Introduction
How does the city pay for Public Works
Steps for Organizing
Organizing Tips
  General Tips
  Using the Media
  1. Announce the Event
  2. Get the Word Out
  3. Encourage coverage of the event
  4. Evaluate the publicity strategy
Neighborhood Plannning and NCBG
The NCBG Neighborhood Atlas

General Tips

- Invite the Alderperson(s), members of the CIAC and other City officials to take a tour of your community and witness areas of neglected infrastructure.  Alert the Media of your plans through media advisories and press releases.  Be sure to include plenty of community members that have been impacted.

- Stage a neighborhood public works day in which community members attempt to fix infrastructure problems on their own.  Once again, be sure to alert the media, the local press in particular.

- Create a community website and post pictures taken of your community's neglected infrastructure.  Add a link to this page that will take web browser's directly to the City of Chicago's Office of Budget and Management Capital Project Request Form.

- Contact other concerned citizens in neighboring communities and work collaboratively to gain more capital investments from the City on capital improvements such as transportation and public facilities that will be used by all.

In order to successfully implement the programs and projects described in the preceding chapter the neighborhood association needs to a sound publicity, outreach, and media strategy. This section provides the details for conducting an effective publicity campaign for all of the neighborhood improvement initiatives. People cannot participate in the neighborhood and your community organization's programs without information about the organization and its activities. Newspapers, radio, television, cable, and fliers or newsletters are all valuable resources for getting that information out to the community. This appendix presents a variety of methods that will help increase awareness and publicity for the neighborhood organization, including word-of-mouth, posters, fliers, newspaper articles, and television and radio announcements. The key is not to rely on only one method of getting the word out, but to use all means possible to reach the greatest number of people.

Effective outreach requires a strategy and volunteers to carry out the strategy. Publicity and outreach will require at least three organized, committed volunteers as well as a budget for printing and copying fliers, posters, and news releases. Publicity for an event should always begin at least a month in advance, preferably longer, depending on the scope of the event. About two weeks before the event, the your organization should follow-up on all of the publicity attempts to heighten interest and coverage as the date of the event draws near.

1. Announce the event.

The first step in publicizing an event is to make an initial announcement. This is usually achieved through a media campaign; more specifically, through a press conference or a news release.

The press conference

The press conference is your first opportunity to announce the event to the media and public. The press conference is also an excellent time to answer any questions about the event. A press conference is usually the method of choice for announcing large, important events with broad news appeal, such as festivals or conferences.

It is usually held a month in advance of the event. Members of the print and broadcast media are notified in writing through a news release a week in advance of the press conference about the time, date, location, and purpose of the press conference. A list of local media outlets is provided in this appendix. Reminder calls are made to each media outlet the day before the press conference.

At the press conference, members of the press are provided with packets of information about the event, including a news release, a flier or poster describing the event, a brief history of the organization hosting the event, and a list of the names and phone numbers of people to contact for more information about the event. The

chair person of the event then announces the event, and other volunteers or officials may speak as well. Time should always be scheduled at the end of the press conference for a question and answer session. The entire press conference should run between 30 to 45 minutes.

The news release

The easiest and most effective way to announce small events with more narrow news appeal is to issue a news release to all local media outlets. The news release is essentially a summary of the who, what, when, why, and how of an event. It is written in newspaper style and provides at least two people to contact for more information.

2. Get the word out

Announcing the event to the media is only the first step in publicizing an event. Even more important than media coverage is word-of-mouth publicity or personal contact. Several ways to get the word out include:

Door Knocking

Enlist block group captains and volunteers from other neighborhood associations to go door-to-door and personally invite residents to the event. Volunteers should leave a flier at each residence and if possible, write down the name and phone number of each person who expresses interest in attending the event. This will allow for follow-up phone calls the week before the event. A team of ten people divided into teams of two can cover most neighborhoods in about six hours.

Pulpit Announcements

Contact area ministers and ask them to announce the event during their worship services or to print an announcement in the church bulletin. A stack of fliers should be dropped off at each church office to pass out to members of the congregation. Thank you letters should be sent to all churches who agree to announce the event.

Business Posters

Stop by local businesses and ask to hang a poster or flier about the event in the window, lobby, or waiting room. Each poster should list the name and  number of a person to contact for more information.

Organizational Networking

Contact area organizations and social service agencies to help spread the word. Neighborhood organizations, fraternities and sororities, youth centers, senior citizen centers and day care facilities could spread the word by making an announcement at their meetings and by distributing brochures or fliers to members.

Phone Calls

Challenge each member of the neighborhood association to call five friends or family members. This type of personal invitation will substantially increase the turnout of the event.

Cable Television

Chicago has an active local cable television stations, operated through CANTV, that carry local news and announcements about local events. In addition, local channels have a weekly television show that often highlights community ev ents.

3. Encourage coverage of the event

The day before the event, call local media outlets and remind them of the event. Even if they have carried pre-event announcements and publicity, they should be invited and encouraged to attend the actual event. Provide a detailed schedule of the events, so reporters and photographers can be sent at the appropriate times for photographs and interviews.

The day of the event, two or three of the volunteers who organized the publicity strategy should be designated spokespersons for the event. All media inquiries should be directed toward to one of these spokespersons. These spokespersons should have fliers, brochures, and news releases with background information about the neighborhood association to give out to the reporters and photographers.

4. Evaluate the publicity strategy

Review the publicity strategy and its effectiveness. Take notes on what should be done differently for future events, as well as what worked well. This will be helpful for the next group of volunteers in charge of publicity. All newspaper articles generated should be clipped and preserved in a neighborhood association scrapbook.

Thank you notes should be written to reporters and photographers who covered the event, businesses and social service agencies that helped distribute fliers, and to all volunteers who knocked on doors.