One of the shiny new features of the Sx6 Coalition Action Plan is the formation of a Communications Committee. While our group has historically communicated fairly well with political leaders, organizational heads, and the funding community, we have not done a great job of sharing our efforts and messages with our constituents - parents, and caregivers of young children. The Communications group seeks to take that on. Our hope is that families and caregivers will see the coalition messages and logos as signs of quality, trust, and support and that those good vibes will extend to all of us who participate in the coalition.
We foresee several key elements to our communications that will be critical to making this work:
- Support without overwhelming - We need to provide handy, helpful tips or information without tipping too far and bombarding people with information that will have them tune us out or make them feel guilty for not being good enough.
- Cultural relevance - this refers to languages, media (Facebook is so "over" for the latest group of young parents), and culturally resonant approaches to child-rearing.
- Messages that work for all coalition members - Whatever we put out on behalf of the coalition, we need to make sure that it honors all of our work and reinforces our shared values.
- Less is more - once we land on some key messages that have been piloted with different constituencies, we will strive for meaningful repetition so that they can become part of our common conversations about quality lives for our youngest resident and those who care for them.
Interested in helping see this work through? Let Ben Kramer know and we'll add you to the committee roster.
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