Editor at Large Ray Schultz and I met recently with President and CEO of The FORUM for Youth Investment Karen Pittman to talk about improving communications –better messaging on children's issues—what works in moving the public to action, and to explore some of the challenges we encounter along the way.

Karen and her teams at The Forum and the highly acclaimed Ready by 21 Challenge spend many hours thinking about ways to help child and youth advocates – from providers to policy makers -- improve the impact of their communications. But she's the first to admit: "We've got far to go."

Karen always brings a 360-degree perspective to her work, and to the insights she shares in this interview, which will be published in three parts.
Hershel Sarbin

Communication in Context

"Many groups are good at describing what they do. But they fail to tie it to the big picture. It's a big weakness in the field. Everybody divides up and is working as hard as they can on their piece, understanding that their work is only one part of what needs to be done to support child and youth development," Pittman told us. But when programs have an opportunity to tell their story, they often fail to link it to the rest of the pieces. "This fragmentation leads to complacency" according to Pittman.

Framing Children's Issues

The first hurdle is to get providers and advocates to talk less about the piece they do and more about the whole of what needs to be done. "The American dream is that every kid's going to be ready for college, work and life," Pittman said. "The reality is we're really far from that dream: Only four in 10 kids are ready."

What constitutes readiness? First, young people have to be academically competent, she continued. Second, they have to avoid "risky behaviors and circumstances that can limit their futures." Finally, they need "broader competencies like problem solving and social skills."

To accomplish that, community members have to stick with young people well into their 20s, a primary goal of the Forum's Ready by 21 Partnership. The task is complicated, however, by the number of coalitions, committees and initiatives that are falling all over each other. Our objectives could be better met if these separate efforts were linked together.

The Communications Solution

It's not enough for a group to publicize its success stories (and many groups fail to even do that). "The communications challenge is helping people connect their story to the larger picture," Pittman said.

First, they have to have a vision of what they want for children and youth. It has to be both specific and inclusive and have lots of moving parts. "But those parts have to work together," Pittman continued. "Only then can we zoom in on one of them and give you that good news story about that part."

To illustrate her communications vision, Pittman often shows a chart with three gears in it.

"The big gear is children and youth outcomes," she said. "The middle gear is family, school and community support services. The small gear is leader accountability."

The basic message: You can't turn the big gear unless you make the other ones turn. You can't make the small gear turn without convincing leaders to work together.

"Ideally, people will feel they really are a part of the solution and that what they do is helping that big gear move," Pittman said. "Otherwise, we're just picking out individual kids to help one at a time."

Part Two will be published in our January issue, and Part Three , focused on the vital role of community engagement, in February. If you would like a download of the full text of Karen Pittman's views, please email Hershels@aol.com