Cabbagetown Initiative (CICDC) — Follow-Up Sequence

Target: Cabbagetown Initiative Community Development Corporation (CICDC) — "Energizing Public Spaces" — the since-1999 501(c)3 that maintains Cabbagetown Park, the community center, the community garden, and the Wylie Street mural corridor (in cooperation with the City of Atlanta), and runs Chomp & Stomp and Forward Warrior

Contact: John Dirga, Executive Director (unverified direct email — see flags); general inbox info@cabbagetown.com

Channel(s): Email (primary); Instagram DM @cabbagetownusa fallback

Source first-touch: registry/leads/drafts/cabbagetown-initiative-outreach.md

Source row: targets.md E7 (Web-sourced candidates 2026-05-28)

Generated: 2026-09-20 (night-shift)

Assumes: no reply to the first touch (free 60–90 second reel offer)

Register: small, volunteer-run neighborhood 501(c)3 that stewards public spaces and runs two signature community events; event documentation + donor/volunteer storytelling + grant/funder reporting, not a hard sell

Cadence

|-------|--------|---------|------------------|

| 2 | D+12 | Email | Free one-page "Chomp & Stomp Story Checklist" (Appendix A) |

| 3 | D+20 | Email (or DM) | Honest proof points: the L5P series (putting together) and mission-driven media work, Detroit Action included |

| 4 | D+28 | Email | Donor/funder hook: the park, the center, the garden, the mural wall behind a face |

| 5 | D+36 | Email (or DM) | Door-open close, no ask |

Flags — read before sending

1. Channel. Email to info@cabbagetown.com is primary; it's a general inbox with no direct staff email published. Addressing "John" assumes it routes to Dirga or to whoever handles community partnerships. The shorter touches (3 and 5) can go as Instagram DM to @cabbagetownusa. Pick one channel per touch; don't double-send.

2. No direct email for John Dirga. The site routes through the general inbox and the contact form (cabbagetown.com/contact). Verify before Touch 1 whether the inbox reaches him. If Brandyn prefers not to name anyone, drop the greeting to "Cabbagetown Initiative team" and keep the rest.

3. Leadership is from the "2025" board block, but Dirga is current. The CICDC page lists "Board of Directors (2025)" with ED John Dirga; separately the live 2026 Forward Warrior page names him as Director managing this September's festival. Address him, but treat the 2025 roster as possibly rotated.

4. Forward Warrior Weekend (Sept 18–20, 2026) has already passed. Do not build any touch around a near-term Forward Warrior ask. Reference it only as past documentation or a next-year asset. Chomp & Stomp (first Saturday in November) is the live anchor.

5. Touch 1 and Touch 4 hang on Chomp & Stomp as the seasonal hook. It is the org's biggest fundraiser of the year. No invented dates beyond "first Saturday in November," no attendance numbers, donor counts, grants, awards, or quotes.

6. Touch 3 must stay at "early / putting together / no finished episodes" for the L5P series, and "mission-driven media work I've done" for Detroit Action. Do not upgrade either to finished episodes or results until that's actually true. This is the touch most at risk of overclaiming.

7. Do not imply CICDC is a current client anywhere. It's a cold prospect. The only orgs named in this sequence are CICDC itself, Little Five Points (the series, "putting together"), and Detroit Action (a factual prior relationship, held soft).

8. Keep distinct from the other Cabbagetown drafts (Little's D9, 97 Estoria E6, Trackside D10) and the sibling follow-ups (Trees Atlanta, FCS, Grove Park, Westside Future Fund). Do not reuse their copy, do not batch-send.

9. Stop the moment they reply. This is a conversation, not a drip. Any response restarts as a real thread and the remaining touches get dropped.

Touch 1 — The Chomp & Stomp anchor (D+5)

Subject: the park full of neighbors is what funds the year

John —

Chomp & Stomp is the first Saturday in November, the biggest fundraiser of the year. What that really is: the one day Cabbagetown Park is full of the neighbors who keep the park, the community center, and the garden running the other 364.

A donation ask can describe that. It can't show it. The chili tents going up, the bluegrass stage, the line of people who live around the corner. That footage is the fundraising asset the rest of the year leans on.

If there's one corner of that day you'd point a camera at first, that's where I'd start.

~105 words. Leads with the live seasonal anchor, not a re-offer of the free shoot. "You pick it" carries forward from the first touch. Frames Chomp & Stomp as the fundraising day rather than the fun day, which is the donor-storytelling register this org actually runs on. Distinct from the Trees Atlanta "1986 tree is canopy now" and FCS "number vs face" hooks.

Touch 1 — alternate channel (Instagram DM @cabbagetownusa), don't double-send

Hey — Ghost Coast Video, I make short reels for Atlanta nonprofits.

Chomp & Stomp is the first Saturday in November, the biggest fundraiser of the year. The one day the park is full of the neighbors who keep it running the rest of the year. A donation ask can describe that, can't show it. I'd shoot a free 60-second piece that day if it's useful. You own the footage.

~65 words. Same hook, DM register. Use only if email goes unanswered and the inbox routing is unknown; pick one channel per touch.

Touch 2 — Free asset: the festival checklist (D+12)

Subject: a Chomp & Stomp story checklist you could hand to a volunteer

John —

I put together a one-page checklist for capturing Chomp & Stomp on a phone, written so you could hand it to whoever's running the volunteer tent or the stage that day.

