CMST 340 Strategies of Persuasion

The Mayerson project has been another great and interesting experience this semester. Even with COVID and the changes to the delivery method for the class, we still made sure to rise to the occasion. With the generous support of the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project and our class sponsor, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation (thanks Laura Menge); we awarded two $1000 grants to two deserving non-profit organizations: Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky and Women’s Crises Center. Students reviewed application from eight organizations, watched each present their cause via Zoom, argued the merits for each using discussion boards, and selected the top two. During the entire process, students learned and analyzed persuasive concepts learned in the class.

A few words from Danielle Polion:

How the grant was used:

"This grant makes sure that 33 human beings in our community get a safe & warm bed to sleep in. With 24 beds each night, that is 1.5 nights covered of our 153 days of winter. What a lifesaving & lifechanging gift!"

- Kim M. Webb, Executive Director

How the grant was used:

One of our primary considerations with clients is to help them reach safety in the way that feels safest for them—this means taking into consideration that safety often means being geographically further from the location of their abuser, or having their own reliable transportation. We would use the $1,000 grant to help clients reach their goal of safety through helping fund the purchase of transportation costs such as Greyhound bus tickets, Uber fare, and Gas Cards, as well as helping fund minor maintenance and repairs to personal vehicles such as tire repair, replace or repair windshields, purchase vehicle parts, and oil changes.

Adapted from Women's Crisis Center website:

Women’s Crisis Center is a foundational community center, offering comprehensive services for people impacted by domestic violence and sexual abuse, while transforming our community through violence prevention. We understand that when everything is on the line, everything counts.

Women’s Crisis Center serves all individuals who have experienced domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault. The full array of Women’s Crisis Center services are offered at no cost and with the highest level of confidentiality to all survivors—inclusive of people of all genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.

Professor Fox: This is the first time (aside from last spring) where the presentations were not live and face to face. They were live but through Zoom. Attendance at these was so so, but luckily the students asked questions and everything flowed smoothly. Since I did not have them in groups and did the selection of the top 8 myself, I added an assignment where they had to review all 8 RFPs - and this is something I want to do moving forward...it worked out well.