Skip to main content
The Vida Agency
Small group of men and women standing and posing for photo

Rainier Beach High School Rebuild

Carrying out the community’s vision

After years of petitioning and mobilizing, students, alumni, and community members finally received funding to rebuild Rainier Beach High School, the last high school in Seattle Public Schools to be modernized. The school will be replaced with a new, 233,700 square foot, multi-story high school providing permanent space for 1,600 students grades 9-12. Students will remain on-site throughout the phases of construction. BEX V funding will also provide technology, equipment, and services such as computers, peripherals, printers, and other technology for teaching and learning. Lydig Construction won a competitive solicitation process to build the school. The award has strong community oversight and includes Minority- and Women-owned Businesses (MWBE) and diverse workforce hiring stipulations, as well as community reporting requirements. The Vida Agency was hired to provide communications and community engagement centered in equity.

Approach

Three women, one holding a baby, taking a picture holding a blue cut out frame with text “Homecoming 2021 hashtag Build The Beach For Us By Us
Rainier Beach advertisement for Build the Beach, For Us by Us. With text Summer Bidding Opportunities, Thursday, March 10th, 6 PM.

Branding and Website: With input from a key community key member, The Vida Agency branded the outreach effort as Build the Beach: For Us. By Us and created visual branding informed by the colors of the school. We created a website that served as a single destination for all outreach efforts: community meetings, contracting bidding, workforce opportunities, media coverage, and more.

Materials: The Vida Agency created key messages per audience and provided branded materials and communication tools that supported WMBE subcontractor, Workforce (SCWA), student, and community engagement.

Stakeholder & Community Engagement: We strengthened relationships with key partners such as RBAC, Creative Justice, Black Stax, Runta News, and Latino
Community Fund.

Community Meetings: Hosted monthly virtual community meetings, with inclusion plan focused topics (MWBE, workforce, bidding opportunities, etc.)

Media: Paid and earned coverage from key local media outlets, including providing interviews in Spanish, drove meeting attendance and overall visibility of opportunities on the project.

Two men in black sitting on stools talking, in front of black in white picture collage.
Two people standing next to a Lydig information table underneath a blue canopy with a sign with the text Build the Beach, For Us by Us.
Close up of man in construction hard hat and vest talking to another person in a construction hard had and vest.

Outcome

Pre-Construction Outreach and Engagement

  • 9 community meetings with over 350 attendees
  • Engaged 7 hyperlocal and multicultural media outlets; 1.3 million average impressions
  • 9 Converge Media segments reaching 136,000 social followers and 29,000+ monthly online views
  • Promoted community meetings at 40 local businesses
Converge advertisement for Build the Beach, For Us by Us. With text Rainier Beach High School Rebuild Show Special with Trae Holiday. And circle shape image of construction workers.
See all work

Work

See next project