Executive Summary While homeownership in the United States has never been all-inclusive and homelessness nonexistent,
residents are starting to experience the unexpected: Homelessness is increasing, and homeownership is
decreasing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States experienced a homeownership rate
of 64.8 percent in 2014, which is the lowest rate of homeownership in the United States since 1995
when it was 64.2 percent. Likewise, more than half a million people in the U.S. do not have a home, a
quarter of whom are children. In addition, the recent economic crisis in 2008 has caused the “American Dream” of homeownership to
decline. Families, especially among millennial-aged people, are struggling to live in quality homes and
communities, find affordable rent, become homeowners, and go astray from homelessness. Essentially,
they have lost ownership of their lives. Bateman team “Operation: Owning the Dream” sought to help people regain ownership by targeting
Western Kentucky University students, focusing on student leaders and activists whom are
predominantly millennials (18 to 27). Operation found its primary audience after discovering that although 94 percent of WKU students
wanted to become a homeowner in the future, only 48 percent identified that they were familiar with
how to do it. Furthermore, 99 percent were unaware of programs that could teach them the proper steps
they should take. For that reason, Operation decided to target millennial students at WKU by informing them on how to
become future homeowners of existing organizations with home as their central concern and why home
should be a reality for all. The objectives Operation strove to meet during our 28-day campaign period are: to raise awareness for
WKU students on the homeownership processes and programs by 10 percent before the end of February;
to raise awareness about Home Matters among WKU students from 2 percent to 20 percent; and to raise
awareness about homelessness and housing conditions in Kentucky and Bowling Green among WKU
students by 10 percent combined. Operation: Owning the Dream invites you to continue reading to learn more about our Bateman project
campaign plan. The Blue Print (Situational Analysis)
Homeownership has become one of the biggest aspects of the American Dream and Operation: Owning
the Dream is teaming together to address that issue. According to Home Matters, homeownership
provides five benefits to the homeowner. These improved benefits are health, education, personal
success, public safety and economic. Over the next 10 years, Home Matters wants to decrease homelessness, increase affordable rent,
increase homeownership and increase quality of homes and communities. Home Matters plans to
accomplish this in three primary areas: housing, community and economic development; education; and
learning. At the same time, they strategize on raising funds and increasing investments to make
homeownership an actual reality for all Americans by collaborating with organizations and industries. Operation: Owning the Dream’s mission is to accomplish these goals by connecting our local Bowling
Green, Ky., audience or millennial-aged WKU students to the national Home Matters movement of
making home a reality for all. Our Situation Western Kentucky University located in Bowling Green, Ky., has an audience and a need for Home
Matters. With student debt topping $1 trillion, students are graduating with the possibility of
unemployment upon receiving their diplomas or a state of constant financial hardship due to the
immense amount of student debt. Nearly every freshman’s goal upon starting college is to live out the
American Dream. Of the students we surveyed, 91 percent indicated homeownership as part of their
American Dream and 87 percent said achieving the American Dream was important to them. To go to
college, get a degree, get a job, have a family and own a home is the dream and Operation: Owning the
Dream was founded to help students claim ownership of that dream. In 2009, 33.7 percent of residents living in Bowling Green had an income below the poverty level with
the average price of a home being $266,000. Yet, with 33.7 percent of the population living with income
below the poverty level, a $266,000 home makes the dream of homeownership impossible to achieve.
