Karin Valentine
Senior Manager, Client Services, Moses Anshell

“ACS does provide a unique skill combining considerable knowledge of early childhood development, political activism, experience in both public and private sectors, and the ability to work with a variety of audiences.”

“I believe they have a reputation which is forthright, honest, straightforward, and practical. This combination is not always the case with other government relations or communications firms.”

Kristen Ballantine
Director of State Government Relations East, Health Management System (HMS)

“ACS has unmatched Medicaid personnel and policy experience. True subject matter experts who can navigate unchartered territory for many healthcare lobbyists.”

“ACS is our boots on the ground for a state government client. They represent us before the agency and other branches of state government, ensuring our reputation is always in tact, our story is appropriately shared and told, opportunities are created or presented to us, exisiting business is protected and we have a solid understanding of the ever-changing political and policy landscapes.”

Diane Umstead
First Things First Senior Director, Community Outreach

“I count on ACS to set the stage and help us guage where we could be on the 30,000 ft issuess; it's nice to have an external listener to provide a different perspective.”

“(ACS is)….Innovative, high energy, responsive, knowledgeable, thoughtful, willing to take on the “hard stuff”, personable, high-quality.”

Joy Roller
Executive Director, Gordon Square Arts District

“Lori McClung and Advocacy & Communication Solutions’ hard work, tenacity, connections and experience pay dividends far exceeding our expectations!”

Katie Kelly
Director, groundWork

“As an organization that has worked with many government relations consultants, one of the most important things that we look for someone who will limit the number of clients they take on at any given time so that we know that our issue is given dedicated time and attention. With ACS, we knew that was the case. ACS’ limited client list allowed them to focus on our policy priorities and maintain the daily contact necessary in a fast-paced political process.

The thing that stands out about ACS is their combination of expertise, focus and energy that makes them so effective. When we asked them to deliver, we knew that the job would get done on time, would be highly effective, and would be communicated back to us in a very timely way. Those things can be difficult to find in other firms. As a nonprofit, we need to maximize every dollar we spend. With ACS, we had total confidence that the resources we put towards their deliverables would create the impact we needed. To our delight, they often exceeded our expectations as well.

As a result of our work with ACS, we were able to maintain state investments in a number of key early care and education areas during a very difficult state budget session, as well as secure $176 million in new state investments in early care and education. The work of ACS also greatly increased our relationships with the Ohio General Assembly, state departments, and the Governor’s office, building a foundation for more effective advocacy going forward.”

Bobby Watson
Senior Vice President-Public Affairs and Strategic Planning, Hudson Group

“You provided valuable input, strategic advice and introduced us to the people who needed to know why Hudson would be a great choice for the Cleveland airport. There is no question in my mind that your work made a difference.”

Dorothy Baunach
President Emeritus/Founding President of NorTech

“I have worked with other government engagement consultants over the years and found ACS to be refreshing because of its attention to being totally committed to understanding and delivering what we, the client, needed.

(By working with ACS), we built internal capacity and know-how regarding federal government engagement and gained a better understanding of the ways of Washington.

We had great assistance from ACS, getting into U.S. Department of Energy and beginning to build relationships. We also were provided information over the course of time about programs and policies in the administration related to our work. In addition, we have a grant application to the Economic Development Administration that has been tremendously facilitated and drafted by ACS. We could never have accomplished what we did in our federal outreach initiative with our existing staff capacity without ACS.”

The Cuyahoga Action Committee

“We needed a person who was organized, had established relationships in the human service world, and was capable of managing a campaign with a $600,000.00 budget in over 50 communities.”

Marcia Egbert, Senior Program Officer,
The George Gund Foundation

“We can find other firms that can do this work, but we wanted someone we trust who could work both thoroughly and expediently.”

Jill Rizika
Executive Director of Towards Employment

“ACS has taken our organization from having the ‘idea’ of getting involved in policy work, to having a strategy that has the full engagement of the Board, a work plan that feels both manageable and ambitious, and interns in place to help keep things on track.

Lori and Scarlett are not only consummate professionals, they are also a joy to work with. They are always high energy and positive, very supportive, and very responsive. We love that Lori and Scarlet use ‘we’ when talking about Towards Employment — it feels like they are truly part of the organization!”