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McKinney and Associates

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McKinney and Associates Public Relations (McKPR), founded in 1990, was the first woman- and minority-owned strategic communications firm with a social conscience in Washington, DC.[1]

About

As one of the few woman- and minority-owned international strategic communication firms in Washington, DC, McKPR was co-founded in 1990 by Gwen McKinney and Leila McDowell as McKinney & McDowell Associates. Today Gwen McKinney solely leads McKPR, which has maintained its mission of “delivering public relations with a conscience” for over 20 years.[2]

Today McKPR has a staff of ten experienced communication professionals and retains an array of consultants in order to provide targeted, provocative and timely communication strategies to human rights organizations, non-profits, local, national and international governments. McKPR specializes in delivering messaging to diverse audiences, including African Americans, Hispanics and women.

Some of McKPR's clients have been the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., TransAfrica, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

Significance

Gwen McKinney, daughter of former Pennsylvania State Senator Paul McKinney, was a former nationally syndicated reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune and was the press secretary for Eleanor Holmes Norton during her successful campaign for United States Congress in 1990.[3] McKPR began as McKinney & McDowell Associates in a Washington, DC church basement. They had an IBM Selectric II typewriter, two AT&T single-line telephones and a Kapro computer. Some of McKPR's earliest projects included work with the anti-apartheid movement and promotion of the then new South African government under President Nelson Mandela, National Rainbow Coalition, National Organization of Women and the governments of Haiti, Angola and Namibia.[4]

References

  1. ^ The Philadelphia Tribune, 22 August 2010
  2. ^ The Philadelphia Tribune, 22 August 2010
  3. ^ The Washington Post, 23 June 1994
  4. ^ Washington Business Journal, 29 July-4 August 1994, volume 13, number 15