Raising awareness of these conditions in Bowling Green is a vital part of this campaign. Operation: Owning the Dream also became a Home Matters partner to raise awareness of homelessness
in Bowling Green, which has a rate of approximately 0.5 percent or 1 in 200 residents experiencing
homelessness. Operation found it crucial to get student leaders and organizations involved with the
homelessness situation in Bowling Green due to the community reliance on the help of the university,
which was established based on its location and large proportion of student residents. Through addressing the present need of homelessness prevention and subsequent need of
homeownership awareness of processes and programs, Operation built a campaign to improve our
Bowling Green community both now and later. Client Biography Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating insufficient housing and
homelessness conditions worldwide. The Western Kentucky University Chapter of Habitat for Humanity
extends philanthropic, cost-free labor to provide adequate affordable housing to residents of the Bowling
Green community. Primary Audience Operation: Owning the Dream chose student organizations and student leaders to be our primary target
audience because they are the change makers at the university. Millennial students are known as the
generation that wants to change the world, and Operation: Owning the Dream understood that student
organizations and leaders would be more likely to participate because they already exhibit traits of
activism. Since Western Kentucky University Greeks have a high-involvement in service and
philanthropy in the Bowling Green community, Operation: Owning the Dream found it appropriate to
use them as the nuts and bolts of our campaign. In addition, we knew that our relationship with the
Greek community could be mutually beneficial since a certain number of service hours are required to
be completed by each chapter member. Therefore, Operation could be the stepping stones to those
opportunities and incentives. Secondary Audience Operation: Owning the Dream chose the general student body at Western Kentucky University to be our
secondary audience due to the possibility of students not involved in organizations having interest in the
Home Matters movement. Secondary Research Before conducting the campaign, Operation: Owning the Dream gathered a variety of secondary
research. Operation wanted to build an understanding of the common beliefs and attitudes that are
associated with homelessness, renting, and homeownership, and how it connects to the national Home
Matters movement. We managed this research to better understand what to expect from our clients, and
how to raise awareness and change behavior. Some of our key findings in our secondary research were: ● 33.7 percent of residents in Bowling Green, Ky., have an income below the poverty level ● Women in Bowling Green experience more poverty than men ● In October 2014, the average price of a home in Bowling Green was $266,000 ● Millennial-aged individuals are renting more instead of buying due to the amenities that come
with renting (yard work, 24-hour maintenance, security, etc.) and the flexibility of renting ● On a scale from 1 to 50 with 1 being the best and 50 being the worst, Kentucky ranks 40th in the
number of homeless children and 46th in the percentage of children who are homeless Primary Research In order to hammer in on our target audiences for the campaign, Operation created an IRB-approved
survey that reached more than 200 students attending Western Kentucky University. The survey
consisted of 20 questions designed to determine the following: ● If students were familiar with programs like Home Matters ● How important homeownership was to students ● How aware students were of homelessness in the community The surveys were available online and in person. They were distributed at campus organizational
meetings and posted on social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter. Demographics ● 11 percent of respondents were male, 89 percent of respondents were female ● 99 percent of respondents were 18 to 25 years old ● 44 percent of respondents were renters ● 51 percent of respondents were living in residence halls ● 95 percent of respondents received their news from Social Media websites Homeownership Background ● 96 percent of respondents parent(s)/guardian(s) owned the home they lived in growing up ● 87 percent of respondents were interested in becoming homeowners in the future ● 3 percent of respondents were not interested in becoming homeowners in the future Awareness ●
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6 percent of respondents were very familiar with the process of becoming a homeowner 98 percent of respondents were not aware of Home Matters 91 percent of respondents believed homeownership is a part of the “American Dream” 52 percent of respondents described the homelessness and lack of adequate housing situation in
Bowling Green as moderate ● 48 percent of respondents described the homelessness and lack of adequate housing in the United
States as moderate Key Messages The
1. Improving housing conditions and ending homelessness improves communities
The foundation of the Home Matters movement is improving housing conditions and homelessness to
promote safer, healthier, more educated communities. Therefore, Operation planned to raise awareness
of the effects of secure housing on communities as a whole. 2. Homelessness and housing issues are a problem in the community
Our preliminary survey indicated that students did not believe homelessness and housing issues were a
severe problem in the community. Thus, Operation designed our campaign to make them aware of the
issues on a local level. 3. It is easy to get involved with homelessness and housing issues
While it is important to raise awareness of homelessness, the lack of adequate housing in the community
and homeownership processes and programs, the reconstruction of these societal problems will never
change without activism. So, Operation constructed a campaign to increase volunteerism and civic
engagement among WKU students and organizations. Framework Organizational Goal: The organizational goal is to raise awareness about homelessness, housing and
Home Matters among millennials. Objective 1: Raise awareness of millennial students on the homeownership processes and programs by
10 percent combined before the end of February. Rationale: Displaying information about homeownership processes and programs for WKU student
leaders will help engage our audience since more than 87 percent of the students surveyed were very
interested in becoming a homeowner, but only 6 percent were very familiar with how to do so, as well
as help to create an audience of informed homeowners. Strategy 1: Build awareness among the WKU student leaders of programs that address the processes of
becoming a homeowner.
Tactics: 1. Posters on Campus: Hung posters around campus in heavily trafficked academic buildings and
residential halls with Home Matters’ logo and graphics advertising the workshop. Posters are a
large part of WKUs academic and residential buildings. We designed our posters with Home
Matters’ signature orange-color and bright, attractive designs to stand out against other posters.
