Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Connecting With Your Audiences Using Research

Making the decision to conduct research is not only a commitment to the success of your work but a commitment of your time. Each research project is different and offers unique insights into a group or audience. Share your experiences in support of your fellow grantees as they embark on their own research initiatives. Don’t reinvent the wheel, rather build off best practices! Post a question or concern about c ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Crafting Messages that Resonate

Our team wants to hear your feedback on the latest issue of the Communication Coach Online, Crafting Messages that Resonate. Message development, especially considering the complexities of SS/HS initiatives, is a difficult feat. And no one should have to recreate the wheel; sharing your thoughts and experiences may help your fellow SS/HS grantees enhance their own messages. Post a comment about your message devel ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Communication Top Five

Our initiative in Pueblo, CO, faced a number of communication challenges, and one was finding a compelling way to tell the story of our initiative to the community. We wanted to highlight the needs of our young people and introduce our initiative as a solution. One of my staff members found a Web-based application called Animoto where, even with no experience, she was able to produce a customized video using photos and music. It was ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Building and Sustaining Partnerships

My initiative, the Adams County Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, is located just northeast of Denver, CO, and works across five school districts. Our partnership includes individuals from school districts, law enforcement, mental health, human services, juvenile justice, community health, work force development, and the local early childhood council—26 partners in all. While some of these partners wo ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Engaging Diverse Audiences

Our grant site is located in Northeastern Arizona. Approximately 75 percent of students in our district are Navajo. District leadership is anxious to break down the barriers of mistrust and build better relationships with our Navajo families. Many students live on the adjoining reservation, some traveling hours to be in class. We’re helping the school district reach out to the Navajo communities. Our intention is to hon ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Demystifying New Media and Web 2.0

Since our grant site is in its first year of funding, we are really searching for effective ways to introduce the community to our new programs and prevention messages. Recently, we have decided to start utilizing social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook as a way of reaching high school students.  We are hopeful about the potential of new media techniques to get "in touch" with the stud ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Coordinating Relevant Events and Observances

Our grant site in Pittsfield, MA has coordinated events and activities around National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. We recognized the official “day” and also used the entire month of May to focus on children’s mental health. The core of our communication strategy was nine billboards that identified mental health as a part of children’s wellness. Public ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Telling Your Story With Evaluation Data

Our site—known as the SHARE Project—was funded in 2005 and encompasses 14 school districts and 25 communities. As we enter the final year of our grant and look toward sustaining our programs, we’re particularly aware of the importance of continuing to communicate our successes to our many stakeholders, and our evaluation data provide the “meat” for doing that. We are ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

Communicating in a Crisis

Our grant site is part of a large urban school district, just outside of Austin, TX, and we have experienced more than our fair share of crisis situations. One of the steps that helped us in our planning was to identify possible crisis situations that might occur in our community. We are located at the southern tip of “tornado alley” and we knew immediately that severe weather is one type of crisis situation we ...

Our Turn

Safe Schools/Healthy Students project directors are invited to join in this moderated peer-to-peer online discussion on communication successes and challenges.

As a 2005 SS/HS site, we’ve had to learn several key “lessons” in our work with local media—but we don’t think our learning is done yet. So far, I think the most important lesson for us has been in “owning” our story. We learned that information was going to get out to the media from any number of sources—not all of it correct, either. We had to start being proactive and getting our message out ther ...