community outreach

Outreach Presentation Outline & Resources

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Organization: 
Squeaky Wheel

A general outline for giving a presentation or workshop for outreach purposes created by corps member Goda Trakumaite. Also included is a list of questions for a media creation and media literacy workshop that she often gives at the end of her presentations.

Long Island City CTC Outreach

VISTA Name: 
Carmen Mitchell
Program Start: 
6/2002
Project Description: 

To strengthen the capacity of the Long Island City CTC by improving self help materials, supporting neighborhood volunteers use of technology, and conducting a needs assessment. The VISTAs will also help the extend the organizations reach to a more diverse constituency of new Americans living in New York.

- Support and organize a more robust outreach campaign targeted at local block, tenant, and neighborhood association members to encourage use of the CTC
- Schedule training sessions and develop self-help materials related to getting neighborhood and civic groups online
- Conduct an information needs assessment of the information and technology needs and interests of 60 neighborhood groups located in low-income, immigrant dense areas of New York City to determine which self-help materials are needed and how they are most likely to be used
- Develop and design five new top sheets based on the specific needs of immigrants

Community Outreach

Organization: 
Community Software Lab
VISTA Name: 
John Miller
Program Start: 
8/2005
Program End: 
3/2007
Project Description: 

Goal 1: Increase Community groups served from 25 to 100
Goal 2: Increase & Improve UMASS Lowell / community anti-poverty community groups
Goal 3: Make it much easier for non techs to update and create web pages.
Goal 4: Create effective system for fund raising through grants
Goal 5: Increase number of effective volunteers from (3) per year to (5) by evaluating potential volunteers more carefully and providing more formal training to new volunteers.

Project Outcome: 

John is a big part of our growth from 25 to 35 organizations.

Three program directors have told me almost exactly: “Without John, I wouldn’t have learned how to update my websie.”

Community Outreach and Evaluation

VISTA Name: 
Karl Hedstrom
Program Start: 
11/2006
Program End: 
11/2007
Project Outcome: 

Karl has proved indespensible in helping our organization understand who our membership is and how we are serving them. With direction, Karl has developed a weekly and monthly statistics aggregation (our dashboard) that illustrates our level of community support and involvement. He has also developed many systems in our database to help us better communicate with our community through direct email and web publishing.

"Youth Media Block" Program Building and Outreach

Organization: 
Media Bridges Cincinnati
VISTA Name: 
Lauren Bratslavsky
Program Start: 
9/2006
Program End: 
9/2007
Project Description: 

Goal 1: Research pre-existing youth oriented media curriculum, policies and programs
Goal 2: Develop manual with existing resources, create MBYC policies, procedures and journal outreaches for future use.
Goal 3: Grant Writing and research funding options focused at the Media Bridges Youth Channel and Operation Department
Goal 4: Research, design, implement a volunteer managment model to be used withthe MBYC.

Project Outcome: 

Lauren has been an integral part of ensuring a year- round, sustainable youth media program. She has been developing policies, researching, compiling content for the Youth Media Block and leading several of the outreaches and youth- media classes. The VISTA has also been vital in assisting the Education Coordinator with her duties such as classes, curriculum development, and community outreach.

Pink House CTC Marketing and Outreach

VISTA Name: 
Sharon Renae Smack
Program Start: 
6/2006
Program End: 
6/2009
Project Description: 

Our VISTA member will work with targeted low-income communities to ensure children (pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade) have access to computer technology and that the digital divide that currently seperates the low-income from the affluent continously decreases. Members will increase the capacity of the CTC and utilize technology resources – specifically the programs and facilities of the CTC – to educate, inform, and empower youth and adults to participate in community decision-making and local governance.

The CTC VISTA will
- engage in outreach to low-income communities that connects families with CTC
- work with local youth advisory groups to identify other CTCs and get the word out to the public
- secure computers from local companies to distribute to the poor
- introduce new software to youth attending the CTC
- expand after school computer lab programs
- recruit and train volunteers to deliver programs
- evaluate program outcomes
- investigate funding sources and contribute to the organization’s grant writing effort
- participate in in-service trainings and national service days
- plan for personal and professional development
- develop a web site service portfolio

Project Outcome: 

Renae has collaborated with city and county agencies to create strong strategic alliances with the PINK HOUSE. She keeps on top of the changes and new programs that are provided by these agencies and continually keeps in touch with the community leaders to inform them of the programs being implemented.