The posters included the Home Matters, PRSSA, and Habitat for Humanity logos to raise
awareness for all organizations.
2.
The Greek Community: Targeted the Greek community with invitations, one-on-one meetings,
service-hour opportunities and Programming Points for WKU Greek Week. We gave the Greek
community plenty of incentive to participate in our events as the Greeks are regarded as campus
leaders. Greek students are also required to complete service hours for their respective
organizations.
3.
Campus Organization Involvement: Invited the WKU chapter of Habitat for Humanity to
participate in the workshop and had guest speaker Jay Todd Richey from the Student Coalition
for Renters’ Rights speak about renting conditions in Kentucky to increase student involvement
with campus organizations. Jay Todd Richey is a well-known campus leader and founded the
Student Coalition for Renters’ Rights, which has worked closely with the Kentucky legislation.
Richey also serves as a Student Government Association Senator and is an influential leader for
the WKU community.
Strategy 2: Expand awareness of homeownership processes among the WKU student body. Tactics: 1. Social Media Posts: Constructed profiles for our Bateman team under the name “Operation:
WKU Home Matters” and invited members of the WKU student body to like the page. We
shared information and news articles about homeownership in Kentucky and across the nation.
2.
Social Media Quizzes: With the rise of Buzzfeed and other interactive websites, we used
quizzes to get students involved with housing issues in a format they were familiar with. We
posted interactive quizzes and media to social media sites to engage students in homeownership
processes and increase interest.
Objective 1 Outcome: Exceeded! By comparing Operation’s initial survey to our final survey, the percentage of students who were very
familiar with homeownership processes increased from 6 percent to 11 percent. The percentage of
students who were aware of homeownership programs went from 0 percent to 8 percent. Combined,
Operation was able to raise awareness of millennial students on the homeownership processes and
programs by 13 percent, which exceeded our objective by 3 percent! Objective 2: Raise awareness about Home Matters from 2 percent to 20 percent by the end of February. Rationale: Since Operation: Owning the Dream campaign was only for one month, we wanted to
create effects that lasted far beyond one month. By increasing awareness of Home Matters and its
mission to WKU students and organizations, Operation showcased how already existing organizations
can fit and work together under Home Matters’ mission and achieve a common ground. Strategy 1: Reinforced Home Matter's key messages through consistent communication with WKU
students. Tactics: 1. Social Media Engagement: On our social media pages, Operation targeted attendees of the
event, Greek organizations and other students with engaging questions about their ideas on the
American Dream. For example, we asked students, “What does home mean to you?” and to
tweet their responses using our handle and hashtag.
2.
Campaign Materials: All of our materials, including fliers, social media posts and layout,
posters, pledge cards and presentations were created with consistent designs. Consistent use of
organization logos, colors and designs helped our materials become more recognizable.
3.
Fliers: We created fliers that emphasized the importance of housing and included the logos for
Home Matters, PRSSA and Habitat for Humanity. Our fliers included the topics that we intended
to target at our Home Matters workshop series so that students could see our key messages.
4.
Press Releases: In order to spread our message to campus media, Operation constructed press
releases about our campaign, campaign events and pitched them to the WKU newspaper, The
Herald. The release was subsequently featured as a story in The Herald.
5.
Video Series: Designed a four-part video series to share on social media that discussed Home
Matters, the WKU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, our workshop and Student Coalition for
Renters’ Rights. We invited the founder and president of the Student Coalition for Renters’
Rights, Jay Todd Richey, and the president of the WKU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, to
speak in a short video about what housing means to communities and students. These videos
helped raise awareness about our campaign, housing conditions and homelessness in our
community.
Strategy 2: Incorporated Home Matters movement into existing organizations, events and places. Tactics: 1. Materials for Student Organizations: Approached and spoke to WKU Greek organizations and
Habitat for Humanity at their weekly chapter and executive meetings. At these meetings,
Operation furnished fliers and information about our campaign and how they can get involved
with Operation: WKU. These meetings gave us a captive audience of campus leaders who are
passionate about creating change.
2.
Branded Promotions: Distributed candy with slips of paper attached that gave information
about our social media platforms, key messages and hashtag, #OpOwnIt. These promotions
helped raise awareness of the Home Matters and Operation: WKU mission, as well as
encouraged students to like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and use our hashtag to
engage and build dialogue.
