Digital Third Coast was created in Chicago in 2007 by our two co-founders, George Zlatin & Taylor Cimala. Since then, we’ve grown our digital family to an incredible, 20-person team.
The backdrop for our success and accomplishments has, and always will be the City of Chicago. We are proud to have built and grown our business in the Windy City, and excited for the opportunity to give back to those who do the most for our community.
Each team member receives two, paid, volunteer days to give back to causes that are most important to them.
When weather permits, our Digital Family spends Friday afternoons cleaning up our own neighborhood, one sweep at a time.
Digital Third Coast Returns to Avondale for Another Neighborhood Cleanup with Alderwoman Ruth Cruz
CHICAGO, IL — On Thursday, May 29, the Digital Third Coast team was back in Avondale, teaming up once again with 30th Ward Alderwoman Ruth Cruz to clean up Parkview Playlot and the surrounding neighborhood. Volunteers spent the day clearing litter, picking up debris, and helping restore a space that neighbors, families, and local students rely on every day. For us, showing up more than once is the point. A single cleanup is a nice gesture. Coming back is how a neighborhood actually stays cleaner. The team filled bags with trash, sorted out what could be recycled, and left the park and nearby streets noticeably better than we found them.
"It was an absolute pleasure to help cleanup the neighborhood of Avondale today," said Charley Vail, Culture Ambassador at Digital Third Coast. "We teamed with Ruth Cruz from the 30th ward to make a difference for our neighbors and the great city of Chicago." The effort was recognized by the Alderwoman's office as well. In her newsletter, Cruz noted, "We participated in a community clean-up around Parkview Playlot and the surrounding Avondale neighborhood alongside Digital Third Coast."
As a Chicago agency, giving back to the city we work in is part of how we operate. Making a measurable difference shows up in the work we do for clients, and it shows up here too, one neighborhood at a time.
Digital Third Coast Spends a Day Giving Back to the Lakefront
CHICAGO, IL — On Friday, August 22, the Digital Third Coast team took to the shores of Lake Michigan for a community volunteer day dedicated to cleaning up the iconic Montrose Beach. Armed with gloves and trash bags, our team worked to clear litter from the sand and surrounding park areas, helping to preserve one of the city’s most cherished natural spaces.
This initiative is a core part of our mission to make a measurable difference, not just for our clients, but for the community we’re proud to call home. The cleanup was organized with the support of the 46th Ward office to help ensure the beach remains a beautiful and safe destination for all Chicagoans.
“As a Chicago-based agency, we feel a strong responsibility to invest in our city,” said George Zlatin, Principal at Digital Third Coast. “Montrose Beach is a local treasure, and we were excited to come together as a team to help care for it. It’s a small way for us to give back to the community that has given us so much.”
Throughout the afternoon, our team cleared pounds of waste from the sand and shoreline, ensuring the beach was left cleaner and safer for the community and its native wildlife.
Alder Ruth Cruz and Local Marketing Agency Come Together to Clean Up Avondale
CHICAGO, IL — On Friday, May 23, volunteers from Digital Third Coast (DTC), their family and friends, and 30th ward Alderwoman, Ruth Cruz, came together to clean up Parkview Playlot Park and the surrounding Avondale areas—removing litter, clearing broken glass, and revitalizing a space shared by the entire neighborhood.
What started as a simple cleanup effort quickly became something more meaningful: a reminder of the power of local action.
DTC organized the effort not only to improve the area but to encourage others to do the same.
The team filled dozens of bags with trash, recycled what they could, and left the park and the streets surrounding Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School noticeably cleaner and more inviting for weekend visitors.
When DTC first started, we had the great fortune of connecting with several partners working in similar spaces – web design firms, social media managers, PR agencies, and video production companies. Each agency we engaged with was focused towards the same goal of helping our clients grow their revenue. But we all wanted to do something more…
Thus was the birth of Chicago Cause, a philanthropic partnership now spearheaded by Digital Third Coast and Orbit Media.
Since 2012, Chicago Cause has awarded deserving Chicago-area nonprofits free digital services including new websites, social media management, SEO, PR consulting and video production valued at more than $530,000.
Envision Unlimited is a full spectrum of care organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as mental health challenges from infants to senior citizens, regardless of race, gender, religion, or ability to pay.
Their mission is to provide people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health issues quality services and supportive housing that promote choice, independence, and inclusion.
2024: Respiratory Health Association (RHA) has been a local public health leader since 1906, dedicated to preventing lung disease and promoting clean air for over a century. Originally founded to combat tuberculosis, RHA has evolved to address the most pressing respiratory health issues of our time, including asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and COVID-19, through a comprehensive approach of research, advocacy, and education.
2023: &Rise is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers women through safe spaces to heal, learn, and grow in the wake of trauma. Founded by an abuse survivor in 2018, &Rise is on a mission to help any & all women get the support they need to succeed through education and prevention, empowerment and motivation, and exemplary service.
2022: CATCH is a Northbrook-based, volunteer-dependent, 501(c)(3) focused on empowering families to foster resilience and prioritize mental health and emotional wellness in their children through educational programming, access to resources, and peer support.
2021: Collaboraction — Collaboraction, Chicago’s theater for social change, collaborates with a diverse community of Chicagoans, artists and community activists to create original theatrical and virtual experiences that cultivate dialogue and action around the world’s most critical social issues. Since the company’s founding in 1996, Collaboraction has pushed artistic boundaries working with more than 3,000 artists to bring more than 60 productions and events to more than 150,000 audience members.
2020: Kids Above All – Since 1894, Kids Above All has set out to protect, heal and educate children and families so they can build better lives. Every child in their care has experienced trauma–abuse, neglect, poverty, toxic stress, or violence. They use a clinical framework called Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) to encourage healing and personal growth.
2019: I Grow Chicago – With the goal of solving the root causes of violence and trauma, I Grow Chicago operates with a holistic Healing Justice model combining cultural transformation, community development, and individual empowerment.
2018: The Friendship Center – Fostering hope and dignity in their community through access to food, vital resources, and critical social services.
2017: Casa Central – Transforming lives and strengthening communities, with a special focus on Hispanic communities in Chicago. Casa Central’s network of social services aims to propel a diverse population of all ages toward self-sufficiency and a higher quality of life.
2016: Camp One Step – A leader in providing empowering, supportive, educational and fun experiences for children diagnosed with cancer.
2015: Rainbows for All Children – Working to support youth as they navigate grief and loss from death, divorce, deployment, deportation, incarceration or other trauma.
2014: Resilience (Formerly, Rape Victim Advocates) – Working to heal and empower survivors of sexual assault through non-judgmental crisis intervention counseling, group and individual group trauma therapy, as well as medical and legal advocacy.
2013: Illinois Safe Schools Alliance – Working to promote safety, support and healthy development for LGBTQ youth in Illinois schools and communities through advocacy, education, youth organizing and research.
2012: Snow City Arts – Provides one-on-one instruction in the visual arts, creative writing, music, theater and media arts to patients at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Rush University Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital University of Illinois, and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital.