Maytree Conversations

Are you frustrated that your messages on immigration are not getting across?

Frank Sharry, Founder and Executive Director of America’s Voice, knows a little something about about both frustrations and successes in promoting positive immigration reform. According to Frank “Every Western industrialized nation faces the same issues of an aging society that needs migrants, a skeptical public and some hostile media. In supporting migrants, we do face formidable challenges but I’m still optimistic; we just have to focus on bringing together the needs of our societies and the aspirations of migrant families.”

Earlier this month, Frank spoke with Maytree’s President Ratna Omidvar at an evening event about how to change the channel on the immigration debate and create effective campaigns.

Watch Frank talk about:

• How you can cut through the clutter and harness the media as a tool for supporting immigration;
• How to position immigrants and refugees as nation builders;
• Proven strategies of activists in other countries that we can borrow and learn from; and
• How to create effective media campaigns.

A bit of background about Frank

Few people know the American immigration reform scene as well as Frank. He is a leading advocate on immigration issues in the United States. He is the Founder and Executive Director of America’s Voice, an organization dedicated to building both public support and political momentum for immigration reform. He founded America’s Voice in 2008 to strategically direct the way in which issues around immigration reform are communicated. Prior to that, he served as Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum for 17 years. The Forum, based in Washington D.C., is one of the nation’s premier immigration policy organizations, and has been at the center of every major legislative and policy debate related to immigration for the past quarter of a century.

An advocate for 11 million undocumented immigrants, he calls America’s Voice the “communications war room” for the immigration reform movement, an important tool in a discourse that is considered to be toxic and polarizing.

Related reads:

• Maytree’s election insights
• DiverseCity Voices
• The first rule of advocacy: don’t talk about advocacy. Until now.
• The Next Dream
• Visions of 2011

• Are you a visible minority, an Aboriginal person or someone from an under-represented immigrant community (and arrived in Canada as an adult)?
• Do you blog or have opinions and ideas to share?
• Are you interested in connecting with journalists?
• Maybe you want some media training?

DiverseCity Voices could be the opportunity you’re looking for.

More than a database, DiverseCity Voices is a tool which connects experts from diverse communities with media on a wide range of topics.

Signing on can help you:

• Get your message out to media
• Build profile and credibility
• Connect with new audiences
• Access media training by Media Profile, Canada’s largest public relations firm
• Attend skills development and networking events
• Become part of the Maytree Leadership Network

News media is listening

The news media is catching on to what we’ve always known: people from diverse communities can talk about much more than just multiculturalism and ethnically-designated months.

So far, we have tracked over 500 stories in which our members have appeared. There are currently over 125 journalists actively using the database and contacting members.

From newspapers such as the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star to broadcasters such as CBC and CTV, DiverseCity Voices candidates have been interviewed on a broad range of topics, including jobless rates, patriarchy and fundamentalism, LGBT opposition in schools, managing financial risk and events in the Arab world.

Success Stories

Toronto District School Board Vice Principal Gary Pieters has been interviewed by numerous media outlets including the Globe and Mail and Canoe Live. He commented on issues ranging from the G20 Summit, Afrocentric Schools to the VIA Rail strike. Here’s how DiverseCity Voices has helped.

Last year, Ravi Jain, Artistic Director of WhyNot Theatre was selected as one of the Toronto Star’s People to Watch. Here’s what he has to say about DiverseCity Voices.

Do you have something to say?

Start using DiverseCity Voices as a tool to amplify your voice in the media.

We’re nearing the end of our current recruitment phase so if you are interested, please sign on by March 21, 2011.

Some of the most creative problem-solving in Canada is going on in non-profit organizations. Why is it that the public seldom hears about these efforts?

In Maytree’s latest Five Good Ideas session, Toronto Star journalist Carol Goar attempts to explain why some of the best initiatives don’t show up on the radar screens of reporters, editors, broadcasters and producers. While she admits that the media are partly to blame, she also points out that so many non-profit leaders don’t understand why their efforts are not considered newsworthy or how journalists choose among the many stories competing for space and airtime.

Carol’s offers five good ideas to bridge across this communication gap.

1. Why is your message important to the public?
2. Journalists aren’t publicity agents.
3. Get to know who covers your sector.
4. Talk about the lives you’re changing and the difference you’re making.
5. Remember that reporters ask questions.

You can read Carol’s full speech here.

Or watch her presentation on YouTube.

For more information on the Five Good Ideas lunch-and-learn program, visit Maytree’s website.