KFrance Insight

Strategic Communications, Media Relations and Branded Storytelling

New York, New York

917-773-8409

Health Equity & Community Outreach Strategy for National Donor Diversity Initiative

Client: Independent Health Advocacy Initiative (in partnership with national and international donor registries)

Role: Strategic Communications Consultant / Health Equity & Community Outreach Lead

Goal: Design and execute a culturally grounded outreach and awareness strategy to address racial disparities in bone marrow and stem cell donor registration, with a focus on increasing participation among Black and Caribbean communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Challenge

Patients of Black and Caribbean descent face a significantly lower likelihood of finding compatible bone marrow or stem cell donors due to systemic underrepresentation in donor registries. While national registries and major institutions have scale and visibility, they often lack the cultural fluency, trust based infrastructure, and community rooted strategies required to drive meaningful donor registration within historically marginalized populations.

The campaign required an approach that balanced urgency with sensitivity, addressed widespread medical mistrust, and moved beyond institutional optics toward genuine community engagement and conversion.

Strategic Approach

Led the development of a multi pronged health equity and outreach strategy designed to separate awareness from conversion, while intentionally linking the two.

Community Grounded Research & Insight

  • Conducted 25+ qualitative focus groups with Black, Caribbean, and mixed heritage participants to identify barriers, misconceptions, and motivators related to bone marrow and stem cell donation

  • Synthesized insights into a culturally informed messaging framework addressing fear, medical mistrust, and misinformation (including pain, procedure myths, and data privacy concerns)

Outreach & Activation Strategy

  • Designed a dual funnel model pairing large scale awareness moments with trusted community based conversion environments

  • Initiated donor drive planning with:

    • Black and Caribbean churches in New York (including Little Haiti, Brooklyn)

    • Universities and student networks (Ivy League, HBCUs, and large public institutions)

    • Diaspora organizations, cultural institutions, and community media

  • Developed activation models suitable for churches, campuses, galas, and community events, including volunteer training guidance and handoff frameworks

Institutional & Partnership Coordination

  • Coordinated with U.S. and U.K. based donor registries on messaging alignment, social media strategy, and international collaboration opportunities

  • Opened partnership discussions with Black led health advocacy organizations and global donor diversity initiatives

  • Advised on athlete and sports league awareness activations, emphasizing limitations of high traffic events for conversion and the need for complementary community pathways

Press & Narrative Strategy

  • Developed press positioning centered on donor disparity, health equity, and culturally competent solutions rather than individual narratives alone

  • Identified and initiated outreach to credible expert sources, including physicians and researchers tied to top tier transplant and research institutions

  • Built a framework for earned media that foregrounded systemic inequity, community trust, and actionable pathways to registration

Results

Campaign Infrastructure & Momentum

  • Established multiple confirmed and pending donor drive partnerships across churches, universities, and cultural institutions

  • Created a repeatable outreach model adaptable across geographies and communities

  • Positioned the initiative for coordinated press outreach supported by registry PR teams and external agencies

Stakeholder & Community Impact

  • Activated trusted messengers including students, faith leaders, and community advocates

  • Increased awareness and education around the realities of bone marrow and stem cell donation, including the fact that the majority of adult donations are non surgical and similar to blood or plasma donation

  • Built cross border collaboration between U.S. and U.K. donor diversity stakeholders, framing the issue as a global health equity challenge

 Strategic ROI

  • Health Equity Leadership: Delivered culturally fluent strategy addressing one of the most persistent disparities in transplant medicine

  • Community Conversion Focus: Designed outreach models optimized for trust and action, not just visibility

  • Institutional Advisory Impact: Provided registries and partners with actionable insight into why traditional awareness campaigns underperform with marginalized communities

  • Scalable Framework: Developed messaging, outreach, and activation approaches transferable to other public health, advocacy, and donor based initiatives

  • Reputation & Trust Capital: Strengthened relationships with academic institutions, community leaders, and international health organizations through principled, results oriented leadership