Georgetown South 50th Anniversary

Challenge: Georgetown South is a master-planned, townhome community home to 1,000 residents in the city of Manassas, just 30 miles from the heart of Washington, D.C. As a result of the Great Recession, the community was facing a crisis due to high foreclosure rates, increased crime, and deteriorating conditions of the amenities. A housing advocacy group built a coalition of financial partners including Bank of America and the Virginia Housing Development Authority to stabilize Georgetown South through the development of new amenities, crime prevention programs, and the introduction of new financing tools which would allow the homes to remain affordable.

Solution: One of financial partners assisting Georgetown South tasked Gray Ryan Communications with developing a proactive media relations campaign to showcase the community’s revitalization and efforts to increase homeownership rates backed by specialized financing tools for low to moderate income homebuyers. Using the community’s 50^th anniversary as a news trigger, Gray Ryan Communications developed a comprehensive communications and media relations campaign that included talking points, detailed information about the revitalizations efforts, and homeowner testimonials.

Bottom Line: The campaign resulted in numerous media placements including a feature story in Prince Wiliam Today. The stories highlighted the community’s ongoing evolution and improvement including 10 new playgrounds which showed how Georgetown South was a family-friendly community. Interest by prospective homebuyers increased 20 percent as a result of the media placements. Additionally, the financial partners involved in the community’s revitalization efforts were included in the stories which highlighted their commitment to Georgetown South.