Campaign Overview

1. Campaign Overview • “Love. Talk. Play.” is a simple, but powerful, message campaignthat supports parents as their child’s first and most important teachers. • Campaign Goal: All families – especially vulnerable families – with children birth to age 3 have the confidence, information and skills needed to give heir children a great start in life. • Campaign is led by Thrive by Five Washington, the Dept. of Early Learning and Office of Supt. of Public Instruction and shared with diverse communities of parents statewide through the state’s regional early learning coalitions and other state and local partners. • Created with input from parents, national early learning experts and partners, the campaign provides families with examples of how to incorporate love, talk and play into everyday activities, such as diaper changing, making a meal or sharing a book. • The campaign is gaining interestwithin the state and nationally because of its simplicity and its positive approach.

2. FY13: Expand Campaign • Overall Goal • All families – especially vulnerable families – with children birth to age 3 have the confidence, information and skills needed to give their children a great start in life. • FY13 Communications Objectives • More vulnerable families are reached through the early learning coalitions, increased partnership with state agencies and organizations, focused outreach efforts and general public awareness. • Improved campaign infrastructure makes it easier for more organizations (in-state and out-of-state) to engage with and implement the campaign. • A diverse set of funders understand and support the campaign. • A plan for national expansion is developed and possibly started.

3. Role of Outreach Committee Through their knowledge, expertise and connections, the Outreach Committee will help us connect to a population of harder to reach families, so that they have the confidence, information and skills needed to give their children a great start in life. The campaign will convene the Outreach Committee on a regular basis and provide resources and support.

4. Process for Choosing Priority Population • Conversation Frame • Targeted Universalism: Inclusive of the needs of both the dominant and marginal groups, but pays attention to the situation of the marginal group. • Criteria for Making Decision • Who would the campaign benefit most? • Who has the greatest need for what the campaign offers? • Where is the greatest opportunity to provide focused attention? • Goal of Process • Identify one population for the campaign to focus on over the next 12-18 months. Definition of population is broad (e.g., race, ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, geography, etc.) Priority pop. may need to be coupled with a geographic boundary to increase our chances of being successful • Step #1: Small Group Discussion • Share what you have learned working with specific populations in your work • Where do we already seeing some success from the LTP campaign? • Who do YOU think could/would benefit most from some focused attention? • Consider some data from across the state • Step #2: Large Group Discussion • Brainstorm list of populations and offer a short explanation about why you think this group meets our criteria. Each person votes via sticky dot for one population – a large majority, not consensus, is desired. If no one population clearly emerges as the priority population, there will be continued discussion followed by a second vote.

5. Why teens? • First and foremost, some of the coalitions have spent the past year reaching out to teens in their region. They’re getting great responses and see a real need. We want to build on that work. • The teen parent population crosses all ethnic and cultural boundaries, as well as WIC families and low-income and homeless groups. Lessons learned in one geographic area could be carried throughout the state. • Teen parents are in need of parenting support and emotional support. They’re kids raising kids, and they could be socially isolated or separated from family. They could also be surrounded by family members who are greatly involved, creating a need for coordinated efforts to spread the “Love. Talk. Play.” message to all caregivers. • Teen parents are at an age that is very formative for them as well, so it’s a window of opportunity to have an impact on the future for both generations. • Teen parents are not always super engaged, so there is a need to find a way to connect with them and deliver messages with impact. This challenge can really be a positive for the “Love. Talk. Play.” message if we find a way to create a leadership pipeline for teen parents to teach other teen parents, giving the message more power and stickiness. • Teens are brutally honest about what works for them … and doesn’t work! • Working with the teen parent audience could infuse new energy into the campaign as we learn from them how to frame the words and concepts in a way that resonates. • The “Love. Talk. Play.” framework is a message intended to build confidence for parents, making it a potential vehicle for personal empowerment for teens at a time when they feel out of control. It’s a counter-narrative to the “Teen Mom” stereotype. • Some work is already going on with teen parents, and we can tap into those existing networks and build on them. There is also potential to align with school district programs, but there needs to be a plan to reach those who aren’t in school.

6. Initial Timeline for Work with Priority Population • April 18: Meet with LTP leads for the coalitions • May: • Early May: Identify two coalitions • Create list of invitees to attend first Outreach Committee meeting • June • June 6: Thrive approves FY13 budget. At this time, we will have a better sense of the resources available for the two coalitions/Outreach Committee • First Outreach Committee Meeting • July-September • Planning based on Outreach Committee Meeting • Coalitions complete annual RFP • October • Work begins

7. E.L. Coalition Audiences * In some cases, in addition to vulnerable families at large

8. Pilot Participants: 4 Key Questions • What work are you currently doing with teens? • Do you have data about teens in your community? • Do you have partners who would be willing to be part of this process? • Does your coalition want to take on this additional commitment?