Lessons Learned in Outreach

From distribution of fresh fruit in Alaska to the use of life-size cutouts to offering print materials in Alabama, outreach activities in local projects varied widely. In one topic group, stations employed more than 18 different activities to reach people. Although each project used its own mix of outside media to reach audiences, a few common areas proved to be most effective. Tie-ins with local newspapers were used by many stations to further the reach of their projects. Many stations involved newspapers as partners in the project which offered support ranging from running feature stories to publishing special inserts on the topic. Another common type of outreach was the distribution of kits, tapes and print materials in the community.

Most projects that used active community involvement in outreach activities saw more participation and success. The partners working in youth substance abuse found that involving young people in radio programming was in itself a form of outreach and prevention. Organizers of community forums on welfare reform used recipients to help plan the agenda, which encouraged more people to attend the event. And the projects on children's health discovered that using everyday parents rather than Ph.D.s made their panels and call-in shows more popular.

Whether a station reaches a large market or a small market can play an important factor in deciding the most effective outreach activities. In large-market areas, projects primarily targeted policymakers rather than people who are directly affected by the issue, such as welfare recipients. Projects sometimes coped with this by structuring broadcasts to serve the former audience and outreach activities to reach the latter. Participants felt that their Sound Partners projects were most successful when they could bring the stories of people affected by welfare reform or end-of-life issues to the attention of the policymakers in their community.

Many stations also noticed that community members helped the local Sound Partners
project reach the target audience in the community. When promoting their local projects, many stations found that involving more than their community organization was very effective. In retrospect, one station said, "I would involve more community members as advisors and for help with promotion. We kind of fell down in the promo area. We could have involved the parents in promoting the work of their kids."

Stations working in different topic areas also found some outreach activities more effective than others. Offering connections via e-mail or through a designated Web site worked especially well with projects dealing with end-of-life issues. Health fairs and health clinics were the mainstay of many children's health projects. Community forums or town meetings were found to be most helpful in the area of welfare reform and access to health care. These meetings also seemed most successful and well attended in rural rather than urban areas.

While none of the participants stated that their outreach efforts were a failure, a few reported activities that produced less than the desired response. For example, one or two projects reported that their use of 800 numbers produced disappointing results. Others noted that it was hard to tell if tapes being circulated in the community were really used.

Most station representatives discussed more about the successes of outreach, rather than the failures. It should be noted that several projects mounted extensive, creative and extremely effective outreach efforts. An example of an effective outreach project is the partnership on welfare reform with KDNA in Granger, Washington. They found that many immigrants eligible for food stamps were not receiving them. Through meetings with state officials, the project was able to start a food stamp distribution center one day a week at the station. A few partnerships also used the arts to address topic areas: the San Antonio project toured an exhibition of photographs of teenage parents to schools and community centers. In Alabama, the partners used a play about domestic abuse to open discussions; and in Montana, drama, poems and essays were used to talk about end-of-life issues.

Summary of Lessons Learned

• keep your outreach plans simple and specific;

• prepare and research outreach plans before the onset of the project; and
• enable community members, through your partnership and beyond, to help promote the Sound Partners project.