Standing as the oldest institution of its kind in the country, the Fernald Development Center in Waltham has been home to thousands of severely and profoundly retarded citizens in Massachusetts. The residents there make up a special group; they range in age from 35 to 97 years old, some are unable to walk, others cannot speak, most cannot feed themselves. Together, they make up a community of the most dependent citizens under state care, and are protected by a 1993 federal court decision requiring top-quality treatment.
In 2003, Governor Mitt Romney announced his intentions to close the Fernald Center, transfer its residents, and sell off its large 200-acre campus, which sprawls through one of the most prime real estate markets in the Commonwealth. Families were left with the agonizing uncertainty of their loved ones’ futures, and hoped that the state would allow residents to live out their lives at the Waltham facility.
In late 2004, Crawford Strategies teamed up with the Fernald League for the Retarded, a small organization representing the guardians of Fernald’s residents. In an attempt to bring their struggle to Massachusetts consciousness and to influence state policy, Crawford Strategies used an aggressive public relations campaign to renew interest in federal court. Crawford Strategies succeeded in engaging the court, which had the authority to rule in the residents’ interests.
The Fernald case proved to be a state-wide issues advocacy campaign for Crawford Strategies, which integrated state government and agencies, the federal courts, advocates for the mentally retarded, hundreds of loving families, and every mainstream media outlet in the state. With a coordinated legal and communications plan in place, Crawford Strategies was able to generate substantial press and editorial coverage that fostered an ongoing human interest and sustained the story’s long-term visibility.
Both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald editorial writers and columnists devoted considerable space to the plight of the Fernald families, highlighting their concerns in numerous pieces which encapsulated the human price of the facility’s closure. This editorial support along with news coverage from outlets like the Associated Press, WBZ-AM radio, and WCVB-TV Channel 5, brought these personal struggles to light.
The services provided to the Fernald League by Crawford Strategies assured that the families’ voices would not fall into obscurity, and helped them to stand up against the state’s decision.
Click the play button to hear a radio news piece on the Fernald campaign: