Download
1 / 20
200 likes | 211 Views
Promoting the SDOP brand. Engaging partners as champions to spread the good news about SDOP!. Making our pitch. Reading and Listening to our community partners . Ex: Group serves single mothers living in subsidized housing by providing parenting education.
E N D
Promoting the SDOP brand Engaging partners as champions to spread the good news about SDOP!
Making our pitch • Reading and Listening to our community partners • . Ex: Group serves single mothers living in subsidized housing by providing parenting education. • Ask questions about issues that these organizations address that align with SDOP • Ex: Mothers may have problems getting to the agency because the city refuses to provide a bus stop near their housing due to high crime. • Example: Explain how SDOP might be a resource for the women to access to design a project to mobilize to create a neighborhood watch and lobby the city to locate a bus stop near their homes.
Making our pitch • Explaining the SDOP criteria. • Assure the potential partner that SDOP offers technical assistance. • Emphasize that most groups that apply to SDOP have no previous experience with grant writing. • Provide the partner with contact information. • Encourage them to pass on the information to other groups that might have a project that meets SDOP criteria. • Help them generate a list of potential projects that may fit the groups they serve.
Who are we trying to reach? Agents working with and for economically oppressed groups. Watchdogs groups Citizen oversight groups Leadership development groups Neighborhood based philanthropic groups Empowering church missions
New Realities require New tools and Strategies 45 years ago- 1960 Today- 2015 Internet and social media are dominate forms of communication Information travels super fast Groups are more global and not easily identified Groups are often networked or clustered Free time is limited • Phone and snail mail were dominate forms of Communication • Information travelled much slower • Activists groups were more visible in local communities • Groups operated in silos • People had more free time
Tips to effectively move our message Today • Message must be clear, simple and actionable. • Do your homework to locate the groups and networks you want to carry your message. • Groups need to understand the process, feel as if they understand the requirements and are moving forward in order to trust you. • Follow-up and relationship building helps keep your information in the forefront. • Outreach methods must take the groups time constraints into account. • Being internet and social media savvy is a must!
Luke 14:23And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
How do we reach (find) them to invite them in? • Contact your local UW, Red Cross , Community Development programs • Surf the internet for “local nonprofits for workforce development, social entreprenurship, restored citizens programs • Make phone calls and attend local social service workshops and meetings. • Know who we are trying to reach. How do we define grassroots groups and activists? Who else is working with these groups that will view SDOP as an asset to spread the news. • Listen, Listen, Listen. Learn about current issues in the target community ( school reform, gentrification, heavy handed policing, voter mobilization, fair wages, affordable housing, unionism, job creation, community benefits agreements, grassroots campaigns, returning citizens etc.) • Ask groups specifically how to make contact with non-traditional leaders and grassroots groups that they work with. Ask when meetings take place and attend.
Playing detective: How to start your search Ask your children and grandchildren who they and their friends are working with. Visit, call and/or talk to different denominations working to eliminate oppression. Attend meetings in target communities. Invite partners to an information luncheon • Let your feet and fingertips do the work. • Internet search ( Keyword: Civic engagement, organizing, coalition, leadership development, community building, advocacy, social justice, human rights, economic justice.) • Visit organizations working in economically poor communities
Digging a Little Deeper- Who do you know and who do they know • Where are your children and grandchildren working? • They or their friends may work in fields that serve our audience. Educate them about SDOP. • What groups do you see on local news working to make an impact or change conditions? • Settlement Houses – advocacy, workforce development and educational program • What are the hot button issues in your community – who are leaders associated with those issues? • Print News: access the alternate news sources in your community • Stop into the trendy new spots in your community and pick up the weekly alternative paper. • Ask to be placed on the e-mail list by those heading up coalitions and movements in your community.
Encourage potential partners to spread the good news • It is all about building Relationships on your part • Build an elevator speech about SDOP • Have a thorough understanding of the SDOP criteria and be able to describe the criteria, audience and how the program can benefit the partners constituency. DO THIS IN 1 MINUTE OR LESS!!! • Determine if the partner organization has a population that would be interested in SDOP • Offer the potential partner contact information they can use to refer groups. • Follow up with phone calls or visits to remind them of the program. • Leave literature brochure behind They are generally very busy people and tend to forget sometimes. • Do not oversell the partnership angle. Partnerships are between equally yoked groups. This is most likely not the case.
Finding the right people to spread the news! • AmeriCorps Vista workers ( Work in marginalized communities) • Other denominations, Lutheran, Veritas, Catholic Foundation and other mission groups • United Way • Foundations investing in distressed communities – Talk to banks that are doing community reinvestment programs • College and university extension centers ( Ohio State Extension Center, County extensions • Community and neighborhood associations – check they will put something in their newsletters • Entrepreneurship incubators
Continued… • Union associations • Cooperative associations • Policy and think tank groups • Advocacy agencies
Examples of partners around the country • Georgia (Atlanta) Nature’s Garden Express- Co-op and co-op incubator. • Ohio (Statewide) Ohio Organizing Collaborative-Coalition building to address human rights, social justice and voter disenfranchisement. • Veritas Community Church (Columbus Ohio) • Texas ( Austin) Texas Civil Rights Project- Worker training to address wage theft. • Social Justice Activist Program- (South Carolina) Creating networks of students, staff and faculty to combat bias and become activist in communities. • Southern Coalition for Social Justice ( South Carolina)-Social justice base building.
Continued… • Social Justice Collaborative ( Oakland Ca.)- Assist undocumented groups including advocacy. • Ella Baker Center for Human rights (Oakland Ca.)- Coalition building and capacity building.
