UF PRSSA’s Bateman Team Seeks to Increase Census Participation in Gainesville

Through the PRSSA Bateman Competition, UF PRSSA’s Bateman Team is hoping to motivate students and renters in Gainesville to participate in the 2020 Census.

The Bateman Competition is PRSSA’s national case study competition for public relations students. The goal is for student teams across the nation to create and implement a campaign that strives to solve a local issue in the community. This year, UF’s Bateman Team is competing with their campaign, titled We Deserve Better.

This campaign aims to inform students and renters in Gainesville about the importance of their participation in the 2020 Census. The We Deserve Better tagline stems from Gainesville’s past Census statistics. Lack of participation in the 2010 Census resulted in a loss of $390 million in funding for the city over the last decade, said Palak Patel, Bateman Team’s earned media coordinator.

“We want to bring to light what we’re missing out on because of how underfunded the city was,” Patel said. “We’re thinking about the future. Our participation in the Census sets up the city for the next 10 years.”

The We Deserve Better campaign officially launched on Feb. 10. Since the official implementation period is only six weeks long, it is crucial that the campaign reaches as many people in the target audience as possible. To reach students in Gainesville, the Bateman Team has tabled at UF and Santa Fe College.

Their display consisted of a board with the question “What do we deserve better?” written on it. Students were prompted to answer this question on a sticky note, and post their answers on the board for other students to see. Among the sticky notes were answers such as more scholarships, better transportation and more funding for roads, Patel said, which are all areas that can be improved through more funding.

While official implementation of the campaign began on Feb. 10, the process of creating the campaign required an entire semester’s worth of work. The entirety of the fall semester was dedicated toward research and planning. The team created surveys, held focus groups and even analyzed campaigns from previous years, said Erin France, Bateman Team’s student outreach coordinator.

“It’s a competition but it’s also a class, so this is the first time anyone on the team has done a campaign in real life,” France said. “Last semester was all about research. This semester we’re taking our ideas from paper to real life.”

By taking their ideas from paper to real life, the Bateman Team is hoping to achieve their goal of educating, engaging and encouraging students and renters in Gainesville to complete the 2020 Census. However, another goal the team wants to achieve is winning first place, said Carly Rogers, Bateman Team community outreach coordinator. Although UF PRSSA is a well-known competitor in the Bateman Competition, it has been five years since the university has won first place.

“We’re hoping to bring home a win for Florida and the J-School,” Rogers said. “This is how public relations students can contribute to UF’s national ranking.”

The Bateman Team has until March 20 to promote We Deserve Better. Until then, they will continue working hard to ensure they have done their best at bettering the future of Gainesville.

Written by Paola Ojeda-Villegas