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And just like that, 2021 has drawn to a close. In a year that brought trials and tribulations, new innovations and collaborations, and opportunities to both reflect on the past and plan for the future, we are happy to highlight 21 causes for celebration we experienced in 2021.

Nearly every day clients ask: should they “get out ahead” of bad news? In the wildly popular musical Hamilton, the title character also faces this dilemma.

Still humming “In the Room Where it Happens” and “It’s Quiet Uptown,” days after seeing the widely acclaimed Broadway musical Hamilton, I had the thought that the lead character - in history and in the play - faced a crisis not dissimilar to some of our current PR clients. Nearly every day we are asked to advise our clients: should they “get out ahead” of bad news and reveal it themselves? Or should they stand ready to respond, waiting to see if anyone finds out first? As this brilliant play unfolds, Hamilton is faced with this all-too common dilemma.

This week’s historic election was bound to deliver a woman Mayor to the city of Boston – the first in its 199-year history. We brought in 3 experts to analyze the results: Steve Koczela of MassINC Polling Group, Wilnelia Rivera of Rivera Consulting, and Gin Dumcius of the Dorchester Reporter, came together for our latest In the News virtual event. Here’s what they said.

By Nicole Goldstein, Project Coordinator, Jovanny Rosado, Account Executive, and Jayda Leder-Luis, Vice President

Every Spanish kitchen we know is well stocked in onions and garlic. The flavors are the start to almost any meal, sweet cebolla and fragrant ajo. But just adding these two ingredients to your meals won’t make it a Latin-style dish. The secret sauce is the cultural connection, the nostalgia that has transcended for generations, and the fact that they come from the ground – a reminder that roots are worth digging for.

*Cartoon by Joel Pett
One of my favorite cartoons appeared in USA Today before the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. It shows a presenter on stage listing the benefits of a carbon-free future – green jobs, livable cities, clean air – and a man interjecting from the crowd: “What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?”

Public polling is about numbers, but when communicated thoughtfully, can tell a powerful story. Nonprofits should consider polling a tool in their communications toolbox – whether you commission a poll yourself or leverage polling data reported in the news.

Using polling data effectively can generate media attention, enhance your social media presence, provide a statistical foundation for personal anecdotes, and show strong public support for your cause.

Denterlein, an independent Boston public relations agency offering senior expertise in developing and implementing comprehensive communications strategies, has added Anusha Cicchetti as Account Director and Miles Grant as Vice President.

Last year, the Denterlein team deepened our longstanding partnership with Kelley Chunn and she joined our team as a Senior Advisor (while maintaining her independent communications consulting practice as well).  In celebration of our partnership, Denterlein made a contribution to the Roxbury Cultural District.  Kelley is the current vice-president of its board and was instrumental in earning the Cultural District designation for the corridor, which includes both Nubian and  John Eliot Square.  In the spirit of Juneteenth’s celebration of Black community, freedom, culture and history, we asked Kelley to share her thoughts on the importance of this designation. 

Global Pride Month is well underway and organizations — long-term and recent LGBTQIA+ supporters — are going rainbow everything to show their allyship for a community that has come a long way with marriage equality being the law of the land and some consistent and explicit anti-discrimination protections in place. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted the media landscape in more ways than one. News about the virus and its societal impacts first took place in the publishing lineup. Beat reporters that usually focus on other areas have been pulled away to cover testing site deployment and vaccine rollout.