It's below, the whole thing, no strings. If the "one day, one story" rhythm reads like something that'd feed the donation page and the year-end ask, that's the part I'd want to build with you.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

The checklist is Appendix A below. Self-contained, ready to paste into an email or drop into a Google Doc. The "hand it to a volunteer" framing is aimed at a volunteer-run shop where whoever runs the day isn't a comms professional.

Touch 3 — The proof points, honest (D+20)

Subject: what I'm learning filming the work nobody documents

John —

I'm putting a short interview series together over in Little Five Points right now, and I'll be straight about where it stands: early. No finished episodes yet.

What I know from the mission-driven media work I've done, Detroit Action included, is that a volunteer shop doesn't need a production budget to start this. The park, the garden, the mural wall are already there. It's a matter of pointing a camera at the neighbors in them.

When the first L5P cuts land I'll send you one, so you can judge it instead of taking my word.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~95 words. Claims only what's true: the L5P series is "putting together," no episodes, no metrics. Detroit Action is held at "mission-driven media work I've done" — a fact, not a results claim. The "mural wall" line keeps the stewardship-of-public-space thesis in view. Does not imply CICDC is a client anywhere.

Touch 4 — Donor/funder hook (D+28)

Subject: a funder report describes the park, a face shows it

John —

One note on the funder side, then I'll get out of your way. A grant report lists the park, the community center, the garden, the mural corridor. What a funder actually remembers is the neighbor standing in one of them.

A 60-second piece that shows someone in the garden, or a kid on the mural wall, turns "here's what we did with the funding" into "here's who it changed." That's the attachment that makes a report land and earns the next award.

If the reporting cycle's already locked, no problem. The work keeps either way.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~95 words. The funder-reporting register, tuned to a small nonprofit whose funding is earned through grants and a once-a-year fundraiser. Does not assert a specific grant or deadline; "the reporting cycle" stays general. Forward Warrior is deliberately not pushed here — it's already past; the living assets are the everyday spaces.

Touch 5 — Door-open close (D+36)

Subject: leaving the door open

John —

I've sent a few notes over the last month and won't keep them coming if the timing's off. A volunteer-run shop's got enough on it.

The offer stands as it was. If the Cabbagetown Initiative ever wants its park and its neighbors on camera, I'm around. And when the Little Five Points series is actually finished, I'll send you a link anyway. It's the honest version of what I've been describing.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~75 words. No ask, no recap, no guilt. Closes on the honest forward promise (the L5P link), which doubles as a reason to keep the thread.

Appendix A — "The Chomp & Stomp Story" capture checklist

The deliverable for Touch 2. Self-contained; paste into an email or drop into a Google Doc.

The Chomp & Stomp Story — a capture checklist for a community festival

What it is. A short checklist for capturing Chomp & Stomp on a phone, so the footage tells the story of the neighborhood doing the thing, not just a recap of a fun day.

Why it matters. The first Saturday in November is the biggest fundraiser of the year. A donor who sees the park full of neighbors understands what their money keeps running faster than any description of the park, the community center, or the garden ever could.

Before the day.

[ ] Name the one story the day is really about (one neighbor, one tent, one stage, one block)
[ ] Pick the three places it happens (the chili tents, the stage, the gate where people come in)
[ ] Make sure one volunteer knows someone will ask them one question

During.

[ ] Get the neighborhood in the frame, not just the food: the tents, the stage, the line, the neighbors
[ ] Catch one honest moment, not a posed one (a kid tasting chili, two neighbors sharing a table, someone caught off guard laughing)
[ ] Ask one person "why'd you come out today" and let them answer in their own words

After.

[ ] Cut the best 60 seconds within a few days, while the day is still fresh in the neighborhood
[ ] Send it to the people in it so they share it themselves
[ ] Keep the full footage for the year-end ask, the donation page, and the next sponsor deck

The rule of thumb. The park full of neighbors is the story. The festival is just the day it happens.

Notes for Brandyn

Appendix A is ready to deploy as a one-page PDF or Google Doc for Touch 2. The "park full of neighbors" angle is what makes it CICDC-specific rather than a generic festival checklist, and it's distinct from the Trees Atlanta planting-day checklist, the CCI "room not the stage" checklist, and the Grove Park "one block, ninety seconds" mini-guide.
Strongest touch if only one gets sent: Touch 1 (the Chomp & Stomp anchor). Touch 4 (funder) is the close second because it's the grant/funder register this kind of org actually lives on.
Detroit Action stays soft. It's referenced in Touch 3 only as "mission-driven media work I've done." It's a real prior client, but do not upgrade it to a results claim or a case study here. The Little Five Points series stays at "putting together, no finished episodes."
Westside Future Fund, Grove Park Foundation, and Trees Atlanta are deliberately NOT named as GCV work here. They're cold prospects, not clients, per editorial principle 3d. Only Detroit Action and the L5P series are safe to hold up as real work. If Brandyn wants to name the nonprofit-storytelling pattern more explicitly, he should confirm the wording first.
Forward Warrior is held only as past documentation / next-year asset. The Sept 18–20, 2026 weekend has passed; if Brandyn wants a follow-up tuned to next year's Forward Warrior, that's a separate seasonal note closer to the event.
Downstream asks stay held until a real conversation, per the first-touch draft: paid event coverage, a recurring series, grant-report production, annual-report video. None of these appear as asks in this sequence — the only thing still on the table is the free first piece and the door staying open.
Placeholders flagged for confirmation: the unverified John Dirga direct email (general inbox info@cabbagetown.com only), and the "2025" board roster. No fabricated metrics, dates, donor numbers, grants, awards, clients, or testimonials anywhere.