Participation at Community Resiliency Centers

If its a new center I would recommend several open house, activity events and plaster the town with fliers and giveaway items that can be used for outreach purposes. 

Get in contact with community mental health agencies, social workers on inpatient psych units, and advertise on Facebook and ask people to share.

Hi

Sounds like a wonderful program!

My first question is did you do a survey before marketing the program to find what the local community wanted/needed? Second question, did you market it as a resilience program? I ask because if it doesn't feel relevant then attendance will probably stay low and terms like resilience are not very engaging for people who are struggling to get by. It sound like you might need to help connect what you're offering to the needs of the community.

I would identify key concerns, child behavior, feeling stressed, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, loneliness, basically the outcome of living in a low resource neighborhood with environmental ACEs that impact everyone. Then I'd contextualize the program as helping with those things, BUT it has to be what they see as challenges, not our assessment of those challenges.

Of course incentives always help, but if you don't have the budget for something tangible you could do something like earn a certificate of completion if you attend x number of sessions.

Best of luck with your work!

Hi Erin! Have you contacted anyone at the local schools? Specifically, the counselors? They would have a great idea of which families could use additional support and can refer them to your program. I'd also advise asking to be involved in any events the schools have. For our program, we have asked to have a table at Parent-Teacher conferences and participated in the local trunk-or-treat. Smaller communities tend to be more tight knit, so just being present and letting families become familiar with our organization really helped boost attendance. I'm also in agreement with Joanne about the name of the group. We call ours a parenting support group and welcome all families to come share a meal, support one another, and provide concrete resources. All at no charge. People generally come for the meals and resources. They stay because they quickly bond with the other parents, their children have others to play with, and they hear about resources in their community while learning about the effects of ACEs and how to strengthen their five protective factors. I'd suggest giving thought to what the community as a whole seems to need or what their interests are as a whole. The Y also seems like a great resource to enroll families. Perhaps you can join some of their events as well. Best of luck with your program! 

Peace, Love & Light,
Don't be discouraged!  Creating spaces for deescalation is in alignment with what would be considered the new wave of "Best Practices" for positive youth and community development. Like others have said on this thread, take time to engage and market the benefits of what you are doing to the community.  I would suggest starting with resident council presidents and getting on their monthly meeting schedule.  Go to other community events and give demonstrations.  The school social workers, mental health specialists and the PTA are also excellent resources.  The first stage of any initiative is building a safe and brave space which starts with trust.  This takes a little time to build and know that it's a step that cannot be skipped.  Feel free to reach out; I may know people that can help in your area.

Best practices show shareholder participation in planning improves participation.

Can the Center host an event to ask the Community members how they want to use it? I attended an event where we were given colored sticky notes. Each color was assigned a priority and we were asked to write ideas on them based on which ideas we prioritized and then add them to topics posted on the walls around the room, which had earlier been generated by the group as categories in which things could happen. Things in this case were related to continuing the conversation about the health impacts of climate change.  

You mentioned there are partners referring, could you email poll them or call a brainstorming session with them to ask them how to improve participation of their people; maybe a zoom or other online platform session or a lunch & learn styled meeting, where they reach and you & your staff learn.

Go to the things people do participate in and engage; meet them where they are and lead them where you want them to go.

Is the weather a deterrent to walking at this time of year?

I saw incentives mentioned and assessing needs; both are important tools in successful programming. Ground your work in what is important to the people you want to serve. Demonstrate how what you offer upholds what they value.

Keep faith; the right people are the ones who show up and for those who show up, something will happen. Plant small seeds and grow big trees.

Consider asking Rotary Clubs to help, work with faith-based orgs, access pre-schools populations.

I don't know what city you are in but "Community Resilience Centers" sound on my cursory review alot like Family Resource Centers (called in some areas: Family Centers, Family Support Centers, Family Success Centers) if you haven't connected already with ones in your community - I would do so.  You can learn if your state has a network at www.nationalfamilysupportnetwork.org or by searching within your state for one of the above terms.  

Sarah Grijalva posted:

If its a new center I would recommend several open house, activity events and plaster the town with fliers and giveaway items that can be used for outreach purposes. 

Thank you. Yes, each of the activities you mentioned were conducted. 

Shelley Goldman posted:

Get in contact with community mental health agencies, social workers on inpatient psych units, and advertise on Facebook and ask people to share.

