Turning Empathy into Action

Approximately 1 in 10 young adults ages 18–24 and 1 in 30 teenagers ages 13–17 experience homelessness each year. This crisis becomes more urgent in cities like New Orleans, where 1 in 3 children lives in poverty, and the risk of housing insecurity is significantly higher. 

Covenant House New Orleans exists to meet this need, walking alongside young people experiencing homelessness and helping them find safety, stability, and hope. 

One of the most powerful ways they bring the community into this reality is through their annual “Sleep Out” event. The “Sleep Out” experience is designed to build empathy by giving participants a glimpse into the lives of homeless youth, while also raising critical funds to support the work year-round. 

While the event is already immensely impactful, Covenant House wanted to raise the bar to ensure more people heard the story and stepped into action. With only 16 days to execute, NURA came alongside Covenant House to strengthen public relations and fundraising efforts for Sleep Out 2025.

Our approach focused on giving audiences a reason to care and buy into the work of Covenant House. We built an 100% organic social media strategy that prioritized daily, story-driven content to build momentum leading up to the event.

Utilizing our strong influencer network, we partnered with local voices, like Kortlynn Jenae (@kortlynnjanae), who amplified the message beyond Covenant House’s reach and brought new awareness to Sleep Out.

At the same time, we pursued traditional media coverage, sending targeted media advisories for pre-event and post-event press coverage. That outreach led to interviews and broadcast coverage, including appearances on New Orleans’ WWL-TV Morning News and WBOK, as well as on-site coverage from WVUE-TV and WGNO-TV.