Project Overview
Choosing a college pathway involves more than cost, particularly for students balancing education with family responsibilities and long-term career goals. The I Can Afford College campaign transformed key California Community Colleges messages into four short, telenovela-style stories designed to engage Latino students and families through culturally relevant storytelling.
Through relatable characters, family dynamics and dramatic storylines, each story highlighted a different benefit of the community college pathway, including affordability, the ability to stay close to home and support family, earning a career-focused certificate in as little as two years, and the opportunity to begin at a community college before transferring to a four-year university. The series made these education pathways more accessible, entertaining and relevant to the audiences the campaign was designed to reach.
Strategy
The strategy began by identifying an opportunity to make key community college messages more culturally relevant and engaging for Latino students and families. As the multicultural lead, I helped shape the campaign concept and communications approach, using the familiar telenovela format to translate complex education messages into four entertaining, relatable stories.
Execution required coordination across creative, production and campaign teams to bring each story to life and connect the narratives to the broader I Can Afford College message. My work spanned concept development, video production, media relations, social media activation and Spanish-language outreach, helping extend the campaign across multiple communications channels.
The activation strategy paired the six stories with targeted media outreach and digital and social content designed to expand reach and engagement.
Campaign Assets
Results
The campaign demonstrated how culturally relevant entertainment could make complex public information more approachable and engaging. The four-story telenovela series received national recognition and helped establish a foundation for future digital-first storytelling designed to reach Latino youth and Spanish-speaking communities.
By combining entertainment, multicultural communications and integrated activation, the campaign expanded the ways college affordability, career education and transfer opportunities could connect with priority audiences.