Communications and Awareness Building

For staff leading communications and awareness building efforts at local United Ways, listed below are equity strategies and related approaches to advance your work in childhood and youth success, economic mobility and health.
 

Childhood and Youth Success Strategies:

STRATEGY: Increase access to high-quality early childhood educational experiences for BIPOC students to support school readiness.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Partner with United Way affinity groups (African American, Women Leaders, Young Leaders) to launch awareness campaigns to increase community understanding of the importance of early childhood programs, highlighting gaps in access based on neighborhood, affordability, uneven quality, etc. Frame access to early childhood programs essential to children’s success and an opportunity to remove existing barriers to ensure all children have an opportunity to a better start in life.

STRATEGY: Engage families, youth, schools and community partners to ensure that BIPOC students have access to K-12 high-quality, high-performing schools.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Work with schools, students, and families to create awareness campaigns to effectively communicate barriers to on-time high school graduation. United Way of Anchorage’s former No Labels Campaign is an example of an effective campaign to address stereotypes.

STRATEGY: Organize a system of school and community-based supports for BIPOC students as they progress through elementary, middle and high school.

 

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Lead issue-based campaigns to increase donor and community awareness of persistent barriers to student learning (e.g., food access, school attendance, healthcare access).

STRATEGY: Partner with K-12 (middle, high schools) and higher education systems to improve post-secondary access, persistence, and attainment for BIPOC students.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Create awareness campaigns highlighting the growing importance of a college degree for employment in key fields (STEAM), job stability, earnings potential and civic engagement.

STRATEGY: Provide BIPOC high school and college students with timely supports and services to ensure college access, persistence and completion.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Partner with local middle and high schools, families and youth to plan activities promoting college-going culture (e.g., National College Signing Day on May 1st).

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Economic Mobility Strategies:

STRATEGY: BIPOC students complete advanced degrees, certifications, and/or technical training programs to secure well-paying jobs in high-growth sectors.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Document, promote, and advocate for locally-relevant, successful approaches.

STRATEGY: BIPOC youth and adults advance to good jobs and careers in high-growth, high-wage sectors.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: • Document, promote and advocate for locally relevant successful approaches.

STRATEGY: BIPOC youth and adults advance to good jobs and careers in high-growth, high-wage sectors.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: • Document, promote and advocate for locally relevant successful approaches.

STRATEGY: BIPOC individuals have equitable opportunities to use quality and comparable financial products and services.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Document, promote, and advocate for locally-relevant, successful approaches.

STRATEGY: BIPOC have safe, affordable housing.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: • Document, promote, and advocate for locally-relevant successful approaches.

STRATEGY: Increase BIPOC homeownership and ensure home valuations are determined equitably.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: • Document, promote, and advocate for locally-relevant successful approaches.

Access to Health Strategies:

STRATEGY: Work with community partners to  strengthen and build healthy, supportive, resilient communities in areas with poor health outcomes, by addressing the social determinants of health.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Share findings of community conversations and suggested action steps. Engage community partners in developing communication strategies that emphasize the role all citizens play in promoting and improving the community’s health. Share success stories that link cross-sector collaborations with the value of the benefits delivered. Develop familiarity with the sectors you want to engage, avoiding broad generalizations and acknowledging subgroups.

STRATEGY: Improve access to and quality of prenatal and postpartum care to women of color, with particular emphasis on Black women.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Work with expectant mothers and their partners to develop communication strategies promoting the importance of prenatal and postpartum care for BIPOC and low-income women.

STRATEGY: Decrease infant mortality rates in BIPOC communities by supporting prenatal care and access to social needs for mothers and raising awareness of healthy infant development.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Develop communications strategies that promote improving infant health, i.e., well baby visits, immunizations, smoke free homes, etc.

STRATEGY: Promote public and/or or private health insurance enrollment among BIPOC individuals.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Develop culturally appropriate federal, state and local enrollment communication campaigns that target uninsured and underinsured households.

STRATEGY: Remove barriers to access public benefits and health resources.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Develop culturally and linguistically appropriate communication campaigns that raise awareness of available public benefits and health resources.

STRATEGY: Support and expand health services in under-resourced communities.

Image Communications and Awareness Building Approaches: Develop culturally and linguistically appropriate communication campaigns that raise awareness of available health services.