For Immediate Release
May 4, 2020
United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher education union, has released a new ad that honors our members on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and calls on Congress to send emergency funds to help New York and other states hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 30-second ad, titled “We Are New York,” starts today and runs through May 11. It will air on cable news stations in New York City, Brooklyn, and Albany and Nassau counties, and on YouTube in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, New York City and Nassau County. A one-week social media campaign—on Facebook and Instagram—will follow.
“This ad is a public thank-you to thousands of our members on the front lines at SUNY’s public teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse, as well as hospitals in Buffalo,” said UUP President Frederick E. Kowal, Ph.D. “Other UUP members have been busy making face masks and shields, leading food giveaways and helping colleagues and friends whose jobs have evaporated due to the virus.
“At the same time, it’s a call-out to our congressional representatives to push for federal dollars for New York, which has been decimated financially by its necessary response to the pandemic,” he said. “New York needs an infusion of federal funding to keep essential services such as police and fire protections and our hospitals functioning.”
The ad dovetails with UUP’s e-letter/phone campaign, which urges UUP members and supporters to tell New York’s congressional delegation to push for funding for New York in forthcoming coronavirus mitigation packages. CLICK HERE to access the letter.
New York is the epicenter of coronavirus in America; nearly 19,000 people have died, and the state has more than 300,000 confirmed cases, most of them downstate.
The ad shows photos and video of UUP health-care workers at SUNY’s hospitals, instructors leading remote-learning classes, and members leading efforts to bring communities together “to face this crisis head-on.”
The spot pivots, stating that New York needs help to “get back on our feet.” It ends with the tagline: “Tell Congress: Send New York state the resources to build a better, stronger future—for all,” with the phone number to the U.S. Capitol switchboard.
The ad was produced by UUP Media and Publications, and GPS Impact, a Philadelphia-based company that has created ads for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania Congress member Conor Lamb, and The Fairness Project, among others.
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