Inside AGC Chapter Corner
September/October 2007

Chapter Public Relations Award Winners

AGC chapters shine in local communities

Each year, the Associated General Contractors of America presents Chapter Public Relations Awards to chapters that best represent the industry through their PR campaigns. This year's winners were:

Alabama AGC recently implemented a campaign to attract a ready pool of labor for members and brand AGC as a trustworthy source of excellent jobs for Hispanics.

As part of the ongoing campaign, the chapter offered free OSHA 10-Hour classes in Spanish, placed ads on Spanish radio, participated in Spanish television interviews, created bilingual recruiting brochures and created a newspaper, El Constructor. The chapter also created an AGC Craftworker Affiliate designation so that craftsmen can affiliate themselves with the Alabama AGC to seek employment in the industry more easily.

As a result of the campaign, the chapter has had more inquiries from Hispanic craftworkers and high school teachers asking for classroom presentations.

AGC of Greater Florida recently began a two-part campaign to revitalize a desperately ailing chapter and herald the value of membership through aggressive PR.

"Our goal was to communicate that staff are making data-based decisions and will rely on statistics to evaluate performance," said Bill Spann, AGC of Greater Florida's executive vice president. "We communicated a consistent, positive and independently verifiable message across multiple venues: 'We're back and we are successful!'"

The chapter utilized peer-to-peer communication, e-mail, newsletters, a quarterly magazine, the Web site and media outreach to highlight the turn-around, resulting in a 71% increase in membership, and media coverage in outlets, including the Associated Press, Tallahassee Democrat and Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Best Community Service Program

Idaho AGC

Idaho AGC received the Best Community Service Program award for its home-building project in which the chapter's Young Constructors Forum teamed up with Habitat for Humanity International's Operation Home Delivery to build a home for a displaced musician in New Orleans.

Three months of planning, combined with member donations for volunteer and building expenses, ensured that the week-long project was a success. The project made an impact on the lives of the future homeowner and opened the eyes of the participants about the extent of damage that remains in the region. Members and the community alike were excited about the project, which received coverage in both New Orleans and Idaho, including several articles in the Idaho Business Review.

Best Construction Futures Program

Nevada Chapter AGC

The Nevada Chapter AGC led the campaign to find and prepare a new, larger facility for the growing waiting list of students at the Charter School for Career Education, the ACE Charter High School. Members found a facility and led a coalition to pay for and retrofit the building in 90 days.

Seeing another opportunity to highlight construction education, the chapter created a video of the entire construction process for use in the ACE High School radio campaign, which promoted the charter school and the construction industry as a great place to work. The new building and campaign has allowed the student population to grow from 80 to 180, with a capacity of 260 students.

Best Infrastructure Awareness Campaign

AGC of Minnesota

AGC of Minnesota was instrumental in organizing and leading the VOTE YES campaign, which brought together a coalition of more than 1,200 organizations dedicated to enacting Minnesota's 2006 Transportation Amendment.

The coalition, called Minnesotans for Better Roads and Transit, ran a 20-month, $3.5-million campaign that packaged a complex policy issue into a clear message with a compelling call to action. Paid television ads, multiple speaking events, a series of targeted and coordinated statewide billboards, published letters to the editor and earned media coverage were successful in spreading the message to the general population. The hard work paid off when the amendment prevailed 57 to 42%.

AGC's Chapter PR Awards applications are due by Dec. 6, 2007. Call Carla Julian at 703-837-5348, lianc@agc.org.