Cultivating a Blue Ribbon Campaign
The Blue Ribbon idea is quite simple. Wear or display a blue ribbon to tell your friends, neighbors and community members that you want to prevent child abuse and neglect.

History of the Blue Ribbon Campaign
Promote Action for Prevention
Steps to a Successful Campaign
Limitless Possibilities

History of the Blue Ribbon Campaign
Bonnie Finney of Portsmouth, Virginia, started a personal battle to combat child abuse after the death of her grandson. She tied a blue ribbon around her van’s antenna in memory of her grandson Michael “Bubba” Dickinson, whose battered body had been found at the bottom of a canal. Her hope was, “Even if we change one child’s life, it would be worth it. I don’t want other parents or grandparents to go through what we’re going through." That single blue ribbon in memory of a grandson has led to a flurry of other in the national effort to stop child abuse.

Over the past years, Prevent Child Abuse America chapters, local affiliates, military bases and other groups have organized Blue Ribbon Campaigns to increase public awareness of the child abuse problem and to promote ways of preventing it. The first statewide Blue Ribbon Campaign was sponsored by the Virginia Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention and Prevent Child Abuse Virginia.

As an awareness strategy for Child Abuse Prevention Month (April), the Blue Ribbon Campaign idea has picked up momentum. The flexibility of the program offers numerous opportunities to be creative and to create partnerships with the business and professional communities.

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Blue Ribbon Campaigns promote action for prevention
Anyone who has ever participated in a race or competition knows that blue ribbons are awarded only to those who perform the best. Blue Ribbon Campaigns take advantage of the positive meaning and prestige associated with winning a blue ribbon. Unlike other ribbon campaigns, the Blue Ribbon Campaign does not serve to memorialize victims, but to award and encourage caring and positive behavior. The blue ribbon symbolizes the positive steps that everyone can take to keep children safe from abuse and neglect.

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Steps to a Successful Blue Ribbon Campaign
The Blue Ribbon Campaign works best at the local level. Here’s how you can get a campaign going.

• Pull together a committee and identify the resources you will need. Consider joining forces with other community groups. Be sure to determine your needs in five areas: money, materials, manpower, time and authority (leadership and decision making).
• An obvious need is blue ribbon. Consider what size ribbon you want to use. Many people use a narrow ribbon, 3 inches long, folded and pinned on their lapel or blouse. Some people put a wider ribbon on their car antenna, or in a prominent place at home or work. Large ribbons can send a strong message when they are displayed on buildings by businesses, public agencies and schools.
  • A local florist, especially a floral shop where you have been a regular customer, may provide ribbon for you to use.
  • Tell the manager who you are and how the Blue Ribbon Campaign began.
  • Ask if the shop will donate the ribbon or give a discount to your organization.
  • Ask about quantity – is it on hand or does it have to be ordered?
  • Find out when you can pick it up. Allow time to cut, fold, etc. before your launch date.
  • Many florists carry an inexpensive 100 percent acetate ribbon in widths from 1/2 to 5/8 inches, on 100 yard rolls. By cutting the ribbon into 9 inch lengths, you can make 400 ribbons to attach to a bookmark handout or just give out.
• Display the ribbons. How do you give out the ribbons so that people know what it is all about? They can be attached to bookmarks or business-size cards that explain how the blue ribbons show support for child abuse prevention. (Prevent Child Abuse New York can provide examples of bookmarks and cards.) Some ideas:
  • Distribute the ribbons at Child Abuse Prevention Month events.
  • Arrange for places of worship to distribute Blue Ribbons and information.
  • Contact local businesses - grocery stores, restaurants, toy stores, etc. - to ask if they would display the cards and ribbons for their customers to take.
  • Encourage businesses and schools to display huge blue ribbons on their buildings or in their windows.
  • Distribute the ribbons to all those who are working as professionals or volunteers for child abuse prevention, to child advocates, medical professionals, law officers, and civic leaders.
  • Encourage business, educational, civic and religious communities to hold family events where blue ribbons and positive parenting information are distributed.
  • Suggest that the ribbons be tied to care antennas.
  • Distribute to the media with a news release.
  • Convince employees of stores or restaurants to wear blue ribbons for a period of time; prepare them to tell customers why.
• Get as much media attention as possible. Contact community newspapers, radio and TV stations. Make sure the members of the media all get Blue Ribbons when you bring them a news release announcing your campaign. Keep track of how many ribbons go out, and report the results to the press.
  • Set up meetings with reporters and editors and share the Blue Ribbon Campaign history.
  • Ask papers to run a donated space featuring the Blue Ribbon information.
  • Ask radio and TV people to feature the Blue Ribbon Campaign – or at least share information about the campaign.
  • Kick-off your Blue Ribbon Campaign with a Blue Ribbon pinning with the mayor, county executive, or other local celebrities. Invite the media.
  • Be sure to tell the public that any piece of blue ribbon will do to convey the message, but if they want one of yours, tell them where to find it.

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There are limitless possibilities: Blue ribbons

• tied to all the cars in a dealer’s lot.
• included with the handouts in church in synagogue.
• in report cards.
• printed on grocery store bags.
• distributed by volunteers at shopping centers.
• tied to ski poles or tennis rackets.

Blue ribbon lapel pins (1 inch high, dark blue enamel) are available from Prevent Child Abuse New York for $2.50 each; reduced prices are available for bulk orders. For more information call 518-445-1273.

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