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Lights On Afterschool provides a wonderful opportunity
to generate positive news coverage of your afterschool
program and to remind policy makers and community members
of the need to provide sufficient funding to meet the
growing demand for the afterschool programs that serve
children and families. Reporters seek out stories that
affect their community, and they will want to tell readers,
viewers and listeners about threats to afterschool programs.
So plan your Lights On Afterschool activities
with the media in mind. The simple steps outlined here
can make your event more newsworthy and help you reach
more community members with your messages. If you want
to go beyond the basics and really do a full-court press
on media, develop and follow a timeline of media outreach
that includes outreach to editorial pages, radio and
television talk shows and more. A sample timeline is
included here.
The following ten steps should help improve your media outreach.
Step One: Create A Media List
If you don't already have a list of reporters, editors, columnists, photo editors and producers who cover education, children and families, parenting, workplace and feature stories in your media market, this is a good time to create one. Some United Ways have media guides that are available to community agencies for a nominal fee, and the public relations offices at community colleges are often willing to share their media lists with other education agencies.
If no such resource is available, make a list of all local TV and radio stations (including college and university-affiliated stations), daily and weekly newspapers (including ethnic, community and other specialty papers), wire services and magazines, locally oriented Internet sites, and newsletters or bulletins from interested community and faith-based organizations. Then call and ask for the name of the editor, reporter or producer who covers education, children and families, parenting, workplace and features. Request the phone, fax and e-mail address for each person. Ask also for the names and contact information for producers at broadcast news and talk shows that cover issues like afterschool, and columnists who cover education and family issues at local newspapers of all kinds. Media lists should be updated twice per year, as journalists tend to shift beats and jobs fairly often. You will use it often, to promote Lights On Afterschool and other activities.
Step Two: Invite the Public to Your Event
Once you have designed your event, use the media to encourage people to come. Send an announcement to everyone on your media list in the middle of September. Be sure to include your name and daytime phone number in case there are any questions. See sample Save the Date
Step Three: Identify Your Key Messages
Develop key messages for your Lights On Afterschool
rally. These messages will be integrated into all
your media materials and will be the focus of remarks
by your spokespersons. If possible, narrow your key
messages to three, and keep them simple, clear and concise.
The following is an example of messages, but be sure
to tailor yours to reflect what afterschool programs
mean to your community and the challenges facing afterschool
programs in your state.
The [name of program] keeps kids safe and healthy,
inspires students to learn and helps working families.
Children who come to our program every afternoon have
a safe place to go, a range of fun and challenging
activities, and supervision by adults who help them
learn and stay out of trouble. Afterschool is key
to kids' success.
Afterschool programs need more resources and more
support. Funding shortages are denying too many
kids the opportunities that afterschool programs offer.
Too many afterschool programs are being forced to
cut back or even close because of budget cuts, or
because they were unable to secure enough funding
in the first place. We ask lawmakers, business and
community leaders, parents and others to do more to
make afterschool available to every family that needs
it.
We're proud to join students, parents, educators
and community leaders at 7,500 rallies across the
country in calling for 'afterschool for all' for Lights
On Afterschool! The Afterschool Alliance organized
this event to underscore how important it is to keep
the lights on and the door open for kids at afterschool
programs. We support the Afterschool Alliance's mission
to give every child access to an afterschool program.
Step Four: Structure Your Event with Media in Mind
Plan your event with media in mind. Some things to remember:
- The media - particularly television reporters and
photographers from newspapers - look for good visuals.
Make sure your event has lots of color, action, and
signs or banners with your program name and "Lights
On Afterschool" prominently placed.
- Journalists need to file their stories during late
afternoon hours, so plan the program for your Lights
On Afterschool event as early as possible. If your
event goes from 3 PM to 5 PM, for instance, hold the
program at 3:15 or 3:30 PM.
- Choose two or three spokespeople. They might include
your program director, a mayor or other prominent
official who supports the afterschool program, and
an articulate student who participates. Make sure
the spokespeople know your key messages and are familiar
with all aspects of your Lights On Afterschool
event.
- Be sure you have parental permission for any students
who will talk to journalists, on- or off- camera.
- Sign up reporters and identify them with badges
or nametags of a specific color when they enter your
event so everyone knows who they are. You might want
to assign volunteers to stay with reporters, introduce
them to people, explain activities and answer questions.
