Basic details that need to be addressed by the agency:
- Define the overall purpose and vision for Public Awareness (PA) and Child Find (CF) for the agency.
- Choose the target community.
- Decide who from the Early Intervention (EI) agency will be involved.
- Learn how marketing enhances PA, CF and EI services.
- List past/current Part C or agency PA/CF activities that have or are occurring in the target community.
- Decide who should be involved in the "core" organizing team.
- Determine how parent orientation and participation will be supported.
Organizing Team Tasks:
Steps for conducting an organizing meeting:
- Share the purpose and vision for PA and CF with core team members.
- Review and supplement information about the target community and past/current PA/CF activities in the community.
- Identify agencies, organizations and people representing the diversity of the community to collaborate in community wide PA and CF planning.
- Decide on community meeting (a) agenda, (b) formats/strategies, (c) first meeting outcomes, and (d) logistics.
- Determine who on the core organizing team will complete which tasks.
Community Collaboration for PA/CF Action Planning:
Steps for conducting the action planning meeting(s):
- Provide basis of common ground, purpose and vision for PA and CF.
- List past/current PA/CF activities for all agencies involved that have or are occurring in the target community.
- Determine if current PA and CF activities need improvement to ensure comprehensiveness and if they are reaching targeted audiences.
Address PA planning items:
- Choose the target audience, and determine their characteristics and preferences for receiving information.
- Identify resources, both funding and people with marketing expertise, for local PA marketing.
- Develop marketing goals and objectives for public awareness .
- Develop specific marketing strategies.
Address CF planning items:
- Coordinate referral procedures.
- Consider how to make the referral process easier for families.
- Determine how to follow-up on referrals.
- Plan for collaboration with others on conducting child find screenings.
Develop action plans for PA and CF planning items:
- Develop objective(s).
- Select strategies for each objective.
- Determine time lines, who will be responsible, and resources needed for completion of each strategy.
- Define how the implementation of the action plan will be monitored and evaluated.
- Identify next steps for collaborative child find planning meetings or subcommittee meetings to complete action plans.
Community Collaboration for Implementing PA/CF Campaign:
- Implement action plan to conduct PA/CF campaign activities.
Monitoring, Evaluating, and Problem-Solving the PA/CF Campaign:
- Develop and implement evaluation methods for monitoring the goal, objectives, and strategies of the PA/CF campaign.
- Problem-solve any issues that arise during implementation (recycle through appropriate steps).
- Determine how to evaluate final outcomes for the PA/CF project.
Next Steps for Community Collaboration in PA/CF:
- Share Outcome of Community Collaboration in PA and CF.
- Maintain (successful) PA/CF activities and enhance PA and CF campaigns by developing new objectives and implementing new strategies.
- Develop Interagency Agreements concerning PA, CF, and services.