Project / Program Services
communications & marketing
We have written, developed, emailed, and sent hundreds of thousands of emails, letters, brochures, and posters over the course of our careers supporting our programs and projects. Each are branded for our programs and organizations the projects have supported. We look forward to working with your organizations to do the same for your programs.
We recommend, implement, and use CAN-SPAM complaint email software for all email communications. The same vendor provides robust reporting on email analysis for readership, trends, etc.
Our email and social media software recommendations are synced with our website recommendations, so emails and social media posts can automatically be posted to your website, as appropriate.
We have email templates and can recommend language for campaigns, press releases, talking points, presentations, etc. to cover every communication and marketing need of your organization.
RESEARCH
We have commissioned, researched, and completed numerous reports and assessments on topics ranging from regional energy planning to industry sector analysis. Our Team Members have published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy; and the Journal of Planning Education and Research; among others, as expert contributors, and taught as industry members through their Professorships and at many conferences nationwide.
We look forward to working with your organizations to complement your project with research and industry knowledge.
We work with industry leaders; University Centers; federal, state, regional, and local governments; and experts from across the world to research, analyze, and determine the best practices and methodologies for various projects and programs.
graphic & web design
In order to unify event, development, and sponsorship materials under your brand, we assist in the creation of materials that effectively communicate your mission, or the mission of the program or project, to members, sponsors, and event attendees. We provide customized materials for each event and webinar/workshop, development, and sponsorship campaign. These materials could include mini-websites (built within the your website); or new websites (should your organization decide on this route); email campaigns; printed materials; and an online registration website. All materials will have a common look, feel, and language – a brand.
We work with you to create and implement digital marketing strategies.
We work with you to design award-winning marketing collateral.
We work with you to develop, maintain, and update their websites, and websites created through our projects.
data, analysis, & visualization
We know that data is central to understanding a problem and finding a solution. We will assist your team to build databases for your organization, whether for a single project or your region, and use that data to design maps and other visualizations to tell a story for your project.
We work with organizations and associations to understand what data is needed for a project or program.
We work with organizations and associations to build the appropriate geographic data system (GIS) database, including maintaining the database, if needed.
We analyze data to assist organizations and associations reach appropriate conclusions about what the data says about a project or program.
We use graphs and other visualizations to provide analysis of the data for organizations and associations.
Project / Program Examples
Digital Equity Plans
Forsyth County’s Digital Equity Plan
A/R360 worked with communities, organizations, and local elected officials to survey, interview, and determine the needs of the residents and businesses across Forsyth County, NC regarding broadband Internet accessibility, connections, and understanding of the technology/Internet. Supplementing this feedback and information with data analysis collected from local (government and nonprofit), State, and federal sources, the Team developed recommended implementation steps for short-, medium-, and long-term goals to move the County towards digital inclusion and equity. The Plan has received recognition on the State and national level.
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS)
A/R360 has worked in, and with, multiple communities to research; collect and analyze data; meet with stakeholders; and develop Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) for their regions. The Team’s most recent projects were in Cleveland, OH - the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA); in Auburn/Lewiston, ME - the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments (AVCOG); and in Corvallis/Eugene, OR - the Cascades West Economic Development District (CWEDD).
AVCOG’s CEDS
NOACA’s CEDS
CWEDD’s CEDS
White Papers / Studies
Over the last twenty years, the A/R360 Team has researched, written, and published many white papers and studies. A sample of those studies are available below.
Grants and Projects
Our Team has worked on hundreds grants and projects over the course of our individual careers, through various local, state, regional, Federal, foundation, non-profit, and university partners. Below are a couple of examples of these projects.
Pathways Out of Poverty: Pathways Out of Poverty is a $7.9 million grant program from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC). Through this program, we partnered with four regions across the nation, in three states and with two national partners and multiple local agencies, to facilitate the training and certification processes for dislocated and disadvantaged workers in green technology jobs. We ultimately certified over 5,500 workers and secured employment for another 525. The program is recognized as a success by the U.S. DOL because we understood that workers often need other services to be successful – elder and childcare, as well as transportation. We worked with local agencies to provide these wraparound services for each worker to better ensure their and their families’ success.
State of the Region: The State of the Region is a data project for the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments (OCWCOG), which highlights trends, connections, and indicators in Benton, Lincoln, and Linn Counties, Oregon. The focus of the project was on the people and the economy, specifically agriculture, business patent, migration, philanthropic investments, and more. Our team engaged in a laborious data collection process, followed by analyzing the data, developing a report, website, and presentation at a formal event before local elected and State officials. Read the State of the Region report.
