Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) — Follow-Up Sequence

Target: Center for Civic Innovation — civicatlanta.org — nonprofit based at 330 Auburn Ave, Downtown Atlanta; trains community leaders and civic entrepreneurs through the Civic Innovation Fellowship, Good Trouble Honors, Civics Academy, and tools like ATLBudget and VoteATL

Contact: Clara Totenberg Green, Director of Communications & Storytelling

Channel(s): LinkedIn DM (primary); civicatlanta.org contact form (backup)

Source first-touch: registry/leads/drafts/center-for-civic-innovation-outreach.md

Source row: targets.md D6

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

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

Register: comms/storytelling lead at a civic-leadership nonprofit; storytelling and campaign craft and event-capture, not a hard sell

Cadence

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

| 2 | D+12 | LinkedIn DM (or form) | Free one-page "The Room Makes the Story" capture checklist (Appendix A) |

| 3 | D+20 | LinkedIn DM | Honest proof point: rooms full of people, not stages — plus the L5P series at "putting together" |

| 4 | D+28 | LinkedIn DM | Civic-calendar hook: the next honors night is the room, not the stage |

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

Touch 1 — The before-and-after nobody films (D+5)

Subject: a fellowship cohort has a before-and-after nobody films

Clara —

The part of a fellowship cohort I keep coming back to is the before-and-after. People walk into the first session as strangers and leave a few months later as a network. That change is the whole story, and it usually gets exactly one photo at graduation.

A 60-second cut that puts the first session next to the last one says more about what CCI does than any program description. Same room, same people, and then not the same people at all.

If there's a cohort or an academy session you'd point a camera at first, that's where I'd start.

~90 words. Leads with a concrete idea drawn from CCI's own structure (a fellowship cohort) without re-offering the free shoot as the lead. "You pick it" carries forward from the first touch. No program numbers, no dates, no metrics — the 100+ leaders / $2M+ figures from the first-touch draft are deliberately omitted (unverified).

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

Subject: a checklist you could hand to a program director

Clara —

I put together a one-page checklist for capturing a cohort or honors event on video. It's written so you could hand it to whoever runs the Fellowship or the Good Trouble Honors and call it a starting point, or drop it into the next comms-planning conversation.

It's below, the whole thing, no strings. If the "one story a month" rhythm reads like something that'd serve your storytelling, 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 a DM, an email, or a Google Doc. The "hand it to a program director" framing is aimed at a comms lead who has to make the case internally, not at a direct video buyer.

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

Subject: what I'm learning filming rooms full of people

Clara —

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 have shot before is events and spaces, a speaker series out in Albuquerque. The lesson's the same in every one of them: the room is the story, not the stage. CCI's calendar is full of those rooms.

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. The Albuquerque speaker series is held at "a speaker series out in Albuquerque" — a factual prior shoot, not a client relationship and not a results claim. Does not imply CCI is a client anywhere.

Touch 4 — Civic-calendar hook (D+28)

Subject: the next honors night, the room is the story

Clara —

One timing note, then I'll get out of your way. When the Good Trouble Honors comes around again, the temptation is to film the stage, the names being called, the speeches. That's the part people already remember.

The part that gets missed is the room. The people being recognized, sure, but also everyone around them: the cohort, the staff, the neighbors who came. A 60-second piece that captures the room instead of just the stage is the one that actually gets shared.

If the calendar's already locked, no problem. The stories keep either way.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~100 words. Uses CCI's own annual event (Good Trouble Honors) as the seasonal hook but does not assert a date; "comes around again" stays safe. The "room not the stage" angle is the civic register, distinct from the donor-retention angle in the FCS sequence and the conversion angle in the EABA sequence.

Touch 5 — Door-open close (D+36)

Subject: leaving the door open

Clara —

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

The offer stands as it was. If CCI ever wants its people and its rooms 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.

Flags — read before sending

1. Channel. LinkedIn DM to Clara Totenberg Green is primary. The civicatlanta.org contact form is the backup for touches 2 and 5 if DM access is a barrier. Pick one channel per touch; don't double-send.

2. Verify Clara Totenberg Green is still Director of Communications & Storytelling before Touch 1. Sourced May 2026 — roles rotate. The first-touch draft also flags that founder/ED Rohit Malhotra filed for Atlanta City Council President in May 2025; if that race changed his status at CCI, Clara as comms lead is still the right target.

3. Do not assert the unverified numbers. The first-touch draft carries "100+ Atlanta leaders trained" and "$2M+ invested." Both are flagged in targets.md as needing verification and are deliberately omitted from every touch here. If Brandyn wants a number, he should confirm it first.

4. Good Trouble Honors date is not asserted. Touch 4 says "comes around again" and never names a date. Confirm the next date before sending Touch 4 and adjust if the event already passed.

5. Touch 3 must stay at "early / putting together / no finished episodes" for L5P, and "a speaker series out in Albuquerque" for the prior work. Do not upgrade either to finished episodes or results until that's actually true. This is the touch most at risk of overclaiming.

6. Do not imply CCI is a current client anywhere. It's a cold prospect. The only orgs named in this sequence are CCI itself, Little Five Points (the series, "putting together"), and a speaker series in Albuquerque (factual prior shoot, held at "a speaker series out in Albuquerque").

7. 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.

Appendix A — "The Room Makes the Story" capture checklist

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

The Room Makes the Story — a capture checklist for cohort and honors events

What it is. A short checklist for what to capture at a civic program event — a fellowship session, an honors night, an academy class — so the footage tells the story of the people, not just the program.

Why it matters. Programs get described with numbers. People remember faces and rooms. A donor or a partner who sees a room full of people making something happen understands the work faster than any paragraph about it.

Before the event.

[ ] Name the one story this event is really about (one person, one cohort, one moment)
[ ] Pick the three places the story happens (the room, the stage, the hallway after)
[ ] Make sure the person being recognized knows someone will ask them one question

During.

[ ] Get the room, not just the stage: the faces listening, the tables, the people between the action
[ ] Capture one honest moment, not a posed one (a laugh, a handshake, someone caught off guard)
[ ] Ask one person "what does this mean to you" and let them answer in their own words

After.

[ ] Cut the best 60 seconds within 48 hours, while people are still talking about it
[ ] Send it to the person in it so they share it themselves
[ ] Keep the full footage for the annual report and the next ask

The rule of thumb. A room full of people doing civic work is the story. The stage is just where it gets pointed out.

Notes for Brandyn

Appendix A is ready to deploy as a one-page PDF or Google Doc for Touch 2. The "room not the stage" angle is what makes it CCI-specific rather than a generic nonprofit checklist, and it's distinct from the speaker-event checklist built for the Astronomia sequence.
Strongest touch if only one gets sent: Touch 1 (the before-and-after cohort idea). Touch 4 (the honors-night room angle) is the close second because it's tied to an annual event Clara actually owns the storytelling for.
Downstream asks stay held until a real conversation, per the first-touch draft. None of the touches ask for a paid series, event coverage, or a retainer — the only thing on the table is still the free first piece and the door staying open.
No fabricated clients, metrics, or program numbers anywhere. The unverified "100+ leaders / $2M+" figures are left out entirely. The only named programs (Civic Innovation Fellowship, Good Trouble Honors, Civics Academy, ATLBudget, VoteATL) come straight from the first-touch draft and the D6 row.