School District and Crowdsource Social Media Startup Partner to Save District’s Future

Pittsburgh, PA- June 7, 2012 – In Pittsburgh, PA, as in much of the country, charter schools are a source of controversy. Many parents claim that charter schools improve their child’s educational opportunities while many education professionals and local communities claim that charter schools kill local public school districts. Sto-Rox school district is one of the districts feeling the pressure as charter schools attempt to diffuse the student population and the school’s funding. In fact, the addition of a new charter school puts the entire existence of the Sto-Rox school district in jeopardy.

After rejecting the application of a charter school in their district, Sto-Rox administration knew that the charter school would appeal at the state level, where a rejection has never been upheld in Pennsylvania. So Sto-Rox sought new ways to educate their district’s parents, retain students and raise awareness of the charter school process. That’s when they partnered with local Pittsburgh internet start-up Red Blue Voice.

Red Blue Voice is a crowd-sourced media outlet that provides media creation and distribution opportunities for organized groups as well as on a non-partisan issue-by-issue basis. Working with Sto-Rox administrators, Red Blue Voice developed a television commercial creative and distribution package. The commercial was then incorporated into Red Blue Voice’s crowd funding platform where concerned citizens and members of the Sto-Rox district could contribute in amounts as small as one dollar to the overall cost of a commercial run on local, targeted cable television channels.

The ad is currently up for funding and contributions are being collected to meet the cost of the first run of the commercial.The Red Blue Voice media platform provides benefits to the school district that can’t be matched. With a stretched budget, Sto-Rox, like most school districts, can’t afford to defer money away from educational activities and to media relations. That leaves the district at a disadvantage in spreading the word about the impact of charter schools and the benefits to both the child and the community of a public school education.

Through Red Blue Voice’s platform, Sto-Rox was able to produce and distribute media through the input of a concerned community.

To see the Sto-Rox television ad and learn more about Red Blue Voice, visit:https://www.redbluevoice.com/issueportals/sto-rox-school-district

Contact Information

Jocelyn Saurini

Director of Marketing

Red Blue Voice

(1) (412) 376-7284

jsaurini@redbluevoice.com