CHANGE NEWS: 

Earlier this week, the Change team and our CEO, Bilen Mesfin Packwood, were honored at The Stevie® Awards 22nd Annual Women in Business gala in New York City! Change took home Bronze for Company of the Year – Business Services (10+ Employees), while Bilen earned Silver for Best Female Entrepreneur – Business Services (11–2,500).

We’re incredibly grateful for this recognition and inspired by the amazing women leading with passion and purpose. Congratulations to all winners and finalists!

Crises happen to good people and good orgs. The way you respond can protect your reputation and the trust you have built. We are sharing essential tips and tricks that we have learned over nearly two decades of rapid response and crisis communications management to advance racial and social justice in our rapid response and crisis communications blog series. The latest installment is now live: Staying Afloat: Preparation and Alignment During Times of Crisis. It covers how to develop a crisis communications protocol that keeps your organization aligned and mission-focused – even in the most challenging situations. Have questions or topics you want us to cover? Email us at hello@change-llc.com or reach out via our website: www.change-llc.com – we’d love to hear from you!

CLIENT NEWS: 

“They were looking for pain they could weaponize. And it worked. Politicians simply assumed they knew what victims wanted, and they used our grief to push an agenda that had little to do with actual safety or healing.” Jess Nichol, an advocate with Californians for Safety and Justice, reflects on the personal tragedy of losing their sister, Polly Klaas, to a violent crime at age 12, and how her story was co-opted to justify California’s Three Strikes law and mass incarceration policies in this op-ed in CalMatters. They express how for too long, survivor voices have been co-opted to justify fear-driven laws rather than healing and safety. Now, California is taking a different approach, centering victims in shaping justice reforms, asking what support they actually need, and how the system can help them heal. Read more here.