Though I always come up with the purpose of the event, Renae never ceases to amaze me in the way she plans and prepares for an event. She coordinates, decorates, handles the media, finds the volunteers through programs set forth in her prior years of service from creation to completion of the event.

Through these hard times, Renae still continues to get our local community businesses to commit to the children and the community. She keeps in touch with our partners. She continues to create, implement, and maintain our technological programs for the youth using service projects.

Renae also worked The College of Charleston public relations department and was instrumental in our center receiving a team to create branding for the center as well as a solid volunteer base through the program they created.

The third grade class was in charge of creating the newsletter for the center this term. They had to select the team themselves. She monitored as they elected a editor, decided who would be the photographer, journalist etc.. Each child was given a job. They learned skills in creative writing, photography, making advertisements, team organizing and working together as a team.

Impact Quote: 

She has worked tiredlessly with our organization and others in the community to build a strong sustainable relationship. Her request from the local college in our area created not only branding for the center but a volunteer base as well. Her continued contact with the City of Charleston Organizations helped to provide services to our residents in the community also is a valuable resource to the center. It gives us a great foundation to continue our service to the community.”
- Reverend King, supervisor

Wireless Network Deployment and Community Outreach

VISTA Name: 
Emilio Flores
Program Start: 
6/2006
Program End: 
6/2007
Project Description: 

Goal 1: Advance opportunities for free or inexpensive broadband Internet access by low- and moderate-income Boston residents through innovative technology and tech support

Goal 2: Enhance cooperation among the first Boston area nonprofit housing development efforts to experiment with WiFi wide area networks

Goal 3: Evaluate MIT Roofnet software as a low-cost potential component of attempts to improve citywide access to broadband

Project Outcome: 

Emilio developed a detailed deployment plan for a free community Internet program at Castle Square using MIT Roofnet mesh networking software. He recruited and trained two Castle Square resident youth and six Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) students to assist in the deployment and outreach to the community. He did outreach to residents about the opportunity to participate in the project and the availability of technical support. He led the team that installed and configured customer premise equipment and provided training and technical support to enable residents to join the wireless network.

Additionally, Emilio enhanced cooperation among the first Boston area nonprofit housing development efforts to experiment with WiFi wide area networks by such means as: 1) Played a central, hands-on role maintaining and upgrading pre-existing wireless networks in collaboration with Madison Park Development Corp. (MPDC) and the South End Technology Center (SETC) at Tent City. 2) Convened meetings at Castle Square of representatives of the City of Cambridge, Mass Housing, MPDC, SETC, CSTO and BFIT to share experiences and plans, learn from each other and devise ways to assist each others’ work. 3) Held a series of outreach/training events to share our results with other housing developments.

Emilio Flores, serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA Member started some months after the project was initiated but it didn’t really get rolling until he came on board. He took the lead in organizing communications with the 120 families that joined the network and in arranging for them to be served by the free wireless Internet. In doing that, he managed a team of resident youth, work-study teams and volunteers. He played a principal continuing role in monitoring the network and working to improve its performance. Emilio served as chair of a distinguished advisory committee that worked to enhance communications among existing and developing housing-based wireless projects in Boston and Cambridge and awarded $10,000 in grants to support such projects. He also took the lead role in organizing presentations about the team’s work.

Wireless Network Installation and Community Outreach

Organization: 
Technology for All
VISTA Name: 
James Carlson
Program Start: 
6/2006
Program End: 
6/2007
Project Description: 

James worked for Technology For All in our TFA-Wireless social enterprise. TFA-Wireless is a joint research project with TFA and Rice University. The network provides free wireless internet to low income under resourced community in South East Houston. His efforts were focused in the area of community wireless networking with primary areas of responsibility covering implementation, administration and expansion of a multi-node wireless mesh network providing covering 3 Sq Km.

