Stanford University’s Gene Lewit recently wrote a really interesting blog post for the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. It concerned a new Mathematica Policy Research evaluation of the California electronic application tool for children’s health coverage, and it offered a lesson that will ring true to children’s issues communicators: the more you commit to letting people know about an opportunity, the more likely they’ll capitalize on it.
The evaluators found that even modest outreach on the new electronic application offered some tangible results. And I mean really small changes, like featuring the application on the agency’s website and including the link in routine communications. And when the agency launched a multilingual online ad campaign, the impact was even bigger.
Gene’s blog is another reminder to those of us in the business that the advocacy communications work isn’t done when the bill’s signed, or even when the policy reforms are implemented. That’s when the really important work of helping kids and families capitalize on new opportunities begins.