Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) is a professional organization for women in the public relations field. In 1980, a small group of women headed by Mila Albertson, Tacy Telego, Mary Dyess and Ellen Werther, placed an ad in a local trade publication seeking participants to form a network for women working in communications and related fields in the Washington, DC, area. Thirty-five women responded, and they held their first meeting at the old YMCA in downtown Washington, on a hot summer day without air conditioning. Six years later, Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) became a nonprofit corporation and adopted bylaws. WWPR established the Pro Bono Committee in 1993 to give back to the community by offering our expertise to a local organization that works specifically with women’s issues. In 1990, WWPR celebrated its 10th anniversary by establishing WWPR’s PR Woman of the Year Award, which honors a senior-level Washington area PR practitioner who has demonstrated leadership, creativity and dedication to the profession. The popular and prestigious award luncheon has become WWPR’s signature event. WWPR also started the popular annual Flack Attack Program, which is now the Media Roundtable luncheon, where journalists and editors discuss best practices in media relations. In honor of our 30th anniversary, WWPR instituted three new committees in 2010: Partnerships, Emerging Leaders Awards and Executive Communicators. PRO BONO CLIENTS
WWPR has been providing pro bono public relations and communications services to nonprofit clients since 1993. WWPR’s first pro bono client was the DC R**e Crisis Center, for which we worked for ten years. As of January 2009, WWPR officially changed our policy to limit service to two years and began announcing new clients at our annual luncheon and board induction. Besides communications assistance, our pro bono client receives the revenue from the annual PR Woman of the Year Award luncheon raffle and from a gift drive during our annual holiday party.
