Challenge: Our Food Future, a city-run initiative to build a circular food economy in Guelph-Wellington, was preparing to launch The Guelph-Wellington Charter for Food Justice—an important tool in creating a more equitable food system. To realize this potential, however, it needed community support—which required a concerted communications campaign.

Solution: I helped the team get clear on who their audience was—and the information they needed to sign the Charter. We dug deep to find answers to obvious questions, like: What is a food charter? What is food justice? And how can signing the food charter transform our entire food system?

With that key messaging in hand, we built out a Change.org petition, landing page, direct mail campaign, a social media calendar and social media posts designed to drive those messages home—and inspire people to sign on.

Outcome: In one month, we acquired 125 individual signatures and 10 organizational supporters.