Case Studies
Our multi-disciplinary team helps transform businesses to advance humanity through effective communication and DEI strategies that deliver increased innovation, retention, productivity, and revenues. Following are some examples:
The Challenge
In 2014, Orlando Health, a leading healthcare system in Central Florida, established its Office of Diversity and Minority Business Development to formally address the needs of the region’s increasingly diverse workforce, patient population and business community and further embed diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility into their caregiving and procurement practices.
The Strategy
URBANDER helped Orlando Health develop and implement the new department’s strategy from its inception in alignment with patient-centered care, workforce training and vendor engagement practices that adhere to best standards in the healthcare industry. To support strategy implementation, we created diversity, equity, inclusion, and culturally mindful multimedia learning resources, developed, and facilitated cultural competency programming for team member education and produced multimedia content for engagement with diverse suppliers.
The Result
Orlando Health is continuously training their 23,000+ team members regarding building inclusive teams, culturally competent care, and LGBTQ+ patient care through multimedia resources created and produced by URBANDER. Resources are accessed through their employee intranet platform and also delivered via in-person sessions and the hospital network’s Learning Management System (LMS). Coursework counts as Continuing Education (CE) credits. Orlando Health has incorporated policies that enhance caregiving, reduce disparities in access to quality care, and create an inclusive environment for diverse patient populations and their families. In 2018 they established a Diversity Council that oversees accountability and launched LGBTQ and Women’s Cultural Ambassadors Groups.
Orlando Health’s spend with diverse vendors tripled in five years and they received 23 awards and recognitions for the impact of the work of the Office of Diversity and Minority Business Development in the Central Florida community during the same timeframe. URBANDER continues to support Orlando Health’s Diversity and Minority Development, Culture and Language Resources and Marketing departments with strategy, content development and creative services.
Orlando Health’s spend with diverse vendors tripled in five years and they received 23 awards and recognitions for the impact of the work of the Office of Diversity and Minority Business Development in the Central Florida community during the same timeframe. URBANDER continues to support Orlando Health’s Diversity and Minority Development, Culture and Language Resources and Marketing departments with strategy, content development and creative services.
The Challenge
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane María impacted the Caribbean shattering the lives of Puerto Ricans living on the island. In the next 18 months, Central Florida experienced the largest influx ever of people migrating from Puerto Rico. CareerSource Central Florida needed support training Spanish-dominant professionals arriving to the region for them to be able to interview for available jobs through their employment placement programs. The goal was to achieve 85% retention of people registered for Job Readiness Training, ensuring they participated in all five URBANDER sessions and received their certificate of completion.
The Strategy
URBANDER won the contract to provide Career Preparation Services for CareerSource Central Florida that consisted of face-to-face weekly Job Readiness Training sessions regarding U.S. workplace culture and cultural competency when engaging with non-Hispanic people while at work. We used a dual-language approach to promote capacity building regarding the employment seeking process and workplace experience in the U.S. mainland, while addressing the communication support that the cohorts of English-language learners needed because of the language barrier. Audiovisual presentations, curriculum and workbooks were developed in English and bilingual facilitators provided in-person full-day instruction to cohorts of a maximum of 20 people.
The Result
A total of 349 people who were recent arrivals from Puerto Rico registered for CareerSource Central Florida’s Job Readiness Training program provided by URBANDER. We achieved 100% retention, exceeding the 85% goal. In other words, all participants received their certificate of completion. The average cohort size was 13 people. In an exit survey, URBANDER facilitators received a 5 out 5-star rating and 96% of participants said that the English-language content was easy to read and understand and visually appealing, and that the activities and exercises were fun and helped reinforce learning about workplace culture, job readiness and cultural competency in the U.S.
The Challenge
In the Fall of 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic prevented AARP from conducting full-scale in-person outreach, engagement, and educational initiatives in the community as part of their advocacy work to protect the interests of people 50+. It was important to find creative ways to continue to connect, engage and inform the community about AARP’s mission. The client called URBANDER to brainstorm a way to develop original virtual programming that would help connect and engage with their local target audiences and attract new people to AARP’s mission. We decided to produce a documentary entitled Sights & Sounds of Heritage: ¡Bomba! and to get scheduled on AARP’s national virtual platform En Vivo Contigo dedicated to engaging with Hispanic audiences online. Bomba is a traditional dance and musical art expression with Afro-Latino roots that originated in Puerto Rico, still practiced today on the island and by the Puerto Rican diaspora.
The Strategy
Three AARP state offices (Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico) collaborated to create the ideal trifecta and launch this pilot – the first initiative of its kind for the organization. Both New York and Florida have experienced the largest migrations of people from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland in the last century. The documentary consisted of interviews and footage capturing the impactful history, lived experiences, rhythms, movements, instrumentation, and song of Bomba’s cultural and spiritual art form through artistic performances and scholarly interviews conducted by AARP staff in each region. The content was linked to the benefits of dance and music to Brain Health and to the free resources provided by AARP on this topic. The Florida State office also worked with URBANDER to research and identify micro influencers with a specific focus on Hispanic audiences based out of New York, Puerto Rico, and Florida to promote En Vivo Contigo presents Sights & Sounds of Heritage: ¡Bomba! that took place December 16, 2021. The goal was to examine the value-add of using micro influencers as a source of increased engagements of target audiences at a local level.
The Result
A total of 308 people participated in the LIVE virtual event with 92% being first-time engagers with AARP. The three micro influencers we contracted accounted for 49% of event engagers. The on demand online AARP offering of the recorded event exceeded 5,500 views and experienced an estimated social media reach of 9,000 impressions that included the following states and regions: Florida, Puerto Rico, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and the Tri-State Area, including New York.
Client Portfolio
