Puppies with Purpose: Celebrating San Quentin Inmates Who Give Back to Society by Raising Service Dog Puppies

About This Project

Summary

Our Prison Puppy Program is a community outreach effort to engage incarcerated populations in positive behavior to benefit both their self-esteem and society at large. To bring national media attention to our program and to the vital role that puppy raisers play in the development of service dogs, we worked directly with San Quentin to provide an AP reporter & photographer exclusive access to the prison grounds and meetings with the participating inmates and recipients of the graduating dogs.

Goals & Objectives

1) Generate national news headlines about our innovative Prison Puppy Raising Program; 2) Highlight the role of volunteer puppy raisers in our overall service dog mission; 3) Offer press a positive news story about incarcerated populations and a rare behind-the-scenes look at San Quentin Rehab Ctr.

Results & Impact

1,100-word feature article and video/photo spread via Associated Press national wires, which was syndicated to other national publications with more than 550 stories reaching 715M people; feature television segment on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir