Community Messaging to Build Awareness About Early Childhood Programs

“We invite our business leaders, organizations and city leaders to come together to celebrate a love of reading. We really want to hone in on the importance of where kids are learning and that there’s a role for everyone across our community to play and help support that learning.” – Barb Lito  

In this Crucible of Practice Salon, we were joined by Samantha Emerine from FAMILY, Inc. in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Barbara Lito from the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, who shared examples of communication tools they use to inform community members about programs and resources for families and young children. These examples were recently recognized as “Exceptional” in CGLR’s 2023 Communication Expo.  

Following the opening remarks and icebreaker, Emerine provided an overview of Raise Me to Read and the focus areas within the coalition. Early childhood services and programs supporting children from birth to age 5 and their families are a core focus of the work. This is done through partnerships with program providers, preschools and the local public library. Awareness about the programs and services offered is key to ensuring that families are accessing these resources. The two examples of communications tools Emerine shared include the kindergarten readiness brochure and the “Baby Reads” Campaign.      

“If the information is not presented in a friendly or approachable way for families, it might get overlooked. If families don’t see the information, then it’s not doing anyone any good.” – Samanta Emerine 

Lito shared an overview of Virginia Beach GrowSmart, the CGLR coalition, and how the coalition functions within the economic development branch of the City of Virginia Beach. She described the coalition’s messaging under the “Virginia Beach Talks” campaign focused on early childhood programs. The outcomes of the campaign include connection and engagement with parents through evidence-based programs, including LENA Start and story-sharing in parent groups, and large-scale events, such as their “Read Across America” Day.  

“The intention of Virginia Beach Talks is to lift up the importance of early learning happening across a child’s life experience from age zero to 5 and connect and equip our adult caregivers, parents and early educators for success.” – Barbara Lito   

The large group discussion pulled in two other CGLR community leads to provide examples of their communications work. Ashley Winslow from United Way of Wyoming Valley shared information about the recent project called the “Community Helpers video series,” which is a series of 12 videos from community members in different occupations, reading a book and messaging about the importance of reading. The video series is widely shared on the organization’s social media channels, in classrooms and at the local library. Kim Myers from Get Troup Reading discussed the re-design of the Get Troup Reading website, the intention behind the site and how the coalition is using it to communicate supportive resources as well as key data for their overall work. A Padlet was used for the remainder of the large group conversation to collect insights about some of the conversation starter questions.