Parents and caregivers need our help.
I’ve led work that supports parents and caregivers for two decades.
I’ve also been a parent for nearly 13 years.
And over time, I’ve noticed a growing trend. Parents and caregivers are overworked, overstressed and overwhelmed – and it’s impacting their health.
As communicators and leaders, there are three easy guidelines you can follow to ensure your messages break through the noise to reach this overwhelmed (but critical!) audience.
Read MoreSo you just hired your new communications director (or other communications teammate, we aren’t picky about titles here at Forthright). First, congratulations! I’m so excited you found a great person for your organization.
Now, let’s set them up for success. Onboarding is just as critical as selecting the right human.
Studies show that solid onboarding is worth its weight in gold. Research shows that effective onboarding can improve employee retention and productivity by 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively.
Here are the ingredients of an effective onboarding.
Read MoreAre you finding yourself more easily distracted since the election? Feeling a tad foggier? Not retaining much information? Perhaps a tad more irritable?
Check, check, check and check on my end.
If you’re distracted, and we’re distracted, then your audiences are ALSO distracted.
Yet, if you’re like a few of our clients, the work can’t stop now. If you have urgent information to release, or outreach to do, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
Here are three communications best practices from our teammates that are more important than EVER as we communicate during times of upheaval, uncertainty and crisis.
Read MoreJust Google it. I’ll send you the link. Sign up online.
These days, we assume everyone has internet access at home. But here’s the thing. That’s still not the case. 2024 Pew Research Center data tells us about a fifth of homes in America still don’t have broadband access.
We’re including tips to reach these families – while celebrating your district – below.
Read More“What are the best interview questions to ask a candidate for your open communications director position?”
“How do you manage a communications workload when you’ve got someone out on parental leave?”
“Who do you tell once a communications teammate gives you notice that she’s leaving your organization for a new job?”
We answer all these questions and more in our new FREE guide to hiring communicators.
Today, we’re tackling one of the most elusive and confusing parts of media relations: the exclusive.
Simply put, an exclusive is when you offer a story to one single reporter, and promise that you won’t share the story with anyone else until after your chosen reporter shares the news first.
Let’s break that down.
Schools have opened their doors for another school year. As a communications professional, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the information sent from our new elementary school. I know exactly when school starts. We’ve gotten our school supplies list and know our teacher assignments and class schedules.
Yet, as a parent of a kindergartner and a first grader in a new school district, I still have so many questions! For example: What types of opportunities for free play are built into the day? How much screen time are kids actually getting each day? What if my kid falls asleep on the floor because she’s 5 and sometimes just needs a nap?
As a school leader, it’s important to realize that kindergarten parents and new parents are a rare breed. This audience doesn’t have the experience or insights that your returning families bring to a new school year. Everything is new for them, and your communications efforts must reflect that – not just during this back-to-school season, but throughout the year.
By helping families understand what their child’s day looks like during school, they become more confident and comfortable with their decision to share their children with you and your staff.
Read MoreAs communicators, it’s our job to deeply understand what came before us. For example, knowing about child care’s roots in chattel slavery can help you communicate effectively about workforce challenges. Knowing the history of de- (and recent re-) segregation can help public school communicators better connect around school closures and redistricting.
Great communicators are history experts and are constantly absorbing news and context. We're sharing tips about when and how to think about history here.
Read MoreWorking parents are burned out.
They are can’t concentrate, take it one day at a time, can barely make butter pasta for dinner kind of tired.
You know the feeling.
That means it’s up to us as communicators to ensure we’re meeting burnt out parents where they are. We’re including three tips for how to do so as you return back to school!
Read MoreIn 2017, Stanford Social Innovation Review begged nonprofit leaders to “stop raising awareness already.”
They wanted action. They wanted change. They wanted advocates to take their work to the next level.
I think we can all agree that right now – in this chaotic year of 2024 – moving our audiences to take action is more critical than ever. No matter what your campaign, your call to action (CTA) needs to be powerful, or it won’t work.
That’s why we’re sharing quick tips (backed by data from Harvard and Stanford experts) on how to craft a strong CTA.
Bonus: we’re including do’s, don’ts and examples for every recommendation!
Read MoreSo, your communications director is leaving. And you’re happy for them – really, you are. (Or not so much. We don’t judge.) But that makes your life just a little harder for the coming weeks, because your most important audiences still need to hear from you while you replace your director.
This is a common challenge we’re seeing with so many of our nonprofit, foundation and school district partners. (You’re not alone! There’s significant turnover in communications this year.) That’s why we’re sharing our step-by-step recommendations for what to do next.
One of the questions I get asked frequently is “where should I post my open communication and PR role?”
So I sat down and made a round-up list of some of our favorites.
Plus, we’ve included other paid and free options that we’ve either a) heard good things about or b) our clients have had good first-hand success with.
Read MoreTo succeed in communications, your audience must be at the center of everything you do! But getting in front of your target audience isn’t always that easy. That’s why as part of your campaign or announcement, you need to reach not just your audience, but the people who influence your target audience. That’s where making community connections comes into play.
Read MoreShould I throw my cap? I don’t want to lose it, so maybe a gentle toss. Which hand do I accept my diploma with? I wonder where we’re going out to dinner after the ceremony?
These were all questions I had during my high school graduation. And with all of this running through my brain, I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell you who my graduation speaker was or what they said.
So how can you, as a superintendent (or the PIO writing this speech!), use your time at the podium to cut through the noise and make a difference as these graduates embark on the next phase of life? I’m sharing my top 3 tips to help you write a graduation speech that resonates with teens.
Read MoreReaching families without internet access isn’t a new challenge for communicators. As of last year, one in five households in America were unable to get online at home.
But in April, millions more families across the country are poised to lose their online access as the Affordable Connectivity Program funding runs out.
This could make reaching kids and families in your district or community more challenging. So today, I want to take a moment and share what we’ve learned about reaching and supporting offline families.
Read MoreWhen we see threats to our public schools – such as continuing declines in student enrollment, and politicians pushing for privatization and school voucher programs – we want to help.
That’s why we created our free downloadable guide: How to (Re)+Build Your District’s Numbers: Your Planning Guide to Personalize Communications.
Read MoreWhoof, it's a busy hiring market for communications and public relations peeps right now.
If you're seeing turnover in your communications department, you're not alone. I'm getting calls left and right asking if we serve as interim communications director.
I'm also getting asked for advice on how to handle departures, including what interview questions to ask candidates for communications roles. We’re sharing our recommended interview questions to help you through the process here!
Read MoreAs leaders in the child and family advocacy space, the words we use matter. How we talk about families and children matter. When we use language based on assumptions – so, for example, in the case of mom and dad – we are unintentionally prescribing relationships that may not exist for all families in our community. Here’s your guide to inclusive family language.
Read MoreA reporter reaches out to request an interview, and it’s…just not the right fit. You have to say no to the reporter’s request, and that could be for a million different reasons, such as: You don’t have the expertise. You don’t have the bandwidth. Your team can’t agree on what to say. The reporter hasn’t been friendly to your work in the past. So…how do you handle this delicate situation without burning bridges? Well, here’s what our team has learned from working with the media for many years.
Read MoreIn 2023, we fought politicians working to dismantle public education. We battled funding cuts that impact kids and families. We’ve had our hearts broken daily from escalating violence in Israel-Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine. We demanded paid family leave for all. We struggled to re-envision child care in America. We supported leaders who are exhausted and overwhelmed. Through it all, we’ve remained dedicated to dismantling structural oppression for children and their families.
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