First of all, do not freak out! Lots of GSAs start with only a handful of members, and lots of GSAs’ membership numbers fluctuate—sometimes there are dozens of people, and sometimes only a few. It happens.
Secondly, do not give up. Just because you only have a few members right now doesn’t meet that it will be that way forever. And even if your group stays small all year, those few members who are showing up are coming for a reason; they’re obviously getting something positive out of this group. Think of your small GSA as a great start, not as a less-than-successful club. So go ahead and pat yourself on the back instead of throwing in the towel.
Third, once you’ve made up your mind not to freak out and not to give up (good for you!), it’s time to start looking at what your group can do to increase its membership. After all, there might be a lot of other students in your school who are looking for a safe space to talk about issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, and you do want to try to reach as many of those people as possible. Additionally, if the mission of your GSA is focused on making a powerful positive impact on your school’s climate, then it helps to have a club with enough members to do the work and spread the word.
So let’s talk outreach. For anyone who’s unfamiliar with the jargon, outreach is basically any way in which you try to let folks know what you’re doing, and let them know how they can join in. Make a list of all the things that you already do. Posters? Flyers? Announcements? If you already have a bunch of outreach methods, and you still have a teeny-tiny little GSA, you might need to consider that your current outreach methods aren’t as effective as you want them to be.
The following suggestions come from Amalia Petherbridge from the Students Run Philly Style program, which trains young people to run marathons. When they were trying to improve their program’s outreach, they asked themselves:
What is our message?Make sure your message is clear and compelling. When you’re talking about your GSA to other people, “We, like, do stuff about sexuality and, you know, people can talk if they want. And there’s a Day of Silence,” isn’t really a message that’s going to compel people to come check it out. Make your message succinct and powerful. Students Run Philly Style tells students that joining this program will change their lives, and that anyone can do it. Simple message, right? But it’s a powerful one.
Are we delivering on our message?
If part of your main message is that your GSA is fun, then make sure your GSA is fun. If part of it is that you’re trying to change your school for the better, then make sure that your GSA is providing opportunities to do that. Find out whether you’re delivering on your message by checking in with group members throughout the year and getting feedback from them.
Where are we delivering our message?If you deliver your message mainly on the bulletin board by the front office, but nobody ever looks at the bulletin board by the front office, then your message probably isn’t getting out there to the people who really need to see it. Every school is different, so there’s not one perfect solution for everyone, but think about where you’d be able to reach the most people in your school. Announcements? School Paper? Advisory?
Who is delivering our message?
Hands down, the most effective people to convey your message are the ones who are actually involved in the GSA. For instance, a lot of principals are really supportive of GSAs, but if you’re relying only on your principal to get the message out on the loudspeaker each week, consider that your principal probably doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of what your group is really about. If you want to get other people excited about the group, they have to hear first-hand experiences from people who are actually in the group.
No comments:
Post a Comment