Do you serve your community?
Do you help your community?
Community Outreach is a vital part of being a business or organization.
Community Outreach is all about building relationships with the audience you want to serve outside of your own business.
- If you are a community hospital, for example, you need to educate your local community on what services you provide.
When I worked for a community hospital and we opened a new Emergency Room, we hosted a series of events. We had a variety of audiences, This included physicians, staff, paramedics and the community including children (tours of an ambulance and coloring books were a hit!) to show them what the Emergency Room was all about. Each event met the needs of that audience. The physicians’ event was a bit high end. The paramedics’ event was more casual. The community event was a health fair with free gifts, games, and booths explaining what we did and what services were provided.
For another community outreach campaign, we held a special series of events on the importance of prenatal health care by inviting local pregnant women to a special baby shower. We played games and gave them gifts. We celebrated them when most often they had never even been to a baby shower. Educating them on the importance of health care was key.
At a behavioral health facility where I worked, we hosted mental health screenings for depression and eating disorders. While we were providing them a free and important service and support, we were also further educating them on the organization in case they needed it in the future.
- These types of community outreach programs are crucial and fundamental for building awareness, education, and relationships.
- News outlets also LOVE community outreach events! All of these events landed spots on the news.
Jennifer McGinley is CEO of JLM Strategic Communications. She helps CEO’s, leaders, experts, and organizations increase connections, visibility, and credibility through strategic public relations programs. Jennifer is also a PR consultant. You can reach her at JLMStrategicCommunications@gmail.com and jlmstrategiccommunications.com