Thank you, yes, all of those strategies are in place. 

Joanne Standlee posted:

Hi

Sounds like a wonderful program!

My first question is did you do a survey before marketing the program to find what the local community wanted/needed? Second question, did you market it as a resilience program? I ask because if it doesn't feel relevant then attendance will probably stay low and terms like resilience are not very engaging for people who are struggling to get by. It sound like you might need to help connect what you're offering to the needs of the community.

I would identify key concerns, child behavior, feeling stressed, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, loneliness, basically the outcome of living in a low resource neighborhood with environmental ACEs that impact everyone. Then I'd contextualize the program as helping with those things, BUT it has to be what they see as challenges, not our assessment of those challenges.

Of course incentives always help, but if you don't have the budget for something tangible you could do something like earn a certificate of completion if you attend x number of sessions.

Best of luck with your work!

Thank you! A needs assessment using data and information from another countywide program was used during the planning process.  We are looking at changing the wording with less stress on terms like "resiliency". You make great points and I am going to share this with the advisory board. 

Florina Ruvio posted:

Hi Erin! Have you contacted anyone at the local schools? Specifically, the counselors? They would have a great idea of which families could use additional support and can refer them to your program. I'd also advise asking to be involved in any events the schools have. For our program, we have asked to have a table at Parent-Teacher conferences and participated in the local trunk-or-treat. Smaller communities tend to be more tight knit, so just being present and letting families become familiar with our organization really helped boost attendance. I'm also in agreement with Joanne about the name of the group. We call ours a parenting support group and welcome all families to come share a meal, support one another, and provide concrete resources. All at no charge. People generally come for the meals and resources. They stay because they quickly bond with the other parents, their children have others to play with, and they hear about resources in their community while learning about the effects of ACEs and how to strengthen their five protective factors. I'd suggest giving thought to what the community as a whole seems to need or what their interests are as a whole. The Y also seems like a great resource to enroll families. Perhaps you can join some of their events as well. Best of luck with your program! 

Thank you. Yes, the schools are deeply involved and are a part of the overall project. You also make great points that I will share. We are looking to make stronger linkages to other programming and perhaps make the "center" mobile. 

Dr. Bruce Purnell posted:

Peace, Love & Light,
Don't be discouraged!  Creating spaces for deescalation is in alignment with what would be considered the new wave of "Best Practices" for positive youth and community development. Like others have said on this thread, take time to engage and market the benefits of what you are doing to the community.  I would suggest starting with resident council presidents and getting on their monthly meeting schedule.  Go to other community events and give demonstrations.  The school social workers, mental health specialists and the PTA are also excellent resources.  The first stage of any initiative is building a safe and brave space which starts with trust.  This takes a little time to build and know that it's a step that cannot be skipped.  Feel free to reach out; I may know people that can help in your area.

Thank you! Yes, many of the stakeholders you mentioned have been involved with the project, especially school personnel. You make great points, especially how this is a new approach. Thanks for responding!

Vicki Boguszewski posted:

Best practices show shareholder participation in planning improves participation.

Can the Center host an event to ask the Community members how they want to use it? I attended an event where we were given colored sticky notes. Each color was assigned a priority and we were asked to write ideas on them based on which ideas we prioritized and then add them to topics posted on the walls around the room, which had earlier been generated by the group as categories in which things could happen. Things in this case were related to continuing the conversation about the health impacts of climate change.  

You mentioned there are partners referring, could you email poll them or call a brainstorming session with them to ask them how to improve participation of their people; maybe a zoom or other online platform session or a lunch & learn styled meeting, where they reach and you & your staff learn.

Go to the things people do participate in and engage; meet them where they are and lead them where you want them to go.

Is the weather a deterrent to walking at this time of year?

I saw incentives mentioned and assessing needs; both are important tools in successful programming. Ground your work in what is important to the people you want to serve. Demonstrate how what you offer upholds what they value.

Keep faith; the right people are the ones who show up and for those who show up, something will happen. Plant small seeds and grow big trees.

Consider asking Rotary Clubs to help, work with faith-based orgs, access pre-schools populations.

Thank you. Yes, the stakeholders you mentioned are "at the table" and are a part of the center's referral and outreach process. We are exploring making the center mobile and linking with other programs that have families already involved. Your input will be shared! Thanks again.