3.
Engaging Campus Organizations: Because of our efforts in involving the Habitat for
Humanity and the Student Coalition for Renters’ Rights with the Home Matters movement, these
two organizations began to work together. Operation welded a bond between the two
organizations that allowed them to cross-promote their events and efforts as well as our own.
Two organizations are currently working together to change legislation on renters’ rights in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Objective 2 Outcome: Exceeded! By comparing Operation’s initial survey to our final survey, the percentage of WKU students that were
aware of Home Matters and its mission went from 2 percent to 26 percent, which exceeded our objective
by 6 percent! Objective 3: Engaged more than 200 students on the severity of homelessness and housing conditions in
Kentucky and Bowling Green by the end of February. Rationale: On a scale from 1 to 50 with 1 being the best and 50 being the worst, Kentucky
ranks 40th in the number of homeless children and 46th in the percentage of children who are
homeless. Although Kentucky has such high rates of homelessness among children, only 13
percent of WKU student’s survey described the homelessness and lack of adequate housing
situation as severe. Strategy 1: Encourage WKU organizations to adopt the organizational goal and develop their own
initiatives. Tactics: 1. Panhellenic Involvement: Presented the topic of housing conditions to the Greek Panhellenic
board. After already establishing two types of incentives for Greek members to attend our
workshop such as the Greek Week Programming Points and a service-hour opportunity,
Operation attended the biweekly Panhellenic meeting to discuss the details of Home Matters and
our upcoming workshop. Therefore, Operation was able to spread knowledge of Home Matters
and give insight from our workshop on homelessness and lack of adequate housing in Kentucky
to more than 85 WKU Greek members.
2. Habitat for Humanity Meetings: Presented the topic of housing conditions to the WKU
Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The WKU Chapter meets the first Tuesday of every month, so
Operation attended the meeting on February 3 to discuss Home Matters and the upcoming
workshop on homelessness and lack of adequate housing in Kentucky to more than 30 Habitat
for Humanity members. As a result, Operation was able to discuss the topics of homelessness
and lack of adequate housing in Kentucky, as well as Home Matters and its mission by speaking
at the monthly meeting.
3. Involving Greek Philanthropy: Met with fraternity and sorority philanthropy and service chairs
to discuss service opportunities and upcoming workshop. Operation met one on one with Omega
Phi Alpha, Phi Mu, Alpha Tau Omega, Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Gamma Delta to discuss Home
Matters and its mission, as well as discuss the contents of our workshop. In doing so, Operation
was able to secure approval for service hours for members and put our workshop in their weekly
notes. Thus, we were able to reach all the active members of these Greek chapters, which is
approximately 400.
Strategy 2: Informed students of the local poverty and homelessness in Kentucky and Bowling Green
and the effects on the community. Tactics: 1. Social Media Statistics: Posted statistics on social media accounts about Kentucky and Bowling
Green homelessness and lack of adequate housing. Statistics included secondary research we
found and Home Matters information.
2. Homelessness on Social Media: Posted local and current news media on homelessness in
Kentucky and Bowling Green. The posts contained both videos and news stories in Bowling
Green or South Central Kentucky and discussed the current homelessness count and how the
homeless were being affected by extreme winter weather.
3. Involving Opinion Leaders: Invited local opinion leaders and organizations to speak on
Kentucky’s and Bowling Green’s homelessness situation. This included the founder and chair for
the Student Coalition for Renters’ Rights, Jay Todd Richey. We also had the WKU Chapter for
Habitat for Humanity attend our workshop to discuss upcoming volunteer opportunities.
4. Incentivizing Workshops: Installed incentives for students to attend workshop. Incentives
included a mix collection of candy, a service-hour opportunity for fraternity or sorority and
Greek week programming points. As part of Greek Week, sororities and fraternities compete
against each other throughout the year to earn points by having 50 percent of its sorority or
fraternity attend selected events. This year, Operation: Owning the Dream’s workshop was
selected as one of those programs.
5. Home Matters Workshop: Hosted a workshop that presented information about homelessness
and housing conditions through a PowerPoint, as well as lead an activity on income inequality
called “The Stack of the Deck.” The PowerPoint included factual information on homelessness
and the lack of adequate housing in Kentucky, and it played on repeat while students sat and
waited for the workshop to begin. The Stack of the Deck activity was a demonstration that
engaged the audience by having three volunteers play out certain scenarios based on life chances
and used cards to represent how some individuals can be born privileged or into poverty based
on external factors.
