Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
Hello RAPPs! Thank you so much for joining us for our chat on newsletters and
handbooks/resource directories for caregivers. A very special "thank you" to Diana
and Melissa for being here with us today to facilitate the chat! We will have a transcript
Melinda_Perez_Porter of the chat available on the RAPP private page, so don't worry about typos, we'll get
rid of those! Also, links to sample newsletters and the handbook are available in the
listserv I sent and also on the RAPP private page (they are also available at the end
of the transcript). Let's have fun and please feel free to ask your questions and share
your tips as well!
Hello everyone. My name is Melissa Brooks and I'm the Program Administrator for the
YMCA of San Diego County Kinship Program. We offer Case Management, Respite,
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and Support Groups to caregivers throughout the county. I believe Melinda sent out
the Handbook for Grandparents and Other Relatives we created and I'm here to
discuss it or answer any questions anyone might have. Thanks for having me!
Hello everyone. My name is Diana Broderson and I started my relative caregiver support
group in 2001 with a seed grant from Brookdale. We are still going strong and have
grown and developed over the years. Today I want to share a couple of tools that I have
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found very beneficial to our group. One of them is the use of newsletters and the other is
community collaboration. I know that Melinda has already sent out some documents that
I put together for our chat today and I just wanted to talk about them. Did you all get the
materials?
Edna
Yes, got the materials thank you! I like your tips sheets Diana
So great to have this chat - I always wanted to do a newsletter but don't think I have the
Susan
time. I look forward to hearing about what it takes to get it done!
First of all I would like to ask how many of you already use newsletters as a tool for your
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groups?
Judy
We use newsletters on and off, but it’s difficult without much staff.
Please feel free to copy my formats and tailor them to your own. We have several groups
in our programs for different types of families and you will see that only part of our
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newsletter is specifically for the caregiver group. I use our newsletters to share with
referral sources as well as to keep those caregivers who aren't able to attend in the
loop with our group and connected.
Thanks for offering us your template - that will be very helpful! Is it expensive to do
Stacey
newsletters Diana? How do you go about a handbook - I'm sure lots of partners are
needed.
What really helps with the cost is the use of email. However, I have found that few of
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those in our relative caregiver group have emails.
I see that you mail them too - isn't that expensive. Do you have a specific budget for
Stacey
mailings?
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
I like to use Microsoft Publisher to make our newsletters, but you could even do them
in Word if needed. I do mail some of the newsletters but we only do them 4 times each
year which really helps reduce the cost of postage. We used to do them every month. I
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have a budget overall for the relative caregiver group which fortunately is very generous.
I email the newsletters to all of the doctors in town, school counselors, social workers,
churches, etc. then when they are working with a relative caregiver family, they just print
off a copy and give it to them.
We recently started our e-Newsletter, using mail chimp - they allow you to send several
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free newsletters a month. They can be found at www.mailchimp.com.
Pat
Who writes your articles Diana? Who wrote the sections of your manual Melissa?
My Assistant, Holly, or I write the articles or we just get them on the internet but are
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careful to give credit when we do that.
Hi Pat, I wrote the sections of the handbook as well as the charts in the beginning, but
luckily we were funded to work with a graphic designer who put it together in a nice
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package. I also took information from the internet and other resources for the handbook
of course, but made sure to list the references in the back.
Melissa's handbook is awesome. I am very interested in putting something like that
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together for our caregivers.
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Thanks Diana!
Melissa, you got funding specifically to do the handbook. What if we don't have funding
Susan
- what do you suggest in order to get it done?
Hi Susan, yes we were fortunate that our County Board of Supervisors funded us to work
with a graphic designer and do the printing, but if you don't have funding, you may want
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to put it together on your own as I did (feel free to use mine as a template if that helps)
and then you could post an electronic copy online if you don’t have the budget for
printing. We've also partnered with 211 to post it electronically on their website.
Susan
Thanks Melissa, did you partner with others to write certain sections?
Yes, I basically wrote the handbook myself from the knowledge I've gained working
with the Kinship program over the past 5 years, but we partnered with County Counsel
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to review the legal sections and the HHSA TANF policy staff to review the information
about public benefits.
