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As we noted earlier this week, "with the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and the start of a new session of Congress, efforts to decarbonize the economy are getting renewed attention with announcements being made seemingly every day on new net zero pledges, new partnerships designed to boost advanced technologies and new products and services designed to help the U.S. meet mid-century climate goals." To help highlight the business perspective on these policies, we

With the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and the start of a new session of Congress, efforts to decarbonize the economy are getting renewed attention with announcements being made seemingly every day on new net zero pledges, new partnerships designed to boost advanced technologies and new products and services designed to help the U.S. meet mid-century climate goals. Much of that attention has focused on what policies the new Administration will promote and the c

How better to wrap up our #WeveGotYourSix sixth anniversary celebration than to share the insight, perspective and compassion of the RENEW PR Team ? I’m fortunate to work with a group of communications professionals who aren’t just smart: they are also good people I am proud to call colleagues and friends. I picked #WeveGotYourSix as our anniversary theme to highlight the role our Team plays in our success. And I’m so glad I did: by nominating groups working on energy, envir

Later this month, RENEW PR will celebrate six years in business. If you follow us, you know that we like to celebrate anniversaries : we appreciate taking the opportunity to thank our clients, colleagues and friends for helping us build a sustainable, successful business. This year is, obviously, different. How should we “celebrate” in this perilous moment in time? After a year in which it seemed like we all needed a helping hand and a reminder that we’re all in this togethe

Hard work is its own reward, they say. But it’s still nice to be honored for the work you do. And it’s even better when that honor recognizes not just what you do, but who you are. So I’m especially thrilled to be a 2020 Washington Business Journal Business of Pride honoree . This award, highlighted in today’s edition of the Washington Business Journal , recognizes a group of ten openly LGBTQ business leaders in the Washington region. You can read about all of the awardees o

October is, among other things, LGBTQ History Month . Throughout the month, LGBTQ advocates and organizations will be sharing insight and perspective from important people and events in our community’s history. And throughout the month, many of these remembrances will no doubt focus on the importance of honoring our history by voting in November. We’ll be supporting both of these activities this month by joining the Washington Blade ’s effort to encourage the LGBTQ community

When we revised our website last year, we also announced an expansion of the RENEW PR Team , a group of experienced, independent communications professionals from across the U.S. who partner with RENEW PR President Ben Finzel to help clients nationwide. Today, we’re pleased to announce another expansion of our team. Our friend and colleague Darren Goode is bringing his expertise in communications strategy, messaging, content development, media relations and event planning

As I wrote in a post last week , I had no idea when I launched RENEW PR five years ago what the future would hold. It’s been an amazing – and fantastic – first five years. And the milestone is certainly worthy of celebration. After celebrating the firm’s first and second anniversaries with receptions, I had always planned to hold another one for our fifth anniversary. I knew this celebration had to be even more special – it’s not every day that a small business reaches th

Five years ago at this time, I was preparing to hit “send” on a flurry of emails to contacts, colleagues, former clients and friends announcing the launch of my new public relations firm, RENEW PR . I was confident in the future, but I had no idea how terrific the next five years would be. In that time, I’ve worked with more than two dozen clients on projects large and small in areas across the country. I’ve helped clients communicate about topics as diverse as carbon capture

Our Fifth Anniversary in business is now just one week away (watch for a blog post next week with thoughts on what it means) so time is running out to share another update on one of the pro bono projects we conducted in 2019 to celebrate our fourth anniversary last January. Last summer, we took the opportunity to provide additional help to RENEW PR client Family Equality . Family Equality hired us in May of 2019 to work on a summer season media relations project in support o

As we approach our fifth anniversary in business later this month (more on that soon), I thought now would be a good time to follow-up on one of the commitments I made last year to celebrate our fourth anniversary. Last January , I announced that RENEW PR would conduct pro bono projects with four advocacy organizations in 2019 to mark our fourth anniversary in business. Here’s the follow-up on one of those commitments: the Alliance to Save Energy . In December, we provided p

Today, I joined with five colleagues to announce the launch of The Change Agencies, a new national network of independent public relations and marketing firms designed to change the way the industry communicates to, for and with multicultural and LGBTQ communities. We are the first national collective of independent PR firms to offer inclusive communications services to effectively represent, engage and connect with African American, Asian American, Latinx and LGBTQ communiti

Hello and welcome back to our Fearless Friday Predictions series in which we offer our best guesses about action on energy and environment topics and issues. Before we offer a new prediction, let’s check in on  Volume 4 from December 2018 . We predicted: Prediction 6: The Land and Water Conservation Fund will, finally, be reauthorized by Congress and the bill will be signed into law. But that won’t happen until early in 2019. Despite efforts to get it done before Congress lea

The new website we launched today now highlights one of the most exciting changes we’ve made to our firm: the expansion of the team of colleagues who work on client projects. Our team is now five people strong and includes senior independent public relations professionals in three major U.S. markets: Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. Just as importantly, the team also includes experienced practitioners with expertise in crisis communications, corporate reputation

Today, we’re relaunching our website . And while we understand that means more to us than anyone else, we’re still excited. As a representation of a firm’s brand, a website is often the first thing prospective clients see if a firm is referred to them or they read about a firm on social media and seek out its web presence. Our website was more than four years old (even though we updated it once) and we felt it was time for a wholesale change to reflect new design standards an

Time flies when you’re having fun. It’s been four years since I launched RENEW PR on January 23, 2015. Since then, I’ve celebrated each business anniversary by highlighting the people and issues I’ve been fortunate enough to work with and on over the years. In the first two years , I celebrated our business anniversary with an evening reception ( and I even posted my playlist from the second anniversary party ). In the third year, I focused on giving back (with financial co

Happy New Year! As we said on Twitter over the holidays, “What a year! Good, bad, and well, just wow.” Here’s hoping 2019 is less eventful and more focused on moving America and the world forward together. Speaking of “forward,” this month, we’ll celebrate our fourth anniversary in business. Time flies when you’re having fun. Watch this space for updates on how we’ll celebrate the anniversary this year. This month we’ll also post our twelfth Common Sense Colloquy blog Q&A

Hello and welcome back to our Fearless Fridays predictions. Before we offer a new prediction, let’s check in on Volume 3 from March 2018. We predicted: Prediction 5: Instead of a comprehensive infrastructure package addressing a broad range of transportation, manufacturing, energy, environmental and related concerns, we’ll just see one single-issue bill enacted this year (e.g. limited transportation infrastructure language in the FAA reauthorization bill or a bill on transp

Election 2018 was billed as many things, and it delivered in many ways. It was both surprising and expected and dramatic and simple. Its impact on federal energy and environmental policy will be similarly interesting. Here’s a snapshot of our thinking on the impact of the midterm election on the key national topics at the core of our communications consulting business . For each topic, we’ve provided our take on “likely opportunities” and “likely challenges” to share a sense

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to submit an entry in the first-ever Cleanie Awards. I entered the Public Affairs Campaign of the Year category on behalf of our client the Carbon Capture Coalition . And today I am proud to announce that we won! I’ve won several industry awards in my career – a PRSA Silver Anvil, several Bulldog Reporter awards, etc. – but this is the first award I’ve won at RENEW PR . I’m thrilled. Awards aren’t necessary, of course, but they are