Community Outreach
and the Community Health Worker
What is Outreach?
Why is it important?
Outreach is an effort by individuals in an organization or group to connect its
ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific
audiences or the general public. Unlike marketing, outreach does not
inherently revolve around a product or strategies to increase market
share. Typically non-profits, civic groups, and churches engage in outreach.
Outreach often takes on an educational component (i.e., the dissemination of
ideas), but it is increasingly common for organizations to conceive of their
outreach strategy as a two-way street in which outreach is framed as
engagement rather than solely dissemination or education.
Outreach strategies are linked to the organization's mission, and define
targets, goals, and milestones. – Wikipedia
Outreach Workers are often . . .
• Hired because they represent or reflect the community
that is being targeted by the agency,
• Are often times undervalued and under-resourced by
their agencies,
• Not formally trained because it is assumed that because
they are part of the community that they will
automatically know how to connect with their peers.
*Outreach is a skill that is developed and despite
popular opinion, you don’t have to be of a
community to work effectively with a community.
Outreach Methods
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Street Outreach
Door to Door
Home Visits
Group Presentations
Health Fairs and Community Events
Community/Business Drop-Offs
Drop-in Centers
Media
Others?
“Meeting People Where They Are…”
Health
Spiritual Needs
Life Skills
Social Service
Social Needs/
Practices
Individual
Emotional
Needs
Time
Habits
Place (urban, rural)
Culture
Language
COEC: Outreach Education I
Keys to Success
We know that Outreach is similar to advertising
in that the more the people that you target
see themselves reflected in your strategy, the
more likely they are to respond to your health
message.
This is why we see Black people in McDonald’s
commercials and burly men or sexy women in
car commercials etc.
Challenge!
You’ve been asked to conduct outreach to a huge
and diverse population (like Latinos living in
specific neighborhoods, high risk youth, GLBT
communities, Blacks at risk for diabetes etc).
How do you do create a message and strategy
that speaks to EVERYONE effectively?
Answer:
YOU DON’T!!!!
Narrow your Targets
We narrow our targets because we recognize the
diversity of the populations with whom we work.
If we tried to create a message that spoke to
everyone, we would reach no one.
We narrow, understanding that we won’t leave
people out, but will create specific strategies for
each sub-group in hopes of maximizing efficacy.
Possible Categories for Narrowing
Targets
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Gender
Neighborhood
**Age
Race/Ethnicity
Family Structure
Income
Health Issue
Activities/Likes/Interests
Subcultures of the larger
group
• Situational
• Immigration Status
• Status among their Peers
(Opinion Leaders)
• Past or Current
Experience with a health
issue (Sexual Abuse
Survivors)
• Behavior-based (sexually
active youth)
• What Else????
*Be careful not to narrow so much that there are only 3 people in your pool.
Narrowing By Age
Many programs make a huge mistake by keeping
the age range too wide.
The younger the individuals you’re targeting, the
closer the age range should be when thinking
about your outreach strategy. The older the
people you’re targeting, the wider the range
can be.
Elements of Effective Outreach
Strategies
Cultural
Background
*AGE
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WHO
Gender
SocioEconomics
Language
Elements of Effective Outreach
Strategies
Health
Message
Health Issue
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WHAT
Outcomes
Goals
Objectives
Elements of Effective Outreach
Strategies
Method
Time, Place,
Setting
HOW
Message
(What Form)
Effective Health Messages Should Be . .
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Clear
Concise
Not sacrifice clarity for flash or gimmick
Should explicitly say what you want folks to do
Should be presented in more than one form
(spoken and written) and should be repeated
as much as possible without being obnoxious