Step Five: Appeal to the Press
On October 4 or 5, email, mail or fax a media alert
about your Lights On Afterschool event (see sample
here) to everyone on your
media list. It serves as an invitation to reporters
to cover the event. An alert is very basic and gives
journalists information on who, what, where, when and
why the event is important to the community. It is not
a news release and need not include quotes or give great
detail. A media alert should never exceed one page.
If you have a wire service in your community (Associated
Press, United Press International, Reuters or a local
City News Service), fax a copy of the alert to the "Daybook
Editor" there. She or he publishes a calendar of newsworthy
events for other reporters to check each day.
On October 10, update the media alert you sent the previous week by adding new speakers or more information about student activities, and email or fax it again first thing in the morning. Once it's out, over the course of October 10 and 11, call everyone on your media list to make sure they received your media alert and to ask if they (or someone from their media outlet) can come. If they are unable to make it, plan to email or fax them a news release on October 12, immediately following or during the event. Many news outlets may be willing to write a story from a press release if they are unable to send a reporter to an event. If you call a talk show producer, ask about booking your afterschool program director as a guest on a future show to discuss the benefits of afterschool and the harm that would come from budget cutbacks.
Step Six: Issue a News Release
A few days before your event, write a news
release. A news release is written like a news story,
but has the advantage of being written from your point
of view. It contains quotes from important people, background
on your afterschool program and Lights On Afterschool,
and features your key messages. It should not exceed
two pages. It is essential that it list a contact person,
with daytime and evening (or cell) phone numbers. Because
the news release will be distributed at your event in
the press kits, it should be written in the past tense.
You should also fax it to journalists who do not come
to your event.
Step Seven: Develop Press Kits
Assemble press kits to distribute at your event - enough for all the journalists you expect will come, and then a few extra. The kits can be assembled in plain folders with a label from your afterschool program on the cover or, if you want to be creative, have students decorate the covers and write "press kit" prominently under the drawing. The kits should contain:
- Your news release
- A one-page background sheet on your afterschool program
- A one-page fact sheet on afterschool programs with data added on your state or community (adapt www.afterschoolalliance.org/lights_on/a_facts.cfm )
- Copies of the remarks of the mayor or program director, or other speakers
They may also contain:
- Letters from parents, volunteers or students describing why they support the program
- A proclamation from your mayor or governor declaring October 12 "Lights On Afterschool Day" (See tips and sample language at www.afterschoolalliance.org/lights_on/proc_other.cfm)
- Notable facts - for example, how has your program grown since its inception, how many students are on your waiting list, how many volunteers the program has, etc.
- A page describing your program's upcoming events
Step Eight: Manage Media at Your Event
On October 12, set up a "media sign-in" table. It should be easily recognizable to reporters and be placed at the entrance to the room or area where your Lights On Afterschool event will take place. Assign a staff person or volunteer to be at the table throughout the event to assist journalists. Have a sign-in sheet with "name of reporter," "media outlet," "phone number" and "email" written in columns at the top. Each reporter who signs in should be given a press kit and verbal information about your rally. If something special is happening in half an hour, make sure to tell him/her that. Give each reporter a badge or nametag to wear so everyone at the event can easily identify press people. Do not be surprised if journalists (photographers and camera crews in particular) "take over the room" briefly by setting up special lights for cameras, clipping their microphones to the podium or putting tape recorders on the podium. Be prepared to help them, as long as their needs do not disrupt your event.
Step Nine: Event Management
Don't let the story end on October 12. Make copies of any articles or broadcast stories about your Lights On Afterschool event that appear and circulate them to your board of directors, funders, parents, volunteers and policy makers at all levels. Assign people to monitor local TV news shows on October 11, 12 and 13, and tape any stories about your event. Keep those tapes to show at fundraisers, orientations or meetings you have in the future.
Stay in contact with reporters who attend your event
or produce stories. Contact them in May or June to see
if they'd be interested in doing an end-of-school-year
follow-up on your afterschool program. Or have the students
in your program create a thank-you card to send the
week after Lights On Afterschool in appreciation
for a good story. You might even contact the reporter
to see if he or she would host a group of kids from
your program, so they can see what it's like to work
at a TV, radio or newspaper office. Maintaining that
relationship after the event will help you the next
time you are looking for publicity.
Step Ten: Celebrate!
On October 13, be sure to collect clips from local newspapers. Then, relax. You mastered the fine art of media relations, and your afterschool program and the children you serve will benefit from your work. Congratulate yourself and your team on a job well done!
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