Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
(http://www.aflcio.org)

The Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO (Labor Council) Community Services Agency serves as an umbrella for unions throughout Washington, D.C. and suburban Maryland. The agency provides social services and other assistance to working families and job training programs for adults and youth.

The Labor Council engaged McKinney & Associates to promote its Union Fair. The Council sought professional assistance in response to the lack of public attention on the event the previous year.

The Job Fair was held during a time when the local service industry was still traumatized by layoffs and unprecedented cutbacks following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

McKPR provided the Labor Council with a variety of public relations services including strategic message development, story placement and onsite media management. To capture media attention, the firm framed the Fair as an important contributor to the local economy, matching employers with potential job seekers and providing career training to local youths.

As a result, t he Union Fair attracted wide media coverage from business press to broadcast media, among them: local television newscasts and radio talk shows, the Washington Business Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press, Union Labor Report, and the metropolitan area's leading Spanish-language newspaper, El Pregonero.