R&R Partners Helps Nevada Teens Earn Teachers a Permanent Pay Raise

What happens when three Nevada high school students are handed the mic and asked to speak their truth about public education?

You get Reimagine Education - a powerful new PSA born out of the first-ever Young Visionaries contest, developed by the R&R Partners Foundation. R&R Partners is a Las Vegas institution known not only for its 'What Happens In…' work for its home city, but for its deep connections to important leaders at the state and national level.

The agency has a ground breaking GA division that often works closely with R&R’s creative talents to make meaningful change, whether that’s wooing new business to the state and lobbying to bring in the NFL, Formula 1, The MLB and others to town, to partnering with local students to improve the state of public education.

One example of those connections and marketing know-how being put to good use is launching this month, thanks to the R&R Partners Foundation. Introducing: The Young Visionaries Contest. A state-wide initiative that invited Nevadan high schoolers to submit ideas for what THEY thought was most important to change about the state.

The program’s competition phase launched late last year, receiving hundreds of submissions from across Nevada.

The winning students/associated organisations were selected in early 2025, and the Foundation is awarding them with two big prizes:

• First, a $20k cash donation for the cause
  
• Second, and perhaps even more importantly, support from R&R to create and launch a campaign that promotes their initiative. The agency co-created a new PSA campaign with the winners, offering access to creative strategists, producers, designers, and PR professionals to help bring it to life.
  

The inaugural year’s winning idea came from students Kash Williams, Jacqueline Combs, and Corie Humphrey - members of the ACLU’s Emerging Leaders program, which allows local youth to promote social change and social justice through leadership development, advocacy engagement, and professional development.

Their vision? Spotlight the impact of underpaid, overworked educators on student success - through the eyes of students themselves.

At the heart of the campaign is a simple, urgent message: Raising teacher pay positively impacts all of our futures. Join our movement and support our teachers. Make teacher's pay increases permanent.

“We believe that hearing from the students themselves, rather than adults, is extremely powerful,” said Fletcher Whitwell, chief media and publishing officer and R&R Partners Foundation governing board chair. “These students didn’t just submit a great idea - they became creative collaborators, scriptwriters, on-camera voices and campaign partners from beginning to end. It’s a remarkably important cause, and we’re proud to help them to bring their story and vision to life.”

At the centre is a long-form video that offers first-hand accounts from students who have lived through crowded classrooms, burned-out teachers, and the emotional toll that comes with a lack of resources.

The storytelling is raw and honest, but also hopeful - fuelled by a generation that knows change is possible when communities come together and value teachers like the professionals they are.

The spot also highlights important statistics that back up these students’ lived experiences, including teaching as the #1 profession in the US that experiences burn out according to Gallup, and 94% of teachers report using their own money to buy classroom supplies.

“Every single day, our teachers and staff show up for us and try their best. Every student should have the opportunity to be seen and succeed at school and in life, but it feels like adult leaders would rather expand prisons than invest more in schools," said Jackie C. president of Emerging Leaders. "We need to fund education, not mass incarceration.”

The video is supported by a :30 video teaser promo, and a :30 radio spot - R&R Partners is working with Nevada Broadcasters Association & Foundation, Cox, Assemblyman Mosca and Senator Taylor and Kirsten Searer, president of the Public Education Foundation to ensure the creative is seen widely, organising paid statewide media across TV, radio, and social.

This is the first project of its kind from the R&R Partners Foundation, and the beginning of a larger vision to keep youth voices at the centre of change in Nevada.