Project Outcome: 

As a graduate Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech the technical requirements of his position were quickly mastered. In addition to the technical aspects of the project James had worked in the area of community engagement as a regular as part of his responsibilities. The community is primarily Latino, many of which are recent or first generation immigrants. The biggest hurdle for James in this area was the language barrier as James was not conversational in Spanish. The opportunity and challenges in this type of research network abound. Regardless of these challenges, James was highly successful in increasing the range and scope of services we can offer the residents of these areas and his presence will be missed from both in the interpersonal arena as well as his technical proficiency.

Outreach Coordinator

VISTA Name: 
Jennifer Schmitt
Program Start: 
9/2004
Program End: 
9/2005
Project Description: 

Goal 1. Increase participation of users and viewers of Cambridge Community Television.
Goal 2. Increase access in Cambridge.

Project Outcome: 

To quickly review Jennifer’s first quarter initiatives, her project included research into the demographic makeup of the city of Cambridge, preparing a significant report on ethnic and language identity by zip code of our community, and identifying organizations in our community to build relationships with to better serve our city. Jennifer’s second quarter worked to increasing member production rates and values by fostering and mentoring two member production groups; one group for the support of active producers working on individual productions, and the next a group focused on cooperatively producing a current affairs program.

Jennifer has also been responsible for a couple of community television events. These are events that, without CCTV and the hard work of our interns, would not have made the nightly news.

In the fourth quarter, a new initiative was born and Jennifer became the supervisor for our Summer Media Institute, a youth media program operated here at CCTV in collaboration with the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. The Mayor’s office runs a program each summer placing teenagers for six weeks in various host sites with the intent to provide structure, job training, and income for youth in the city of Cambridge.

The twelve teenagers placed with CCTV undergo a rigorous media training program including digital camera and editing techniques, documentary and fiction production, software and other hard skills through project-based workshops and weekly screenings. This program empowers our twelve Cambridge youth each year with the ability to produce media that more accurately reflects their lives and experiences in our city. This program is several years old and graduates continue to return for our services and facilities in their independent media work.

Impact Quote: 

We adore Jennifer Schmitt. This year has been the best volunteer experience that CCTV
has had with the VISTA program and it is clearly because of Jennifer’s strength of
character and investment in her work. She far exceeded our expectations and through her
year long service she greatly improved the services CCTV has to offer our community.
In fact, her excellent work was the reason we have offered her a full time position here at
CCTV beyond her service year.

Outreach and Video Editor & Youth Media Coordinator

Organization: 
Boston Neighborhood Network
VISTA Name: 
Alli Shaughnessy
Program Start: 
9/2004
Program End: 
9/2006
Project Description: 

Alli, working as a VISTA volunteer, has filled a huge void for BNN by assisting in promotions and outreach to the community. Through her first six months at BNN she has assisted not only the organization, but BNN producers in getting their message out.

In Alli’s second year at BNN she held the position of Youth Media Coordinator. Her duties included organizing a teen media club and producing a monthly program with the teens in the club.

Project Outcome: 

She is currently helping to organize, write, and format BNN’s quarterly newsletter, our most important piece of literature sent to our members. The newsletter introduces new equipment in our facilities, editing and production tips, and production class schedules. BNN has been unable to produce a newsletter since last winter, due to lack of staff and time, so Alli’s assistance in this is especially crucial. Once the newsletter is completed it will be mailed to approximately 500 members and BNN typically receives a positive response from a large number of recipients.

Another example of Alli’s reach to the community is BNN’s Neighborhood Network News Program Highlights which Alli has been in charge of for the past six months. The Program Highlights require Alli to be in close contact to all of our producers and to contact various shows on a weekly basis. The Highlights also require her to send out a bulk mailing each month encouraging producers to contact her and let her know about their show, so that BNN can assist them in reaching as many people in the community as possible.

Not only is Alli reaching out to community members, but during the next six months a lot of her attention will go to reaching out to community organizations. BNN provides non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston area a chance to produce a PSA highlighting their organization’s cause. Alli will be responsible for the production and editing of these PSA’s, and she will assist BNN’s Education/Outreach department in contacting the organizations through phone calls, mailings and most importantly a “Get Your Message Out” seminar.

Over the last six months Alli has been a vital part in increasing BNN’s reach to the Boston community. She has kept daily communication with many of our producers and the productions that she has assisted on have gotten her out into the community and aided BNN in delivering community messages.

Transmission Project