Diana and Melissa, can you tell us where you get the information for the materials in
Melinda_Perez_Porter your newsletters and did you, Melissa, get professionals to help with the legal status
sections?
I put together the template and all the information the best I could and then we had
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Child Welfare Services, County Counsel, HHSA, all review it to make sure the info
was correct.
We start working on our newsletters weeks before we send it out and just keep
brainstorming ideas. We also hand carry stacks of our newsletters to waiting rooms
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around the community like the library, clinics, WIC, etc. People can read them or take
them or give one to someone they know.
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
Diana, that's a good point. Mailing is not the only way to get the newsletters circulated.
Taking them to organizational meetings - all meetings attended, actually, is a good way
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to circulate the information. Taking them to the waiting rooms where caregivers go
is also a great tip!
Diana, I especially liked your tips about working with community partners - a newsletter
is a great way to let them know what your RAPP does and they can also write articles
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or share resources in the newsletters. Those partners can also be used to write
sections of your manual. Did you do that Melissa?
The other part that I was interested in sharing is our community collaborations. They
have been a great source of help to us. I make sure to get myself onto committees,
boards, and task forces, which gives me the opportunity to share information about
our groups to all of the other people around the table. This helps with referrals and
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sometimes even opens up resources and funding streams. I have also created an
Advisory Committee for our Program who is a huge help to us and have partnered
with Public Health to do projects, which has also been a big help because Public
Health has a lot of information and a wealth of speakers that come present at our
meetings.
I like the idea about partners who help with the materials and also can come to
Judy
meetings and present
WIC is a big resource for us. I have the WIC nurse on our Advisory Committee which
makes her a huge supporter of our program. She refers every single relative caregiver
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that comes to WIC to our group. Most relative caregivers who have a child under 5 go to
WIC as an additional resource so this gives us good coverage with birth-5.
We put together a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Workgroup so I also had
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access to community partners from other agencies and I definitely asked for their
input about different sections as well.
Susan
How can our advisory committee help?
Advisory Committees also help because it gives them buy-in to your program. When
you ask for advice and brainstorm ideas, it makes the whole group feel like it's their
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program and they have a vested interest in its success. I have carefully chosen who
to have on the committee.
It’s a good point that we can use the knowledge of those on our advisory committee
Gerry
to help us with articles, and the fact that the newsletter is not every month should help.
Where do you get your information - it seems like that would be an on-going challenge.
Our Committee is comprised of 1 Board Member of the overall organization (Muscatine
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Community YMCA), WIC nurse, Department of Human Services Social Worker, County
Community Services Mental Health Administrator, and Business Leader.
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
It took me a few months to put the handbook together...the Grandparents Workgroup
wanted something put together that could be posted online and distributed throughout
the County (to schools, courts, libraries, etc.) so that any relative caregiver enrolling
their child in school, for example, could be handed one or be able to access it. The
idea was to create something that a caregiver could use on their own...first they use
the chart to self identify what type of kinship situation they are in and what legal rights,
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benefits, and permanency options correspond to that situation. Then they can review
the rest of the handbook for other resources keeping in mind what applies to their
specific situation. The articles come from all over. Once you start doing newsletters,
you will find that as you go about your every day business, you make note of things
that you see that you could use for the next one and then just stick it back for later
use. I also collaborate with our local Extension Office and have them write nutritional
articles.
That's right Diana, in the last RAPP Reporter, there was a section on resources - take
a look at that and get on the mailing lists - I try to share that information with all of you
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on the listservs, but if you want to look over the resources and subscribe to get email,
take a look at the Reporter and get the information you need to sign on.
Pat
How long does it take to get a handbook done and did everyone do it voluntarily?
It made the most sense for me to create the handbook since I have worked with Kinship
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caregivers and then others on the committee helped me finalize sections they had
expertise in.
Melissa, I also appreciate that your handbook has a disclaimer - the information, no
matter how accurate, should be for information only - everyone's situation is different
Melinda_Perez_Porter and I like that you specify that. We also use the handbook for our waitlisted clients...
while they are waiting for a case manager, we can send them a handbook, which can
often help them begin to access resources they need.
