Strategies for Success: Making the Campaign Come Alive in Your Community

1. The campaign GOALS are to:
   • Increase public awareness and support for community schools.
   • Give parents, educators and others tools to create and sustain community schools in their local communities.

2. The MESSAGES the campaign seeks to promote are:
   • Community schools recognize that learning is not limited to the classroom. They partner with community organizations to offer before- and after- school educational, cultural, recreational, and community service opportunities as well as health and social services.
   • Community schools keep their doors open. Services and opportunities start before the regular school day begins, extend well into the evening, and are available on weekends and during the summer.
   • Community schools benefit students, teachers and families. Teachers have more time to teach, students are physically and emotionally better prepared to learn, and families are more engaged.

3. Campaign TOOLS include:
   • Television ads (60-, 30-, 20-, 25-, and 10-second versions).
   • Radio ads (60-, 30-, 20- and 10-second versions) in both English and Spanish.
   • Print ads for newspapers and magazines.
   • Web site banners that can be placed on your organization's Web site. These banners will be animated and linked to a site with more campaign information. See the Ad Council for information.

   The objective is to get these public service announcements (PSAs) played, and played in meaningful time slots. The Ad Council has sent the tools to media outlets throughout the country. It is up to you to make the campaign come alive in your community.

1. JOIN FORCES WITH OTHERS. Contact individuals and organizations in your community who are interested in, or involved with community schools. Get together to brainstorm how the campaign can facilitate efforts to strengthen community and school relationships.

2. DEVELOP A MEDIA STRATEGY. The following tips on working with the media should help you and your partners get started:

   • Develop a List of Key Contacts:

     • TV-- Public Affairs Director or Community Affairs Director
     • Radio -- Public Affairs Director or General Manager
     • Cable -- Advertising or Marketing Director
     • Newspapers -- Director of Advertising or Editor in Chief

   • Make Initial Contact: Once you identify the right contacts, provide them with basic information about your campaign:

     • Tell them why you are writing or calling; "I would like to talk to you about the Community Schools for Excellence PSAs you recently received from the Ad Council and encourage you to play them when parents are in the audience [or place them if it is a newspaper or magazine]."

     • Briefly explain the goal and strategy of the campaign and how it will benefit their audience; "This campaign is about improving our community's schools. It gives us tools to strengthen our efforts to connect school and community."

     • Give some facts or statistics pertaining to the issue; "Research suggests that participation in extracurricular activities may increase students' sense of engagement or attachment to their school, and thereby decrease the likelihood of school failure and dropping out" (Lamborn et al, 1992; Finn, 1993).

     • Personalize the campaign by framing the issue around a local event or current work in community; "In our community, many different organizations (provide examples) offer activities and services for kids. Just think of how powerful it would be if we all worked with each other and with the schools to help more kids succeed."

     • Outline next steps; set a meeting date, send the PSAs, schedule a visit to your school; "I would like to meet with you next week to discuss how we can work together on this campaign. What is a good time for you?"

     • Provide your contact information.

   • Complete a Call Report:
     After meeting with media contacts, summarize the meeting outcomes and next steps in a "call report" and e-mail or fax the call report to the Coalition for Community Schools at 202.872.4050. (Download a call report.) This information will help the campaign sponsors keep abreast of how the campaign is being used.

3. DEVELOP A STRATEGY FOR REACHING OPINION LEADERS AND POLICY MAKERS. There are a variety of concrete steps your organization and partners can take to ensure that this campaign reaches decision makers:

   • Show the videos wherever you can. They are brief and serve as great discussion starters. Share them with the school board, city council, county commission, United Way, community foundations, local education fund, business and civic organizations, the board of your own organization and collaboratives.

   • Host a town meeting and invite parents, community leaders, and school board members to attend. Talk about current work and achievements, and suggest concrete ways participants can support community schools.

   • Tell local newspapers, special interest magazines and cable stations about community schools and what is happening in your area. Stimulate their interest in producing stories about community schools, and adding them to their education coverage.

   • Draft a letter to the editor or an opinion editorial. Use local data or stories to make your case.

   • Write or call elected officials to tell them about community school activities, invite them to tour a nearby community school, and describe policies they can sustain or initiate to support the growth of community schools in your community.

   • Ask locally-owned grocery stores to print your message on paper bags. Give them the message to print, and keep it simple. Here's an example: "Send your kids to a public school so exciting, they won't want to leave. Find out how. Call 1-877-LOVE-2-LEARN.

   • Suggest that utility companies in your area print the ads on customers' bills or include a flyer in their mailings.

   • Post the ads, banners and information on the campaign on your Web site and link to the Coalition Web site (www.communityschools.org/campaign.html).

   • Publish a newsletter that highlights local data, the activities of your organization and examples of things that are happening locally.

   • Find out what others participating in the campaign are doing and publicize your efforts too, on our Discussion Forum.

• Ask media contacts if they have time to talk when you first get them on the phone. If they don't, ask for a better time to talk.
• Show the actual advertisements every chance you get.
• Thank your media contacts for their time, effort, attention and contributions.
• Constantly point out the relevance of your issue to the local community.
• Be aware of deadlines under which the media operate.

DON'T...

• Assume that just because you represent a "good cause" your PSAs will automatically be used.
• Forget to treat the media as your partner.
• Be caught unprepared...know the campaign goals, benefits and materials.
• Give-up....persistence pays!

1. Parents interested in learning more about how their children's schools can become community schools;

2. Professionals (educators, community agencies, policymakers, funders) interested in community schools; and

3. Parents or professionals already engaged in building a community school.

1. Parents:
   • Building a Community School: A Parent's Guide

2. Professionals:
   • The Children's Aid Society's Building a Community School Manual
   • Community Schools: Partnerships for Excellence
   • Coalition for Community Schools brochure

3. Parents/Professionals Already Engaged in Community Schools:
   • Phone call from The Children's Aid Society's National Technical Assistance Center

The fulfillment house will provide us with a monthly call report. If you are interested in contacting other parents and professionals in your community who showed interest in the campaign, we can send you a monthly report via email. To receive this information, contact the Children's Aid Society at 212.949.4377.

Also check out the American Association of Advertising Agencies or the Benton Foundation which focuses on developing media strategies for nonprofits.

Go to Top

Founded in 1853, The Children's Aid Society is one of the oldest and largest child welfare agencies in the country. CAS has been at the forefront of the community schools movement and currently operates eight community schools in Manhattan and the Bronx. In addition, the CAS community school model is being used in dozens of schools nationwide. CAS operates a Technical Assistance Center to help other communities adapt this model.

The Coalition for Community Schools is a group of more than 150 local, state and national organizations in both the public and private sectors, working to sustain and expand community school efforts. The Coalition mobilizes the resources and capacity of multiple sectors and institutions to create a united movement for community schools by disseminating information, connecting people and resources, and educating the general public.

The Advertising Council is a private, nonprofit organization, which has been the leading producer of public service communications programs in the United States since 1942. The Council supports campaigns that benefit children, families and communities. Spots for the campaign can be viewed in the "Current Campaigns" section of the Ad Council Web site.

Go to Top

Call The Children's Aid Society or the Coalition for Community Schools if you would like copies of the TV, radio and print ads or want more information on how to work with the media.

The Children's Aid Society
105 East 22nd Street, Room 504
New York, NY 10010
212.949.4377
hayink@childrensaidsociety.org
www.childrensaidsociety.org

Coalition for Community Schools
1001 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 310
Washington, DC 20036
202.822.8405 ext. 61
ccs@iel.org
www.communityschools.org

Go to Top