Hello CADCA coalitions, partners and friends! My name is Benjamin Katz, and I am CADCA’s new Marketing Associate! I was born in the District of Columbia, raised in Maryland, and now live in Virginia where I continue to travel regularly between the three. I have travelled all over the world and in my short time seen enough to know that I have only seen a fraction of what there is on this pale, blue dot. A definitive lesson I have learned is that one should never judge another but approach every new person and situation with compassion and love. That is why I have connected so much with CADCA, our field, our staff, and our mission over the last 2 months; everyone treats prevention with the proper care, focus and respect it deserves, and it makes me happy to know that I am contributing my talents where I can be among like-minded professionals and peers.
In just two short months, I have been whisked away in a whirlwind of meetings, learning everything there is to know about CADCA as an organization, studying the past work of the people before me, and creating my own legacy, leaving my unique footprint in the sand. To put my role simply, I am responsible for cohesive brand messaging, outreach and information dissemination, social media management and digital content creation and development. This means that I collaborate with everyone in every department at all times.
If the Youth Leadership (YL) department wants to release a One-Pager about CADCA En Español, I will look it over, make updates and edits as needed, and circulate it back to the YL team for final approval. If Public Policy wants to add advocacy-related content on our website, I am the guy who will experiment with WordPress and work closely with a representative from their team to make sure their vision is fulfilled. If my boss wants ideas for how to promote Mid-Year, I will go around the office asking what people are doing and film their reactions before releasing a 3-part series to our social media platforms informing our audience on the different departments’ roles and responsibilities. All of this to say that I engage with everyone to ensure every employee feels included and respectfully seen in the public eye. There is no task too small or too big to work on so long as I am contributing to CADCA’s mission.
It is my personal mission while working here to highlight the incredible work of all the staff at CADCA and while doing so, raise awareness of our evidence-based, community-focused model that has created positive social impact across the globe for over 30 years! I look forward to continuing my collaborative events and attending my first event where I can meet with, learn from, and educate more of our incredible people and see the heart behind CADCA.
