People want to be involved in stuff they see a lot of. Jarrett says the board s spending on media was about the same as in previous years, noting that paid advertising is very expensive. The board did submit PSAs to local TV and radio stations, she says, but had no control over when or how frequently they ran. That s not something that, every couple of years, there s a campaign for a few weeks, Wade notes. It s part of the visible public life of the city.
Several organizers say that cooperation from local schools depended on the principal s attitude.
Penny Walton of the Grand Boulevard Federation says that she got very different receptions from principals at the various mid-South schools her organization worked with. My recruiter went to Mollison, and the principal told her they didn t need any help, didn t need any recruiters. Walton called the Mollison principal herself but eventually dropped the school from her roster. We didn t have time to wait on them. Another principal was reluctant to work with Walton s group but came around after Walton gave them the Cooperative s number as a reference.