Building Better Outreach Events

Photo by Daniel Coston, from the WFAE website

I listened today to WFAE’s Equlibrium Live conversation on advancing maternal health equity. You should listen to it too – to learn more about the topic (as I did) but especially as it offers a model public event for any nonprofit grappling with social-equity issues. Here are three things I learned from this event that I will build into my future outreach events.

CHECK YOUR BLIND SPOTS

Panelist Lisa Lefler (director of culturally-based Native Health Programs at Western Carolina University) speaks at length about the ancient Cherokee cultural traditions surrounding childbirth and notes that these traditions are not reflected in the typical hospital delivery process – even at those hospitals contractually responsible for serving Native Peoples. While I was aware of the dire data about health outcomes for Black women who give birth, I am ignorant of the cultural disrespect Native American women endure. How can I as a consultant or you as a nonprofit executive hand a mic to speakers who will introduce new (or very old) cultural, racial, or identity ideas?

add some blue-sky

Panelist Rebecca Severin (maternal health innovation program supervisor for the NC Department of Health & Human Services’ Division of Public Health, Maternal Health Branch) highlights programs that improve access to healthcare and also promote wellness so healthcare access is less necessary. This strikes me as a dual-approach any nonprofit can pursue. Does your nonprofit deliver direct services where they are needed (e.g. healthcare or groceries or access to the arts or K-12 tutoring) AND work upstream to offer services that build community capacity and avert downstream crisis? Build hope into your public conversations by focusing on solutions, not just problems.

demonstrate CULTURAL CONCORDANCE

These panelists are health professionals who look like their patients and share a similar lived experience. Their presence on the stage builds community confidence that change is possible. Has your nonprofit collaborated in program design and delivery with its intended audience? From that audience, are you recruiting ambassadors, navigators, colleagues, and partners to help you address cultural disconnects you may be missing? Are you inviting them to take center stage at your events?

reach out, for real

This forum could be a model event for your organization if you want to:

• Focus a bright light on a single topic

• Bring data to the fore – both for the people you serve and for the larger community

• Center the voices of experts who are also members of the community you serve

• Build your organization’s capacity to act as a convener, an authority, or a listening-and-learning entity.

And as an extra bonus – is this a model for a highly sponsorable, ticketed fundraising event that highlights your organization’s mission? I hope you’ll email me if you need help applying these ideas to your organization’s work!