“Connect the Dots” project:  On November 18th, the Cabell County Family Resource Network met to launch the “Connect the Dots” project. More information about the project is listed below.

The Cabell County Family Resource Network (FRN) is a partnership of individuals, families and agencies working together to promote the well-being of children and families in Cabell County. At our core, we give parents and caregivers the information you need to help your children have good beginnings.

FOR PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Currently, we are gathering information about how and where you seek your information. We also want to know the topics that interest you the most on your parenthood journey. Our Connect the Dots project is still in its first phase, and we are gathering the opinions of people like you to get a better idea of how best to reach you where you are. We know how important that is, especially during a pandemic.

It only takes five minutes (or less!) to complete the survey. If you provide your name and contact information, you will be entered to win one of several $20 gift cards. Survey links for parents and communities agencies will be open until January 29th. We will randomly select winners of the gift cards during the week of Feb. 1 and will contact the winners.

 

FOR PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN: Survey link is below and open through January 29th ..

Parents Take the survey here: http://bit.ly/parentscommssurvey


FOR COMMUNITY AGENCIES:

Since your work of your organization is vital to our community and our outreach efforts through Cabell County FRN, we would love your help as we continue to work on the first phase of this project.

Even if you weren’t able to attend our focus group in November centered on this project, we want to hear from you! You are in the trenches with some of the most formative target audiences in our area, so your valuable insight will greatly aid us as we craft a new communications strategy and plan for 2021 and beyond.

One of the main facets of the first phase is a communications survey. Our Connect the Dots project survey will only take 10 minutes (at the most!) to complete. Once you have completed the survey and provided us with your name and contact information, you will be entered for a drawing of several $20 gift cards. We want to reward you for your help with this important endeavor!

FOR COMMUNITY AGENCIES: Whether you have been involved with the Family Resource Network or not, you can give input about how you get and share community events and resources. 

Survey link is below and open through January 29th …

Community Agencies and businesses take the survey here


Notes from the Focus Group on November 18th

About the Connect the Dots project:

The Connect the Dots project would expand upon the successes of proven strategies and introduce a much-needed information-sharing component to Cabell County FRN’s growing repertoire of services and partnerships. We will conduct a RPIE (Research, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation) public relations and communications plan for this project. This includes the launching of a holistic resource hub to expand programs’ capacities, increase awareness of community resources, strengthen nonprofit agencies and improve the quality of life in the Tri-State by helping parents and agency programs easily navigate the resources available in Cabell County. These focus groups, a survey and supplemental research methods are the first phase in this project and are the purpose of this initial meeting.

What We Have Done For The Past 3-4 Years

Growth every year

  • Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest
  • Media Relations – Press Releases, Electronic Press Kits, interviews
  • Website – Blog, Updates
  • Events – pinwheel gardens, meetings
  • Collateral materials – flyers, bookmarks, graphics (print + digital),
  • Kids’ Dental Health Resource Guide

Programs Highlighted: Kids’ Dental Health/February, Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month/Partners in Prevention, Cabell Co. Student Empowerment Team, Summer Fun Guide

 

Questions and Answers:

  1. COVID impact on communication – compiling more information and waiting to send a big email but sometimes it’s too much, and many are busier than ever now. Zoom has brought in new people to meetings, and they are busy doing lots of virtual Zoom groups with youth. Sometimes, there is Zoom fatigue and there’s not enough time to get work done. They have forgotten how wonderful face-to-face meetings are, and some youth are totally isolated or have bad Wi-Fi connections or they’re tired of working on computers all the time. Community centers that were sanctuaries for youth have been lost while shut down. All communication is digital, and many organizations are able to bring in top key speakers at no cost and record them virtually. Offering conferences for free has been a positive during this time. The focus has been to not overwhelm people and to do more things in more cost-effective ways.
  2. Ways to make communication easier – standardize messages, re-share information when you get it, have groups of contacts in office 365, forward information to the bigger groups, sometimes there are technical issues and things bounce back with that process, need to figure out a way to reach parent groups, outside programming is not happening in schools with PTOs
  3. What would be the most effective communication channel for you and your clients – Facebook reach adults but not a favorite of youth, listservs but sometimes large emails that were not paid attention to, access info on tablets and phones, use a variety of platforms to reach youth, and social media keep up with changes
  4. Content that resonates with audiences – Videos and personal stories of how people have overcome hardships and addictions, brief content people because they don’t want too much information upfront. Example: Whiteboard platform uses 30-second cartoons to describe a topic or term
  5. How do you see your role with FRN communication platform – Pass on information, come up with information to share about our program, get partners cross connected and a way to educate community organizations about FRNs.
  6. What has the FRN done well with communications – Debbie Is always willing to collaborate with other community coalitions and programs
  7. What can FRN do better “the wish list” – Excited to join in, Link program staff within Cabell County to FRN
  8. Barriers to communication – how to handle people you don’t know trying to join in on Facebook Live or Zoom, not everyone is on video on Zoom so sometimes the facilitator is just talking to blank screens of names, reaction to chats and the dings are a distraction, Zoom breakout rooms are good to break up monotony of a long meeting. They don’t need another platform; lazy people don’t want to click another link to get information, partners don’t have time to go to a variety of sites, the tool and process must be extremely valuable to the person using it, calendars are good but don’t use them.
  9. What would you like to see on a central communication platform – outline what FRN is about, events section, volunteer needs to ask for events, a time-sensitive separate section, able to search for resources, direct links to websites Facebook of agencies listing  a physical address and phone number not always important with offices on limited staffing, ask each agency to define their service and proper contact information. They want to share, newsletter with events in 1 page snapshot
  10. Other   items – Give best practice tips on sharing information, holiday calendar source a “month of highlights” on www.brownielocks.com

NOTE: Part of the planning process will be a communications audit + research of best practices for social media, website, etc.

This project is funded by the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington.

SURVEY: Cabell Co. FRN Connect the Dots communication survey launches Nov. 18th through Jan. 29th