J9 Media Solutions wins PRSA East Central District's Diamond Award of Merit

ROCHESTER, Mich., Dec. 17, 2018 – J9 Media Solutions, LLC, a Rochester-based public relations firm, received the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) East Central District Diamond Award of Merit for its efforts to promote a short documentary “A Day in the Life of Elijah Craft” for Beyond Basics, a metropolitan Detroit-based literacy nonprofit.

J9 Media Solutions’ president Janine Krasicky Sadaj and Maura Campbell, strategic communications consultant, accepted the award recently at the PRSA Detroit Chapter 2018 Annual Meeting.

“Beyond Basics is changing the lives of thousands of children in Detroit, Pontiac and Taylor by solving the illiteracy crisis with its proven solution,” said Janine Krasicky Sadaj, president of J9 Media Solutions. “This powerful documentary told the story of how one young Detroiter went from reading at first grade reading level to proficient in 14 weeks. Raising awareness of Beyond Basics and the illiteracy crisis that is plaguing Detroit and America is the most important work I’ve done in my career. I am so grateful that J9 Media could play a part in alerting people to this crisis and getting more children access to the skills they need to unlock their potential.”

“Illiteracy is the largest solvable disability in Detroit and America. I’m very thankful for J9 Media and the journalists who have made the public more aware of how Beyond Basics is helping to solve illiteracy in vulnerable communities,” said Pamela Good, co-founder and CEO of Beyond Basics. “Only through literacy can we break the generational cycle of poverty in families and create opportunities to rebuild our community one family at a time.”

Watch how one young Detroiter’s life transforms simply by learning to read on Detroit Public TV’s One Detroit: Elijah’s Story.

J9's media outreach for the organization's short documentary “A Day in the Life of Elijah Craft,” produced by Keith Famie of Visionalist Productions, generated a front cover article in Crain’s Detroit Business, a 30-minute segment on Detroit Public TV, an interview with Paul W. Smith on WJR and created a buzz on social media. This media coverage helped position Beyond Basics as a solution to combat illiteracy, establish the CEO as a thought leader, and build awareness about this epidemic in local, regional and national media.

About the PRSA East Central District Diamond Awards

About Beyond Basics

Beyond Basics’ proven methods unlock the miracle and power of reading and open a whole new world and future to those who need it most. Beyond Basics is a literacy-focused nonprofit dedicated to one-on-one reading tutoring and literacy enrichment programs for K-12 students and families in Metropolitan Detroit.