New York State Community Commission on Reparation Remedies
In January 2025, LáLew Public Relations was engaged to manage and promote the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies public hearing in Rochester, NY, taking place in March 2025.
The New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (NYSCCRR) was established by bill S.1163-A/A.7691 signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on December 19, 2023. The nine commissioners appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie, are tasked with examining the legacy of slavery, subsequent discrimination against people of African descent and the impact these forces continue to have in the present day.
Our role included leveraging targeted media outreach with captivating storytelling to maximize exposure and create buzz around the public meeting. We provided project management expertise by planning, organizing and facilitating weekly planning meetings, creating the public meeting agenda, overseeing consultant coordination and offering on-site support to ensure a seamless event.
We additionally provided earned media support with press release/media alert development and distribution, tailored pitching and interview coordination. This was accompanied by a paid media campaign consisting of digital, print, social media and radio ads, and execution of a social media strategy complete with content creation, scheduling and posting.
Our efforts generated 18 media placements including the Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester Business Journal, WDKX, WHEC News 10 NBC, MSN and Spectrum News Rochester. We additionally earned in-person event coverage from 6 media outlets including WROC-TV, WHAM 13 News and WXXI News. Paid ads were run in 6 different outlets across digital, print, social and radio including 585 Magazine and The Challenger Newspaper. On social media, our campaign generated over 3K impressions and 1.6K user reach. These successes resulted in record attendance numbers with 572 attendees total, including significant elected officials such as Rochester City Council President Miguel Melendez, Councilman Michael Patterson, Assemblymember Demond Meeks and representatives on behalf of Governor Kathy Hochul.
Following the success of the public hearing in Rochester, LáLew was contracted once again to provide the same services for the next NYSCCRR public hearing taking place in Bronx, NY (Co-op City) in April 2025. We implemented the same earned, paid and social media strategy to drive comparable engagement in the Bronx.
Our efforts generated coverage in publications including The Bronx Times, PoliticsNY and New York Amsterdam News. Our paid ad campaign spanned digital, print and radio channels including City & State, New York Daily News and Power 105.1. On social media, our campaign increased reach on NYSCCRR accounts by over 8.7K%.