Thinker Tinker Trailer: In working with the OCWCOG, we built a partnership with the Oregon State University and the United Way of Benton, Lincoln, and Linn Counties to create the Thinker, Tinker, Trailer project. The project promoted STEAM education to disadvantaged high school and middle school students in low-income neighborhoods through utilizing a mobile workspace. Through the project, we built a custom trailer and parked it at schools and offered students exploration of 3D printing, design, and access to a full creative maker space. The students had access for a semester and, if they created a product, were mentored by university business students on creating a business plan and an opportunity to sell what they made. This project was successful and communities throughout the region requested use of the trailer for their schools. Learn more about the Thinker Tinker Trailer.
Our team has spent many years designing, building, and deploying marketing campaigns for a wide variety of programs and projects. A sample of those marketing campaigns is included below.
Green Regions: We created the first of a four-part marketing campaign to highlight the environmental work of the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC). The plan was to follow this campaign with three others: transportation (Mobile Regions), homeland security (Secure Regions), and economic development (Build Regions). We built Green Regions to include a website, print materials, talking points, and advocacy language for NARC members across the country. The purpose of the campaign was to repackage the pertinent information for NARC’s environmental issue area and to present it in a way that is easily digestible for consumers; Board members; and local, state, and federal elected officials.
Pedal Corvallis: Our team worked with the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments (OCWCOG) to launch Pedal Corvallis, Oregon’s second bike-share program in 2017. We assisted in developing a sponsorship program for Pedal Corvallis to enhance its goals of promoting healthy and connected communities. We worked with its national partner Zagster® on selling ownership of bike stations around the community, ad placement on bike stations and bikes, and email marketing across the OCWCOG region. Materials to promote this sponsorship included emails, presentations, and multiple printed documents. We are proud to say that this program was successful and one of the Nation’s most utilized small city bike-share programs. All the bike stations and multiple individual bikes were sponsored, significant media attention was garnered, and the program generated over $70,000 of sponsorship.
Marketing Campaigns
Data Mining, Analysis, and Visualizations
Our Team’s strong background in data does not just stop with the numbers. Skilled in collecting and analyzing a variety of data types: demographics, geospatial data, labor statistics, land use, health, and more. We provide results in a manner that can be easily understood by stakeholders. This includes detailed reports, presentations, charts, maps, and infographics. Project samples are available below.
Data Improvement Analysis: We completed this report for the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments (OCWCOG). In it, we recommend next steps for OCWCOG to build its own data center; how to establish performance measures; partnering with the State to not replicate the data that already exists; and establishing a training and outreach program. We stand ready to work with your organization to create a data center in your region to allow you to make data-driven decisions for your communities. Learn more about the Data Improvement Analysis.
Demographic Analysis: We completed a service care analysis for the Foothills Caring Corps located in Carefree, AZ. Download a copy of the PowerPoint® presentation with the demographic analysis for the Foothills Caring Corps.
Geospatial Analysis: We completed a gentrification study in Arizona’ Sun Corridor. Discover what we found in his study, Mapping Distress in the Sun Corridor.
Survey Results: A piece of data work is surveying. We stand ready to work with your team on surveying on any topic you need. Review the survey results in an infographic of Spanish property market confidence index metrics.
Awareness: We know data, statistics, and resulting infographics can and should be used to highlight important marketing endeavors. See one example of our marketing efforts to assist in highlighting prevention measures for Elder abuse.
Marketing: Our team works closely together, using infographics to generate interest in marketing materials, when relevant and appropriate. For example, we developed this infographic used to create interest in a Tufts University Master's Innovation & Management campaign.
Statistics: Numbers always speak louder than words. Our team knows this and uses infographics to depict statistics, including this example from the U.S. Tour Operators Association.
Our Team has presented at conferences and events, and spoken before audiences of all sizes nationwide and internationally. Topics include regional planning and programming, to broadband access, and equality.
Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference: We presented the history of broadband in the U.S., the status of broadband mapping, and A/R360’s Digital Equity Plan project in Forsyth County, NC, complementing the work the EcoNorthwest is undergoing in Washington County, Oregon to move the County and the Pacific Northwest forward in digital equity. Access a copy of A/R360’s presentation.