Assembly Bill 1511 – Ethnic and Community Media Marketing

July 1, 2025

As required by Assembly Bill (AB) 1511, state agencies and departments that expend funds on marketing, advertising, or outreach are to develop a strategic plan aimed at increasing their investments in ethnic and community media that serve priority populations.

Below is a summary of current and upcoming marketing, advertising and outreach campaigns for the Department of Parks and Recreation (Department) along with a plan to fulfill the requirement of AB 1511.

Arts in California Parks

The Department works through nonprofit partner Parks California on a targeted marketing campaign to promote the Arts in California Parks program. The campaign has a paid media budget of $100,000 in 2025, with $50,000 earmarked for digital advertising and $50,000 going to a community media outlet as defined by AB 1511. This represents a significant investment of 50% of a paid media marketing campaign going to community media.

There is ongoing funding for this campaign through 2027. In line with AB 1511, the Department plans to increase the investment in ethnic and community media outlets to $100,000 in 2026 and $150,000 in 2027 to encourage regional expansion for the program.

Below are examples of campaign assets.

Boating Campaigns

In 2024, the Department spent approximately $2.3 million on various boating campaigns to promote safety (e.g., life jackets), the California Boater Card and clean vessels (e.g., proper sewage disposal and pollutant prevention).

The Department used a variety of campaign materials in English and Spanish – including broadcast/cable sports programming, broadcast radio, digital advertisements, billboards, checkout screens, print publications and marina posters – as part of a targeted, data-driven campaign designed to spur behavior change. Approximately 10% of campaign materials were in Spanish. Campaign materials were targeted in markets based on boating accident trends and data, including: Los Angeles/Orange; San Bernardino/Riverside; San Diego; Sacramento/Placer/El Dorado; San Joaquin/Calaveras; Contra Costa/Napa; and Shasta counties.

The vast majority of funding for these campaigns comes from federal sources, with $1.62 million (70% of total spending) going to the boating safety campaign. The California Boater Card campaign – which accounted for $310,000, roughly 14% of the total budget in 2024 – is funded by the state Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund, and the Department expects spending on this campaign to decrease in the future as the eight-year phased implementation of the boater card is now complete. Similarly, the clean vessel campaigns – which are funded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – represent a small percentage of overall spending (16% of total budget) and are not expected to increase.

Given the change in federal administration and uncertainty around federal funding for the boating safety campaign, the exact amount of funding the Department will receive in 2025 and beyond for the boating safety campaign, and the conditions under which those funds can be expended for media buys, is unknown at the time this strategic plan is required to be filed. Given these funds represent 70% of campaign spending and the other funding sources are expected to either decrease or remain stagnant, the Department is unable to provide a planned increase for expenditures in ethnic and community media that serve priority population for 2025 and beyond for the boating campaigns. That said, where feasible and within the conditions of the funding received, the Department will continue to produce boating campaign materials in Spanish and target communities based on available data for maximum effectiveness.

Below are examples of Spanish language social media assets that were produced and used for the 2024 boating campaign, including links to video and radio spots.

ReserveCalifornia

Tyler Technologies, the contracted operator of the Department’s reservation service, ReserveCalifornia, is working with the Department on a paid media campaign scheduled to launch in late 2025.

The Department’s contract with Tyler Technologies is a no-cost contract as the company is paid through camping and tour reservations for state parks. Similarly, the Department is not providing any funding for the upcoming media campaign. All campaign materials will be produced in English and Spanish, and are anticipated to run on a variety of digital ad platforms. The Department will work with Tyler Technologies to leverage ethnic media outlets for media buys to reach a culturally and linguistically diverse set of Californians.