6. Home Matters PSA: Featured a PSA on Home Matters and Operation: Owning the Dream to be
broadcasted through the local news station, WBKO. The PSA had two versions, 30 second and
60 second, in order to maximize air time. The PSA contained information on Home Matters,
Operation: Owning the Dream, the WKU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity and social media
platforms, handles and hashtags.
7. Habitat for Humanity ReStore: Posted photos collected during the Habitat for Humanity
ReStore Day and our workshop. The photos from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore Day
captured a volunteer opportunity for Habitat members to partake. In capturing this and
interviewing volunteers, Operation was able to post an album of photos that told a story and
reached our audience in effort to spread the Home Matters movement and encourage activism.
The photos from our workshop was used to give our campaign humanistic qualities and spread
our message on the current conditions of housing in Kentucky to an audience larger than the one
present during the workshop through the sharing on social media.(Blake/Alyson)
Objective 3 Outcome: Exceeded! During the Panhellenic meeting, Operation was able to speak about Home Matters and the current
housing conditions to more than 80 students. Approximately 60 students attended the workshop on
homelessness and housing conditions. More than 30 Habitat for Humanity was in attendance during the
presentation at their chapter meeting. Then, Operation had more than 100 likes on Facebook, which gave
those people daily updates on housing conditions. Altogether, Operation: Owning the Dream was able to
engage with more than 250 students on the severity of homelessness and housing conditions in
Kentucky and Bowling Green by the end of February. Budget Personal Expenses: ● Workshop materials: $3.18 ● Incentives (Candy): $43.25 ● Printing: $20 ● Postage for Thank You: $0.49 ● Total: $66.92 In-kind donations: ● Video Production: $800 ● Photography for workshop: $75 ● Printing: $50 ● Total: $925 Challenge & Opportunity Kentucky declared a State of Emergency on February 16 due to inclement winter weather conditions.
The timing of this declaration fell within the third week of our four-week campaign plan. Western
Kentucky University completely shut down all university facilities for the entire week of February 16
through 20. Given the inoperable state of WKU, we were forced to cancel our second workshop event
and were unable to reschedule due to the two-week notice for reserving rooms. This challenge presented us an opportunity to pursue our original objectives but in a different manner.
Since hosting an event with our target audiences was not an option, we began engaging with students on
social media. In addition to a complete university shutdown, the largest residence hall on campus,
Pearce Ford Tower (PFT), experienced electrical outages and unexpectedly forced 635 residents to
relocate for two nights. Knowing the breadth of students that were being affected by this evacuation,
Operation began to Tweet at PFT residents on Twitter using keyword searches and invited them to
engage in our digital conversation. We saw this as relevant and tactical since these students were
essentially experiencing temporary homelessness. Conclusion This campaign successfully engaged our target audience to regain ownership over their lives!
Using consistent messages throughout our campaign, Operation was able to impact our student audience
in Bowling Green. Based on our post-evaluation, 15 percent of the WKU students surveyed were either
very familiar or somewhat familiar with Operation: Owning the Dream. The team’s efforts and
collaborations encouraged awareness, service and activism in effort to make home a reality for all. Impact By attending organizational meetings and hosting a workshop, Operation was able to engage face to face
with more than 150 active WKU student leaders to create conversation about Home Matters. Through
the use of our social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook, Operation was able to engage more than
100 WKU students with information on how to become a homeowner and programs to help, upcoming
events and current conditions of housing in Kentucky. Through our video series, we were able to reach
more than 5,000 individuals through social media to spread the Home Matters mission outside of the
WKU student body to gain more general awareness and support. Overall, Operation was able to register
more than 50 students as Home Matters partner and possibly more since we were unable to track those
whom registered through social media. Operation was also able to create a long-term partnership of one
organization, WKU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, with Home Matters. Sustainability Through establishing strong collaboration with the WKU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Greek
organizations and Student Coalition for Renters’ Rights, Operation was able to both connect student
leaders with existing organization, but also connect existing organization with parallel goals to each
other. In fact, currently, the WKU chapter of Habitat for Humanity and Student Coalition for Renters’
Rights are collaborating with Kentucky legislators to extend more rights to tenants in rental properties.
With this type of activism, Operation: Owning the Dream’s efforts will long surpass its campaign.