Yes County Counsel had us put that. Sometimes caregivers have already accessed
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everything they need by using the handbook and never need to work with a case
manager, which frees us up to work with more high needs clients.
Melissa, that reminds me that many RAPPs create "caregiver folders" for new
caregivers or to give when they go to meetings, resource fairs and other community
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activities. Newsletters can be included in those as well as a resource directory/handbook.
Caregivers and professionals both appreciate it!
Yes that's true. Other professionals like Child Welfare workers and others have also said
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they use it to give to caregivers, but also to better understand the kinship population
themselves.
I also try to utilize the newsletters to remind caregiver families of community events that
they can attend with the children. The schedule of upcoming meetings is also a big
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piece of each newsletter. Especially since we meet at different locations, it's important
for everyone to know where we will meet and the exact location.
Diana, it looks as though you think of topics way in advance. What if that's more difficult
Judy
for us to do?
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
There's always a lot of information in the RAPP Reporter and Generations United
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always has good information also. Sometimes I even just google, grandparent poems
or short stories and just make sure to give credit to the author.
Diana, thanks for mentioning the fact that we always need to thank our contributors –
no matter how small their donation - time or in-cash. That's a great way to establish
a strong collaboration. We talk about developing trust with community organizations
and groups and having a newsletter is a good way to do that. It gives your possible
referral sources information about upcoming meetings and events and they know they
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can refer caregivers to you because you will help them. The website kids.gov has a
calendar of events that specifies upcoming holidays and events and can be a very
useful tool for those who want to provide caregivers and their children with useful
information. If you don't have topics, its great to remind people of the meeting schedule
right Diana?
Diana_Broderson
Yes, we do the group schedule 3 months in advance.
Melissa, if we don't have the expertise to write the manual ourselves, who do you
Edna
suggest we contact for help with content?
We have a Community Foundation that you can write mini grants to that I think would
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be a good resource for funding for a Handbook.
Yes that's a good point Diana. Well, I've been thinking about creating a template
that I could send out in case other wanted to use it to create their own, but I haven't
had a chance to do it yet... I'm always available by phone or email as well to give
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input or ideas to help you develop your own if you think that might help. I'll work on a
template for the handbook and can send it to Melinda to forward on to the group in case
any of you think that might be useful to create a handbook for your own RAPP.
Judy
Melissa, that would be great!
Diana_Broderson
I would love to see a template, Melissa.
Susan
I'd like that Melissa!
Edna
Me too, thanks for offering Melissa!
Okay sounds like there is a lot of interest in the template, so I can get working on that.
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I also have an intern that I can have help me with some research! :)
Diana, tell us more about community networking and ideas for how to do that. I know
that working with community partners can also be a great way to build trust and
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collaborate - asking for information to share in your newsletter and for presentations as
well are good tips.
Some of the committees that I sit on that I find beneficial are the local child abuse
council, the Health Association, Rotary, Family Effectiveness Council and the Employers
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Council. The more people know of you and the work you do, the more they know your
program. Sometimes it's helpful to offer to help another organization with their projects
then, when you need help, you can ask them for assistance.
Diana, I sent out a listserv with a podcast on collaboration and that's exactly what they
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suggested. Getting your organization known by helping others with events, fairs and the
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
like. That way trust can be established - the basis for a great collaboration.
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We have attended the Senior Health Fair and also contribute to Holiday events.
I think interns/volunteers can be very helpful - how else did your intern help (if she did)
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with the manual, Melissa?
One intern helped me with some of the research for the handbook. I put together the
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structure and then if I wanted to know, for example, what documents are needed to
apply for MediCal, that is something I would ask the intern to research.
Our caregivers do a Christmas project each year where they "give back" to the
community for all of the help that they receive. Some years we have also "adopted"
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a senior citizen to make a Christmas Basket for and everyone in the group brought in
a few items to contribute, even if it was just a book of stamps. This year we are doing a
food drive for our local food pantry.
