceremony for its new Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ and dedication of its Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer Campus. The grand opening and dedication will take place on Wednesday, August 16, beginning at 11 a.m. at Miami Lighthouse, located at 601 Southwest 8^th Avenue, Miami.

In addition to celebrating the opening of the new 72,000-square-foot Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™, the event will feature an exhibition of cutting-edge devices, software and technologies designed to assist the visually challenged. Jorge Hernandez, Computer Technology Services Instructor, and John Garcia, Manager of Vision Solutions, will feature new and exciting technology available for the blind and visually impaired, such as, braille-to-audio teaching equipment, the latest in digital print magnification devices, computer speech applications, and Apple computer products, including accessible IPads.

Speakers at the Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ grand opening ceremony will include City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, and President & CEO of The Children’s Trust James Haj. Miami Lighthouse’s Early Intervention Blind Babies Program was named the 2016 Program of the Year by the Children’s Trust. This most prestigious award recognizes Miami Lighthouse’s Early Intervention Program, in particular, for including parents as teachers. Representatives from MCM and the architectural firm of Wolfberg Alvarez Partners will also participate in the dedication ceremony along with financial supporters of the project and Miami Lighthouse Board Directors. The event will also feature musical performances by Pre-Kindergarten and schoolchildren participating in Miami Lighthouse’s nationally acclaimed Music Program.

The Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ will accommodate the expansion of Florida’s first-of-its-kind fully inclusive pre-kindergarten for visually impaired students and their sighted peers. Miami Lighthouse piloted this unique Pre-Kindergarten with 15 students in 2016/2017 in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Early Learning Coalition, to more easily transition blind and visually impaired students to public schools. For academic year 2017-2018, 40 visually impaired and sighted children ages one to four are enrolled with the capacity to expand to 100 children. All classrooms will follow the inclusion model (50 percent students with and 50 percent without visual impairment).

Miami Lighthouse was established in 1931 and has been providing services to the blind from nearly the same location.  With the completion of the Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™, the facility has grown into a 115,000-square-foot landmark. Today Miami Lighthouse is recognized as a national center of excellence in vision rehabilitation that serves more than 14,000 program participants annually with an array of programs that enable blind and visually impaired persons of all ages to achieve independence.

For more information about Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, visit www.miamilighthouse.org

In aftermath of relentless flooding that has devastated southern Louisiana, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation is joining Jewish Federations across North America to raise funds and respond to urgent needs both in distressed communities surrounding Baton Rouge.

Following severe storms in Southern Louisiana, rising waters have killed at least 13 people, destroyed countless homes and forced tens of thousands to flee for their lives.

One hundred percent of all contributions to this fund will be directed through The Jewish Federations of North America to support Baton Rouge Flood Relief. Those wishing to contribute to the relief fund can do so on the Internet by visiting http://www.JewishMiami.org. Checks also can be mailed payable to Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida 33137. Please note “Baton Rouge Flood Relief” in the memo area of each check.

For more information about donating to Federation’s Baton Rouge Flood Relief fund, call 305-576-4000.