Communicating
Effective communication can not only galvanize a community, it can also help you tell your story to funders, local officials and other important audiences. Today’s digital media tools present an affordable method to get your story told.
This section includes tools to help you develop a communications plan that identifies key audiences and ways to reach them—through print, the web, and old fashioned word of mouth.
Institute Articles
Read our coverage of Communicating issues and ideas in the In The News section of this website.
Practitioners Templates
Mainstream Notions of What's Newsworthy
This Community Media Workshop document is a checklist for deciding if the information you would like to share is likely to be interesting to a newspaper, television station or other local media outlet. Mainstream Notions of What's Newsworthy
RFP for Scribes/Editorial Consultants
This request for proposal was used to hire a scribe and editorial consultant for the Smart Communities program, which promotes use of digital technologies in five low-income neighborhoods. in Chicago This effort was funded with federal Broadband Technology Opportunity Program grant support. Download here
Scribes and Photographers - Scopes of Work
This document can be a resource for any LISC office or other practitioners who are hiring scribes (professional writers) or photographers to document their program. The document, created by the New Communities Program in Chicago, includes various job descriptions for scribes, editors and photographers based on the types and amount of work being done. Download here.
Sharing Stories and Going Viral
This template from the Community Media Workshop is designed to help you think through how to use your story, share your story, and repurpose your content to maximize attention for your issue, report, or event. Sharing Stories and Going Viral template
Write Like a Scribe - includes Report Templates
This guide explains how community-based scribes can capture the discussions of a strategic planning process. It provides a structured set of deadlines and templates for meeting reports.
The guide was created to support a series of short (six- to eight-week), intensive community processes during Year 8 of Chicago's New Communities Program. The guide recommends that scribes capture the essence of each meeting in a written report that can be shared with the planning team and/or all participants. These reports then become the foundation for writing the final strategic plan. Download here.
Creating a Media Plan
This template from the Community Media Workshop is designed to help you think through a strategic media plan to spread the word about your work and the community. Download here.
Training Materials
How to Tell Your Story (on a shoe string budget)
In this webinar, the Institute's communications team discusses how to "repurpose" content, develop collaborations, and use other creative strategies to tell your story on a limited budget. To view this webinar click here.
Templates and Tools for Communication
How do you form a strong foundation for a successful communications system? You start with a good print system, e-newsletter and website. How do you do this with limited staff and resources? This webinar showcases the eNews system, print shop templates, and website templates developed by National LISC to strengthen communications and also showcases how Greater Kansas City LISC uses templates for its website and newsletter. To view this webinar click here.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Communications But Were Afraid to Ask
What are the key elements of a successful communications strategy? How do you build a marketing strategy that explains who you are and what makes you different? How do you talk about Building Sustainable Communities in a clear and concise manner? And how do you create compelling stories to increase visibility among media, funders, and others? During this web-based seminar, participants posed questions to our panelists and heard from others who are working to build strong communications strategies. To view this webinar
click here.
Effective Communication
Effective communication can not only galvanize a community, it can also help you tell your story to funders, local officials and other important audiences. Today’s digital media tools present an affordable method to get your story told. This session will discuss how to develop a communications plan that identifies key audiences and ways to reach them—through print, the web, and old fashioned word of mouth. These PowerPoints are from a 2 Day Intensive focused on developing and implementing a comprehensive community development program in a small town or rural setting: