KYLE PALZER
AIA Minnesota 2022 Young Architects Award Recipient
Boy Scout Troop 524
Coon Rapids, Minnesota 130 Scout and Adult members
"Prepared. For Life."
Boy Scout Troop 524 is a large scouting organization in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. With 80+ youth members and 50 adult leaders it is one of the largest Troops in the Twin Cities area.
Needing to connect effectively with all of these members, I developed the overall look and feel of the organization and began acting as their communications coordinator. I developed their website, both standard and mobile versions, established a Facebook and twitter presence, and created a weekly newsletter for maximum outreach.
Creating Community Awareness
The need to establish the organization amongst the Coon Rapids community for promotional purposes was a central focus of the work. I created promotional videos and flyers to share the story of the organization with the community.
Similarly, acting as their Public Relations Director, I began the effort to join the emerging Heart Safe Coon Rapids initiative. This was the perfect opportunity to unite scouting and city values to raise awareness for our organization and the life skills the organization teaches the youth. We were both the first organization trained in the city, and the first organization to actually have one of its members save the life of a man in Coon Rapids who suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
Results
As a result of this strong communications strategy, nearly 10 youth members joined Boy Scout Troop 524 in a 4 year time span from discovering the Troop online. The online awareness has also brought new private donors to give financially to the organization in support of their mission and goals. Lastly, with nearly 7,000 webpage views each year, many organizations in the community, such as a local senior center, and women's shelter now reach out to Boy Scout Troop 524 via the website for volunteering requests. This allows the organization to do more for the community, which creates an endless cycle of awareness and visibility that they benefit greatly from.