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Hey everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic summer and I hope you are all looking forward to this year as much as I am! I have a feeling that it is going to be a groovy year, but all of us, as members, must work together to do so. There is so much that goes into making a great chapter or organization, and one major factor is public relations.
It has been over seven years since the Future Homemakers of America changed there name to what is now the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. We are not a new organization, but we do have a fairly new name that many people are not familiar with. We all know how great FCCLA is, and all the great things we do to benefit our communities and the media is an excellent source to showcase all of it to others.
Good relationships with the media will help educate the public about FCCLA, show all the positive things we do, and it can also help retain members by making them proud to be in such a well known and respected organization, as well as attract new members. With all the crime and tragedy dominating the news, it is refreshing to see the good things that are happening in the world. Appearing in your local newspaper, on the evening news, or on a talk radio program can help boost new volunteers, p ublicize fundraisers, promote chapter events, and possibly get recognized by businesses who may sponsor future chapter activities.
It isn’t likely for the media to contact you about FCCLA, so you must contact them. Do research to get phone numbers, fax numbers, mailing and e-mail addresses; you want to be sure to find the right person to contact. Most contact information can be found on the media sources’ websites. Look for the education editor. Before contacting them, you should know the basics about FCCLA and what it has to offer. You should know how FCCLA helps people, what problems we solve, what is interesting about our organization, and basic information such as membership numbers or sample projects...these are questions you may be asked. Most of this information is on our website, but if you need help finding it, feel free to email me.
Once you have made headway with the media, make sure to keep communication open and ongoing, but you only want to contact the media for items that are truly newsworthy (not regular meetings). Always remember to send thank you notes to media sources when they help you, and to give credit to them in presentations about your chapter. You should also give the FCCLA national, state, and chapter websites to your media sources so they can get more information about FCCLA. When working with the media, don’t forget to use “who, what, where, when, why, and how” format of telling your story. I wish you all the best of luck in promoting FCCLA! If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at
ashley_miller74@hotmail.com.
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Promote your FCCLA Chapter