FAMILY CONNECTION-COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS
Chair: LuAnn Brown, Freelance Technical and Biomedical Writer/Editor, Career Consultant and personal assessment specialist
Staff facilitator: Tim Johnson, FC-CIS executive director
Meeting schedule: First Monday each month, 12 noon
Next meeting: Room 201, Building 2, 440 Dearing Extension, Athens
Description: Communications professionals and others develop and implement communications and public education campaigns to build support (financial and other), to promote the work, and to educate the community in areas related to the work (early child development, community services, et al).
Outcome goals: Increased awareness of and support (funding and other) for FC-CIS and the work for children and families; increased awareness of specific issues (e.g the importance of interacting with your baby, the availability of summer lunches, et al.)
Examples of accomplishments: Newsletter (more than 600 subscribers), web site, video, social media (over 1,500 Facebook subscribers), and other; increased enrollment in summer lunch program; increase in awareness of the need for foster homes and signing up for foster homes; video.
Examples of new/developing initiatives:
- Education campaign around quality child care, encouraging parents to ask centers if they’re Quality Rated
- Outreach to increase participation in summer lunch program, integrating with summer learning/enrichment
- Expanded outreach for more foster homes
- P.R. campaign to raise awareness of the work and gain financial and other support
- Promotion of Dine Out For Kids fundraising event August 20
- Promotion of Change the Picture annual fund kickoff event and campaign
- Promotion of Amplify Athens concert benefits in the fall
- Presentations to civic and other organizations
- Creation of brief videos for use through social media & other means (e.g., profiles of individual Neighborhood Leaders, “talk with your baby” and similar messages)
- Continuing and improving newsletter, web site, social media, and other formal communications