California Victim Compensation Board – Public Awareness Campaign

The Challenge

In 2023, the California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB) partnered with Civilian to increase—especially in underserved, hard-to-reach communities—awareness of and participation in CalVCB’s Victim Compensation Service, which reimburses crime-related expenses for victims of violent crime.

Our Approach

Civilian developed a detailed strategic communications plan aimed at maximum impact on a limited budget. We addressed our campaign to two core audience groups, prioritizing highly populated areas with high crime rates and low CalVCB participation:

• Primary: Individual crime victims and their personal support networks, especially within economically disadvantaged and underserved communities (e.g., BIPOC, Tribal/Indigenous, immigrant, refugee, undocumented, systems-impacted, LGBTQIA+).
• Secondary: Institutional support networks (e.g., mental health workers, healthcare providers, law enforcement, social service staff, educators, faith-based organizations).

We began with formative research, including a literature review, stakeholder interviews, a statewide awareness survey, and analysis of syndicated data.  Key findings included:

• Low overall awareness of CalVCB, particularly among women and young people
• Confusion about CalVCB services
• High value placed on messages from trusted community partners
• High value placed on real stories and testimonials from CalVCB clients
• Approval of social media as an effective means of communication

Informed by this research, we built a four-part communications framework to guide campaign development:

• Raise Awareness: Position CalVCB  as a key player in victim support.
• Foster Clarity and Understanding: Clearly explain  the types of reimbursement CalVCB provides, the criteria for eligibility, and the application process
• Build Trust: Use real stories and testimonials from CalVCB clients to show impact and build credibility.
• Inspire Action: Encourage victims and eligible members of their support networks  to apply for compensation.

To maximize efficiency, we used cost-effective media buying tactics and optimized our approach throughout the campaign. While the original strategy included paid media, PR and communications, and organic social, the final scope was  streamlined to prioritize paid media, enabling CalVCB to grow its in-house capabilities in other areas.

Our paid media campaign focused on 15 highly populated counties with demonstrated CalVCB application disparity, in particular  Los Angeles, San Diego, and Kern Counties. We prioritized economically disadvantaged and underserved communities, delivering content in both English and Spanish. In addition to application data, we relied on crime rates, census data, and data on media consumption habits to devise a cost-effective media plan and ensure that our campaign reached the communities who need CalVCB most. The result was a full-funnel campaign, optimized by geography and audience needs and designed to drive both awareness and action. 

The Results

The campaign launched in January 2025 and has already delivered 49+ million impressions and 441,000+ clicks with a sustained increase in web traffic. A follow-up survey will be conducted at the end of the campaign, in April 2026, to measure impact and shifts in awareness, understanding, trust, and engagement.