Increasing community awareness for program sustainability
Abstract
Based on the findings of the New England Symposium on Programmatic Sustainability (November, 1998) this effective practice offers ways to increase awareness of a national service program or initiative in the community. This effective practice is shared by the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps.
Issue
Some national service programs perform their good works in relative obscurity, often little known beyond the locale in which they serve, but always in need of additional resources and financial support.
Action
Increasing community awareness of a national service initiative or project is an essential precursor to program sustainability. Some effective ways to increase community awareness include:- Involve the local media by making contacts with media representatives and creating relationships with them.
- Conduct mass mailings.
- Develop marketing tools such as T-shirts, brochures and signs.
- Create a newsletter, which can be put in the Sunday paper as an insert. Send it to program partners and state commissioners.
- Make a documentary about the program.
- Hold an open house at the corps. Invite partners, parents, media and elected officials. Include activities such as a slide show by corpsmembers and a time for them to share their personal stories.
- Conduct evening tours of the city, as an innovative fundraising event. Highlight program accomplishments that coincide with the city's evolution.
- Develop a website. Use an intern to help with the development process.
- Encourage corporations to support the corps as a means of building their own marketing.
Outcome
As residents, businesses, school districts, or faith-based organizations learn more about service activities in the community, program planners find that capacity-building opportunities abound. Training, generating volunteers, fundraising or securing in-kind donations, and forming partnerships are just a few activities that correlate with a higher program profile.