We have partnered with the USC School of Social Work and I supervise several USC
MSW interns who provide case management services to our clients and I have 1
administrative intern who helps with grant writing and other bigger projects. There is
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definitely work involved with supervising them, but it's a great way to expand your
services on a budget. And all of them have a Bachelors degree and are working on a
Masters Degree in Social Work.
We also elected one of our caregivers to be our "volunteer" facilitator and her job is to
initiate sending a card to someone who is sick, or has a birthday, or a death in the family. T
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around the card at our meeting and then they give it to me to mail so that I don't disclose
addresses. This is a "job" that I don't have to do...I only have to mail it.
Thanks for the tips, Diana, I appreciate them and makes it seem possible to support
Judy
our group with a newsletter – I was afraid of the work involved.
Using interns or volunteers for newsletters and a handbook sounds like a great idea –
supervision and guidance is needed , but it sounds like once we have a template, we
Gerry
can use them to help find articles and info for the newsletter and maybe professionals
to help write the handbook.
Definitely! I think you can use them to do a lot of the research and leg work and then have
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have expertise in specific area review the content and make suggestions.
I like that the ideas that Melissa and Diana are sharing can also be used to market our
RAPPs. Community fairs are a great place to distribute the handbooks and newsletter
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and, if your RAPP has done one, a folder of information on RAPP, with the state fact
sheet for your state can be included to provide some more information!
And it's a great experience for the interns as well, so you are kind of giving back in
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terms of helping to develop future social workers who may be interested in working
in Child Welfare and with the Kinship population.
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We use our volunteers for both short term and long term projects.
I have also hired people short term for a specific project which is usually easier to get
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funding for because it's not on-going.
Melissa_Brooks
I agree with Diana that funding for a specific project is easier to get.
Melinda_Perez_Porter Melissa and Diana, both of your projects are great for interns - reminds me of the
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
Judy
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Melissa_Brooks
Diana_Broderson
Melinda_Perez_Porter
Diana_Broderson
Melinda_Perez_Porter
Diana_Broderson
Edna
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Diana_Broderson
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Vista Americorps opportunity - maybe that's a great idea for the application as a
newsletter and handbook helps the community.
I didn't think of the newsletter as a way to reach out to people - I like that idea. I
guess once we do it, it can be scanned and sent out by email to save money - where
do you get your mailing lists from and who are some of the people to include?
I have been building our list since 2000 but I started with anyone who had ever attended
group and grew it to include doctors, school counselors, churches, Social Workers, etc.
You'll be surprised how quickly it grows. Sometimes we have used AmeriCorp workers
also.
As someone mentioned before I think applying for a mini-grant for a project like a
handbook is a great idea...and since it often helps some clients navigate the system
without the help of a case manager or social worker, it can be a very inexpensive
intervention for kinship caregivers in the community.
Once you develop an outline/template for your first newsletter, each month will get
easier.
If you collaborate with community agencies on events, fairs and other projects, they
may also be able to help you increase your list - don't forget departments of social
services, area agencies on aging (n4a.org website has a list of Area Agencies on Aging), d
and the like to include on your mailing lists. Also, if you talk about your RAPP at the
meetings you attend, you can also ask for their emails to keep them abreast of what
your RAPP is doing.
Remember to cut and paste, that's worth a million! IF you are able to successfully
collaborate within your community, eventually it's like you are all one big team all
working together to help strengthen families and it is such a great experience.
Diana, I agree that each month gets easier with a template - even better if you have
volunteers or interns that can help get information to include in the newsletters and
partners that are willing to write for both a manual and newsletter.
We are very lucky to have very forward thinking people in our community to collaborate
with. Its great when people are not "selfish" and are not like those who don't want to
"share" their clients because they are so possessive of them - that is not a positive thing
for the organizations nor their clients.
I am going to try to do a newsletter again - i tried briefly but got too busy and gave up.
Many organizations have conferences or workshops and may be willing to give out
newsletters and manuals to their participants - keeping an eye out for events in the
community where you can share your materials is also a great idea.
Our local United Way is another huge resource. They do a newsletter and include a
link to ours at the bottom.
Melissa, can you tell us briefly how you came up with your topics for the handbook
and how you use it now that it has been completed?
