CREATING COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS
Over its first five years, the Grand Challenges built a collection of powerful communications vehicles
to more fully engage those already involved in the initiative, and inspire even more people to take up
this important work and enter into and support the social work profession. These vehicles provide
consistent messaging and design to help those involved in all the Grand Challenges networks spread
the word about their crucial work more effectively.
Key communications vehicles include:
• A Communications Collaborative made up of
communications staff at universities and partner
organizations, which meets several times per year
to share resources and ideas related to the work
and promotion of the Grand Challenges.
• The Up! e-newsletter, which came out quarterly
when it debuted in December 2017, and moved to
monthly production in 2020 because the newsletter
needed more space to share all of the exciting news
from across the Grand Challenges.
• An engaging website with everything one needs to
know about the Grand Challenges, from information
on each of the challenges and links to their websites
to valuable resources, including a COVID-19
Resources page with information specific to social
workers and the Grand Challenges.
• An active social media presence with the Grand
Challenges Facebook page, Facebook group, Twitter
account @GCSocialWork, hashtag #Up4theChallenge,
and LinkedIn page;
• A lively and informative YouTube page featuring
original videos and archived webinars; and
• Colorful and compelling graphics, from logos to
infographics that illustrate the initiative or show how
to get involved.
• Additionally, the initiative created a themed calendar
for 2020 focusing on one Grand Challenge each
month, using social media to highlight work to
advance the field and address some of society's
largest challenges. 2020 also saw the development of
materials to orient students to the Grand Challenges,
including a video and other resources designed to
help social work and other students find ways to join
in the work.
These are only some of the highlights of the
Grand Challenges for Social Work's first five years.
The best is yet to come. Next, learn about
the influential work being done by each of the
13 Grand Challenge networks.
An Impact Report at Year 5 of the 10-Year Initiative | 9