Source: Nancy Muturi, 785-532-3890, nmuturi@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Danielle English, dme@k-state.edu
Thursday, May 1, 2008
K-STATE PUBLIC RELATIONS CLASS KICKS OFF CAMPAIGN FOR HIV/AIDS AWARENESS
MANHATTAN -- Did you know AIDS affects Kansas communities? According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, there were 1,471 people in Kansas living with the disease in 2004.
Public relations students at Kansas State University have been collaborating with the Regional AIDS Project of Manhattan to launch a new campaign to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Riley and Geary counties. The campaign will be officially launched at 7 p.m. Monday, May 5, at Auntie Mae's Parlor, 614 N. 12th St. in Aggieville.
After a semester of working with their client, the students will present their research and action plans to the Regional AIDS Project staff.
The students are members of a public relations campaigns class led by Nancy Muturi, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, that has an emphasis on community service learning. By working with a local nonprofit agency, the students learn about real-life applications of tactics and strategies learned in class. Both students and the client benefit from the experience because the students can provide their fresh and new ideas to the client in a real-world public relations campaign, Muturi said.
The class has designed a new logo, brochures, fliers and public service announcements about the Regional Aids Project as part of community outreach efforts. The Regional AIDS Project will use the materials in future campaigns. The class also redesigned the project's Web site.
The class is one of several collaborators for the Health Literacy Community Engagement project offered by K-State's A.Q. Miller School of Journalism. Other collaborators are the Huck Boyd Center for Community Media, Geary Country Research and Extension and the Regional AIDS Project. The students' project is being supported by K-State's Center for Engagement and Community Development and a Tilford grant to Muturi.
The two-year community engagement project began this semester, first focusing on African-American women. AIDS is the No. 1 killer of African-American women age 25-34. In the fall 2008 semester, students will focus on Latino women. Latinos represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, but account for 19 percent of all AIDS cases.
"We tend to talk about AIDS only during the World AIDS Day, on Dec. 1, but our goal in this campaign is to let people know that this disease is with us every day and people should talk about it. That is one way of dealing with the stigma and to encourage HIV testing," Muturi said.
Part of the students' campaign was launched in early April with the "penny drive" fundraiser for the Regional AIDS Project. More than 18 area businesses are participating by having special penny jars on hand to collect donations. The money raised will be used by the Regional AIDS Project to provide public health information and to help people living with HIV/AIDS.
"I have enjoyed working with a class of K-State public relations students versus a firm primarily because of the broadened perspective. Each student represents a view as a community member, not only of Manhattan but of other communities, large and small," said Dominique Saunders-Matta, community organizer for the Regional AIDS Project.
"Working with the class has inspired a direction for the Regional AIDS Project that will hopefully raise awareness and accordingly nurture a more compassionate and rational understanding of a critical issue," Saunders-Matta said.
One of the things Isaac Madison, director of the Regional AIDS Project, said he has most enjoyed about working with the class is the energy the students have brought to working on a campaign for a very tough and controversial subject.
The goals of the Regional AIDS Project are to compassionately support those whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS, and to work toward the eradication of the disease, according to Madison. The project's office, in Suite 200B at 2601 Anderson Ave. in Manhattan, is a place anyone can turn to for more information about the disease or for anonymous support.
More information about the Regional AIDS Project is available by contacting Madison at 785-587-1999 or going online to http://www.rap-kan.org