Create an Outreach Campaign

Here are some ideas to help you create a quality program and outreach campaign:

· Provide engaging activities, balanced with academics and enrichment activities and strong connections to the regular school staff and community organizations.

· Demonstrate to your school board and administration the importance of the program by showing them the better grades, lower discipline referrals and better attendance.

· Garner the support of the participants’ parents to advocate for and recruit support from others by making program users, families, and lead staff aware of the program quality and funding fragility.

· Have expected outcomes, measure them, and report them loudly—get your name out into the community—splash newspapers with events and successes, and by “word of mouth.” Publicize your successes through newsletters, VIP visits and testimonials.

Source: Spring 2004 Occasional Paper by the National Afterschool and Community Learning Network.