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
I first and foremost wanted the chart to help clients identify their situation because
that affects many of the resources and benefits they are going to qualify for and helps
them understand their legal rights. Once they understand that, then they can start
looking through the rest of the manual for services. I came up with the topics because
they were the needs that seemed to come up most often when working with clients.
Also, we ran some reports in our database to find the most common needs for
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caregivers to make sure we were on the right track. Certainly there are many more
needs for caregivers, but those seemed to be the major needs we always encountered.
I would say definitely come up with a chart to help caregivers identify their current
situation and then think about the most common needs for caregivers in your
community. I suspect many of the needs are the same so that is why I'm thinking a
template might work.
This has been very helpful - I will talk to my partners about possibly doing a handbook
Judy
and I know they can help with materials for a newsletter!
Melissa do you find that you have to do frequent revisions based on new or old
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resources.
I tried to keep it basic enough that I wouldn't have to do too many revisions. We have
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done one revision so far.
Diana_Broderson
In how long?
In about 2 years. But keeping the topics to major resources that don't change often
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was helpful. Like for example, talking about SNAP or CalFRESH rather than listing lots
of different food distribution sites that may change often.
Diana_Broderson
Oh that's not bad at all Melissa.
Yes it's not too bad. So we did an original and then the next year we updated it. For
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smaller resources that may change more frequently, we refer them in the handbook to
211 since they always have updated information.
Melissa, I agree, no matter how great the online versions are, caregivers love to get
hard copies and that's where your collaborators can help and where you can appeal
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to local funders and AAAs for help - a specific request, as Melissa and Diana have
mentioned, probably has a better chance at being funded!
Diana_Broderson
I'm not familiar with 211. We don't have that in our area. What is it?
Oh sorry about that, I thought 211 was everywhere for some reason. 211 is a county
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wide number that clients can dial to speak to someone over the phone and access
information about social service resources.
Melissa, I like the fact that you mention changes because that's one thing to keep in
mind when writing a handbook, there may be changes and updates that need to be
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done. That's why, I think, many RAPPs that develop a handbook also do an electronic
version - it can be viewed by many and can be updated when necessary.
Melissa_Brooks
Yes that's a great point Melinda.
Creating Newsletters and a Caregiver Handbook
Facilitators: Diana Broderson and Melissa Brooks
Friday, November 1, 2013
It's still nice to print some hard copies if you have the budget for it since some
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caregivers don't have access to the internet, but many can access online versions
nowadays.
Thank you both for being so positive about the resources - I don't feel so overwhelmed
Pat
by them and will consider starting out with a newsletter while talking to partners about
possibly developing an online handbook, thank you.
Melissa_Brooks
You're welcome, I'm glad this has been helpful.
The Iowa Foster Care and Adoptive Parents Organization in Des Moines did a
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relative caregiver handbook a few years ago, I may be able to tap into that resource.
Melissa, Diana, thanks so much for your great tips and willingness to be here to talk
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about your newsletters and handbooks!
Melissa_Brooks
Thanks for having me!
Diana_Broderson
Please feel free to email me with any questions at any time.
Melissa_Brooks
Yes, I'm also available by email as well.
We will make sure to have a transcript of this chat for those who were not able to
Melinda_Perez_Porter join us and don't forget that the materials are on our private page and also at the
end of this transcript.
Diana_Broderson
Thank you!
Gerry
This has been so great, thank you!
Susan
I got good tips and thank you both - you too Brookdale!
Judy
I look forward to the template, Melissa and appreciate the samples Diana!
Diana_Broderson
You are very welcome. Enjoy your weekend!
Melissa_Brooks
Thanks everyone!
Edna
I hope to share my newsletter soon!
Melinda_Perez_Porter Thank you all! a great weekend! Thanks Melissa and Diana!!!
Click on the links below to download Chat Materials
Newsletter Tips
Community Networking Tips
Muscatine Y Sample Newsletter #1
Muscatine Y Sample Newsletter #2
Muscatine Y Sample Newsletter #3
Muscatine Y Sample Newsletter #4
YMCA of San Diego Handbook for Grandparents