Tag: pro bono

Hip Hop For Change’s 3rd Anniversary Show – April 2, 2016

Good people of the Bay Area, you know what you should be doing on Saturday, April 2? Joining us at the Uptown Nightclub in Oakland for HipHopForChange‘s 3rd Anniversary Show.

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The guest list for the big anniversary event includes:

  • Kev Choice
  • OPIO of Hieroglyphics
  • 2nd Floor Samurais
  • BPOS
  • Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist

And maybe a special guest or two will also make an appearance as we join together in celebration of the organization’s three year fight on the front lines of important cultural and social justice issues.

Who is HipHopForChange?

Photo of co-founder Khafre Jay, from HipHopForChange's Facebook page
Photo of co-founder Khafre Jay, from HipHopForChange’s Facebook page

Founded in Oakland by activist and local hip hop artist Khafre Jay in 2013, HipHopForChange works to counteract negative stereotypes too often portrayed within the mainstream media. The brand of hip hop widely celebrated within the music industry is of particular concern to the organization.

According to its founders, negative associations with hip hop culture play a role in criminalizing minorities and, in particular, young people. An unbalanced portrayal of the culture is largely depicted through music glorifying violence, sexism, materialism, drug abuse and a host of other negative images. HipHopForChange actively works to educate young people on the full, rich history of hip hop culture, including the much more diverse and positive role that it plays in society beyond mainstream music.

HipHopForChange further uses hip hop culture to actively address issues of misogyny, homophobia and other socio-economic injustices prevalent in everyday life. Working directly with young people at schools and within communities, the 501(c)3 organization also regularly showcases conscious hip hop artists at live events in an effort to spread messages of unity and social change.

From HipHopForChange's Facebook page
From HipHopForChange’s Facebook page

HipHopForChange has helped young, often disadvantaged, students draw upon hip hop’s influence to pen their own lyrics as a way to interpret and express their own realities. Educating young people on these issues and inviting them to lend their voices is why the organization also hosts fundraising events to support other local programs with similar agendas, as well as public discussions. HipHopForChange even canvasses the streets providing people with CDs, which deliver messages of equality and justice for all.

In just three years of organized activism, HipHopForChange has received awards from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the Bill Graham Foundation. More than 5,000 people have also given financial support to this most worthwhile non-profit through various fundraisers and through direct donations toward their CDs. Now, you can also show your support of their vision by attending the April 2nd anniversary party and cheering HipHopForChange on into the future!

HipHopForChange Anniversary Information and Tickets

Mark your calendars for the anniversary celebration which will be held on April 2 at 9p at the Uptown Nightclub located at 1928 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. Get your tickets right now through Eventbrite or contact us if you need more information. If you are a member of the media and would like a VIP pass, we’re happy to hook you up. Last, but not least, be ready to seriously party on April 2nd and we’ll see you there!

Written by Laura S.

HipHopForChange is a pro bono client that we are proud to be assisting via our University of San Francisco Communications class 

Are You A NonProfit That Needs PR Help?

As individuals, we at Change Communications have long been passionate about causes and organizations that improve communities and advance civil rights. After all, we named ourselves after an oft-used Gandhi quote (sorry to be so clichèd but it’s a darn good quote!). In our years working with nonprofit and community-based organizations, we have noticed a tremendous void in their PR and communications efforts. Namely, that many organizations simply couldn’t afford this extremely important aspect of their operations. With tighter budgets and federal funding going by the wayside, many nonprofits cannot sustain their organizations without PR/communications, but most of them can’t afford it or don’t have the energy/resources to dedicate towards it.

When we started Change Communications, our intention was to dedicate a significant amount of time doing pro bono work to help nonprofit organizations that we are passionate about. We haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as we initially wanted, or thought we would, due to the reality of running our little PR firm but we have spent some time working with a few great community-based nonprofits that our friends have steered us toward. Now it’s time to open our services to others looking for this kind of help.

If you’re a U.S.-based not-for-profit (with 501(c)(3) status) that serves the community for progressive causes, we want to help you. We don’t work on political campaigns and we are nonpartisan. We also want to stay focused on domestic organizations because, quite frankly, the international market is a difficult one to tackle, and we want to leverage our strengths.

If you’re an organization that actively fights to suppress people’s rights, e.g. if you’re against gay marriage, want to limit a woman’s right to choose, or think that it’s totally cool for oil companies to destroy the environment, then we have NO interest in helping you. In fact, we will actively work against you.

So if you fall into the category of being a domestic nonprofit and you are in need of PR/communications support, just send over an introductory email that has the following details (and please make sure that all of the below is included):

-Short, 1-2 sentence explanation of your nonprofit organization

-Link to website and to social media platforms

-Your basic PR/communications needs

-Your business and marketing goals

-Will you have a dedicated point of contact who will serve as the PR liaison?

You can send this email to katy(at)bethechangepr.com with “Nonprofit needs help” in the subject line, or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter. We won’t be able to assist every organization that contacts us but we’ll hopefully be able to steer you in the right direction.

We are looking forward to changing your communications, and hopefully, helping you change the world.