[PAO] The American Red Cross Versus Civil Air Patrol Public Relations

[Jeff Carlson, Grp 5 HQ]

Ken,
NHQ has its own insight to ARC.  CAP's National Public Affairs Manager, Lt
Col Steven Solomon, is also a Red Cross Public Affairs team member.

The ARC organization has its own struggles. Finding the right balance
between a consistent message controlled by higher headquarters and meeting
the needs of the community served by the local chapter is very difficult.
Recent changes at ARC have resulted in manpower reduction. The consolidation
of management has eliminated much of the local autonomy that you imagine to
be in place.  As the responsibility moves further up the chain, it gets more
removed from the local level.  The resulting messages becomes more
homogenized.  

In this instance, Civil Air Patrol has greater autonomy than Red Cross.  The
local CAP unit can manage its own public affairs program and produce stories
locally. Many Red Cross chapters are now required to run their stories
through approval at a regional and sometimes national level.  Most Red Cross
regions have paid staff to handle marketing, public
relations/communications.  A lot of states have more than one region.

In contrast, there is a half of a handful of paid staff at CAP/NHQ that must
handle the internal and external PA duties for CAP NHQ. They are an
extremely talented staff in their public relations duties, though I find
them to be overwhelmed with the task of leading 1500+ volunteer PAOs. The
CAP PA program needs to become more effective with growing the skills of its
personnel and to develop members who understand the PR process and have
leadership skills needed to fill the positions at Group, Wing, Region and
national levels.

I congratulate you for your sincere interest to see the CAP PA program
thrive. I am sorry that your initial taste of the program left a sour note.
There are many talented people who are trying to improve the effectiveness
of CAP PA, it is a work in progress. The current CAP environment does not
openly embrace criticism and so your critical remarks may seem to fall on
deaf ears.  I say a little prayer each night for an environment of improved
open-communication.

It has been my great fortune to view the CAP PA program from a region, wing,
group and squadron level. I have been inspired by champions and driven to
despair in finding human resources that have fallen through the cracks or
left to wither on the vine.  I wish I could easily share with you all that I
have learned so that you could have a better understanding of the challenges
faced by the CAP PA program.  You must make your own journey.

Regardless of your current duty position, you can contribute to the success
of the CAP PA program.  The pipeline needs a constant supply of content.
Photos, video clips, bits of information, interview excerpts, information of
coming events, the list is endless. It is more than one person can
successfully handle. You can assist your unit PAO by helping to gather this
content or assist in other ways.  You can make a difference once you find
how your skill set best fits the need that is present in your unit. Think
global, act local.  Please feel free to contact me if you have a question
about what you can do to help.

Regards,

Maj Jeffrey P Carlson, CAP
Florida Wing Group 5 HQ Public Affairs Officer
(C) 941.228.4254
Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
gocivilairpatrol.com
flwg.us/FL370.aspx




-----Original Message-----
From: Ken [mailto:rfinder1 at charter.net] 
Sent: Saturday, October 03, 2015 8:41 PM
To: jcarlson at flwg.us; CAP Public Affairs Officers
Subject: Re: [PAO] The American Red Cross Versus Civil Air Patrol Public
Relations

Thank you very much for the explanation about the Red Cross.  I do recognize
that their brand/image is extremely strong and surely I would think that
since every chapter basically is autonomous to the National Red Cross, they
have a lot of latitude in what they can do, BUT because of the need to fund
raise do need to have a paid professional involved with public
relations/fund raising since they wouldn't exit without the general public
and the private sector contributing!

I think CAP can learn a lot by observing the way the Red Cross goes 
about doing its' PR work!   (You could probably provide good insight to 
National on how they ARC is so successful).

Thanks again!!!

Ken
Former PAO

On 10/3/2015 4:00 PM, Jeff Carlson, Grp 5 HQ wrote:
>   snip..snip..
> As far as comparing CAP and ARC... I voluntarily serve as  both a CAP 
> PAO/PIO and as a member of the Red Cross Public Affairs team.  The 
> reality is that CAP public affairs does not have the same resources as 
> ARC public affairs.  ARC has hundreds of paid staff members and much 
> larger budget.  It is not a fair comparison.  The Red Cross has one of 
> the strongest brand images on the globe, while CAP is huffing and 
> puffing to develop a brand and gain a foothold.  That being said, 
> there are numerous best practices that CAP could borrow from ARC.
>
> What Ken doesn't seem to realize is that this email listserv is from a 
> bygone era that has seen minimal activity in recent years.  His voice 
> is only carried so far, though I am certain his comments have been 
> received by members of the national PA team.  The unofficial Official 
> CAP Public Affairs Facebook group 
> https://www.facebook.com/groups/4305419935/  is where the action is these
days.
>
> If Ken wants to shout at the wind, let him do it. The typing will keep 
> his fingers nimble and the release of frustration is the only 
> satisfaction he'll ever get from his efforts expended in this 
> direction. If you don't want to read it, use the delete key.
>
> Howl away, Ken!
>
> Maj Jeffrey P Carlson, CAP
> Public Affairs Officer
>
>
>