Public Interest Communications Summer Institute Provides Hope to Students, Educators, and Practitioners 

By Ryan Anderson 

Scan through almost any news site or social media feed, and the world can seem like a pretty dark place full of division and despair. While there are glimmers of positive news out there, oftentimes, it can seem like the greatest amount of attention is being paid to individuals who only wish to foment chaos. During the last week of May 2024, faculty, graduate students, researchers, and administrators from around the world came to Denver, Colorado, to take part in the third annual Public Interest Communication Summer Institute to equip themselves with ways to create positive change instead of division and destruction within communities.

What Is Public Interest Communication? 

Public Interest Communications is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that utilizes strategic communications strategies and scientific insights to foster meaningful and lasting change within communities.

Stitching together ideas and practices from the fields of public relations, advertising, journalism, and marketing that are informed by sociology, psychology, political science, and neuroscience, the Center for Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida defines Public Interest Communication as “the development and implementation of science-based, strategic communications with the goal of significant and sustained positive behavior change or action on an issue that transcends the particular objectives of any single organization.” Put another way, Public Interest Communications is tailored to make lives better for those it encounters. 

What is the Public Interest Communication Summer Institute? 

Part of equipping people with the tools to succeed in building a lasting, positive change within communities involves meeting and swapping ideas with others working in the field. To that end, each year, the Public Interest Communications Educators Network hosts the Summer Institute as a means of bringing together faculty, graduate students, researchers, and administrators interested in leveraging the power of communication for social good. In addition to hearing case studies from professionals in the field, participants at the Summer Institute are able to gain valuable skills, network, and meet new collaborators.

Past Summer Institutes were held at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2022 and at the University of Houston in 2023. The Summer Institute continued moving west by hosting the 2024 event at Denver, Colorado’s Auraria campus, which is home to Metropolitan State University of Denver, University of Colorado Denver, and Community College of Denver.

Hope for a Better World 

The theme of the 2024 Summer Institute was Hope. Over the course of a day and a half of workshops, attendees were exposed to myriad ways that hope can be used to show that change is possible and provide a roadmap for turning hope into action.

When looking at the current state of affairs in many parts of the world, it might be difficult for many to feel hopeful about their conditions. The late Fred Rogers famously said that in times of tragedy, “If you look for the helpers, you will know that there is hope.” Public Interest Communications is designed to equip “helpers” to go into areas of need and give hope. The hope of the possibility of building a better world is what drives many of the activities of those who are involved in the field.

At the end of the Summer Institute, many attendees noted that they felt hopeful once more that the work they were engaged in mattered and that they could make a difference. The Summer Institute acts as an oasis in a desert of injustice to provide a bit of rest while empowering practitioners with new ideas to go out and be the helpers for social change that so many communities around the world need. Global issues like climate change and food insecurity will not be solved overnight. However, with people willing to use the tools of Public Interest Communications to go into one community at a time, those actions can have a snowball effect. By starting with a small change, efforts can grow into something much larger as more and more people get involved.

The date and location of the 2025 Public Interest Communications Summer Institute has not yet been announced. Be sure to check out the Public Interest Communications website for updates on when and where the next Public Interest Communications Summer Institute will be held.

Posted: July 29, 2024
Category: UF CJC Online Blog
Tagged as: public interest communication