Building youth power in Wisconsin

Leaders Igniting Transformation

Ahead of the 2020 Election, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) tapped Spitfire to tell the story of Wisconsin’s largest youth voter effort. They hoped that increased media coverage would help them reach their goal to register over 5,000 new young voters in the Badger State, especially young voters of color ages 18 - 24, and raise money to support LIT’s work building power for youth of color.

Spitfire hit the ground running, developing a strategic media plan to help LIT tell its story and get in front of the right audiences. Through two virtual training sessions – one for LIT’s staff and one for their youth interns, fellows and canvassers – participants were equipped with the tools to excel in interviews with the media, speak with confidence, stay on message and refocus tough questions. The trainings were tailored specifically for LIT’s team, incorporating best practices to support youth leaders in communicating to the media. 

We assisted LIT with day-to-day media management by fielding requests from reporters, scheduling interviews and providing one-on-one coaching for members of LIT’s team to feel prepared when speaking with the press. In tandem with incoming requests, Spitfire supported LIT in proactively pitching their work, including drafting and circulating two compelling op-eds, and composing press releases, including one for a virtual National Youth Voter Day event featuring Kendrick Sampson of “Insecure”.

Spitfire also provided one-on-one communications support for LIT’s young leaders, including one of LIT’s art fellows, a filmmaker named Marquise Mays. Marquise wrote and directed a short film about growing up Black in Milwaukee called, “The Heartland”. Spitfire helped him think through his promotion strategy for the film, edited the press release and drafted a compelling pitch note for him to use to reach out to reporters at outlets that cater to programmers for film festivals.

The circumstances of the 2020 election continually changing amidst a global pandemic and a flood of last-minute voter suppression laws meant that LIT had to be nimble with its messaging. Spitfire helped LIT prepare for myriad Election Day-and-beyond scenarios, creating an in-depth guide of talking points and social media posts. The messaging was tailored for LIT’s audience, emphasizing the power of BIPOC communities. On Election Day, we fielded rapid response requests for LIT’s team from media contacts and wrote and pitched a media advisory for their post-election press conference, landing key local coverage in WUWM News. 

LIT’s team enjoyed working with Spitfire so much, they have now extended their contract into 2021. We look forward to continuing to partner with them and delivering top-notch communications support as they create a future that is young, Black, Brown and LIT.