AEF Launches Step Up Campaign
In a groundbreaking effort to raise public awareness about the dire need for funding for California’s public schools, the Alameda Education Foundation and Wrecking Ball, Inc. have launched the brand new “Step Up Campaign.”
The program, which was conceived and designed by Oakland-based ad agency Wrecking Ball, Inc., aims to bring home the message that “public education is too valuable to waste.” To do so, hundreds of teachers, staff, and children will be placed, literally, in garbage cans throughout the city.
“We want to put a face on the people who are being trashed by the governor’s proposed budget,” says Brooke Briggance, executive director of the Alameda Education Foundation. “We want people to see that the budget will affect real students, real teacher, real staff, and real programs.”
The unprecedented campaign also includes giant decals on the sides of Alameda’s garbage trucks and curbside cans, as well as signs placed throughout the city. “Community members need to understand how valuable our public schools are and how important it is that we do everything possible to keep our schools excellent,” Brooke says. “Plus we want to send a message to the governor that our programs, our schools, our teachers, and our students are not disposable—and his budget is unacceptable.”
The governor’s proposed $4 billion cut to public education translates into a $4.5 million cut to AUSD. To absorb that cut, the district passed a budget earlier this month that slashes high school sports, music for grades 1-3, and reduced class sizes for 9th graders this year, as well as the end of small classes for K-3 and potential school closures next year.
The entire campaign—from conception to design to printing—was done by volunteers, notes Kevin Lee, founder of Wrecking Ball, Inc. “Given the devastating budget cuts AUSD is being forced to make, I felt strongly that I had to do everything within my power to raise awareness around this crisis in our public schools. Not only are we facing severely overcrowded classrooms and drastic personnel layoffs, but our students are now saddled with a curriculum sorely lacking in music, art, athletics, technology and so much more.
“From personal experience I know that exposure to these very programs helps shape our children’s futures–opening their minds to culture, concepts, competition and interpersonal skills that reach far beyond textbook learning.”
Background
The Alameda Education Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to support educational excellence in the Alameda Unified School District. Working for over 23 years, AEF provides money, materials, and other resources to supplement the educational opportunities available in the city’s school district.
Wrecking Ball, Inc is an advertising and design agency located in Jack London Square, Oakland.
Contacts:
Brooke Briggance
Executive Director, AEF
510-393-0024
Kevin Lee
Founder
Wrecking Ball
510.267.9701
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