Newsletters can be your program's link to teachers, parents, tutors, and the entire community.

But producing a newsletter shouldn't be a production. Keep it simple, user friendly, and fun to do! Below are tips for creating a newsletter for your program.

• Purpose–First Things First
• Content
• Format
• Other Resources
• Distribution

Purpose–First Things First

Why write a newsletter? Common reasons are listed below. If you're planning to create one of your own, think about which of these address your needs, and add other reasons that aren't listed. It can be confusing if you try to write a single newsletter for different audiences. Consider your primary audience and write for them. Or perhaps you could do more than one to meet the different needs: One newsletter could be just for volunteers, and a second could be for parents, teachers, and the community. The purposes below are grouped by these two newsletter audiences.

For Volunteers or National Service Members

• Give needed information to volunteers about trainings, trainers, and other events Share ideas for volunteers to pursue with their projects (tutoring activities, mentoring pointers, GED practice testing) Inform volunteers about available resources they can use Announce events, contests, etc. Celebrate volunteers' efforts
• Connect volunteers with each other

For Parents or Community Members

• Publicize your program and its work in the community Build and strengthen partnerships Recruit new volunteers Announce events, contests, etc. Celebrate volunteers' efforts
• Connect audience (parents, teachers, community organizations, community members, businesses) to each other and to volunteers

Content

Once you've identified your target audience, decide what you want to tell your audience (and how often). The first issue of a community or parent newsletter should tell people who you are and what you do. Tell them the different ways they can become involved. Profile a volunteer or a teacher, even yourself. Acknowledge community organizations, businesses, or other individuals who have donated time, materials, or money to your efforts.

To minimize your own writing time, consider these tips for generating content:

• Surf the Internet for tips and activities useful to your audience. Check out newsletters you receive (national or regional organizations you belong to publish them). If you find information your readers can use, summarize or excerpt it in your newsletter–and cite the source.
• Read the newspaper for local, regional, or national news related to your work. Summarize or excerpt these items–and cite the source.
• Ask a volunteer, parent, principal, or a teacher to write a short piece. Give your guest writers sufficient notice and guidelines about length, style, format, and deadlines.
• Contact a local high school or middle school. A journalism class or a class performing a service-learning project may be able to write or produce your entire newsletter.
• Consider a special issue for parents or community members whose primary language is not English. Contact a local high school class that could translate your text into that language as a class project.

How much information you have to tell will determine how often you produce a newsletter. But don't overdo it, and don't let the newsletter become a chore. The important thing is not to overextend yourself or to promise something you can't deliver. A quarterly newsletter is useful and doable.

Format

• Keep it short. Choose 3-5 items you think are most important to share with your readers.
• Keep the length to 2 to 4 pages.
• Photocopy front and back, and staple the pages in the upper left-hand corner. A newsletter doesn't have to be a sophisticated, expensive production. All you really need is a title that identifies your program. It's the information you're communicating that's important, not how the information looks.
• Write as though you're writing a letter, not a newspaper column. Don't be nervous about this kind of writing, and don't try to impress anyone. Think about this writing task as though you're explaining to a friend the kind of work you do. Try to strike a friendly, conversational tone. Your newsletter doesn't (and shouldn't) sound like it's from the New York Times.
• Leave a lot of white space at the margins and in between columns and paragraphs. Two columns are easier to read than one, but in either format, white space makes text more readable.
• Keep it simple. The two samples below give you an idea of what a newsletter can look like.
  

  This newsletter features columns, different kinds of fonts or type faces, and clip art pictures. This type of newsletter is easy to produce on a computer with either a word processing program (Word, WordPerfect) or a desktop publishing program (Quark, PageMaker, etc.).

  

  This newsletter is one column and is done in only one font. A newsletter of this kind can be produced on a typewriter (without the larger-sized headings/titles) or on a computer. You can see that it accommodates more information in the same amount of space.

Other Resources

If you need help with paper, printing, copying, or mailing costs, connect with local businesses who can support your efforts by donating materials or services. Acknowledge their help or sponsorship with a note in the newsletter.

Investigate local resources. In Portland, Oregon, the SCRAP Project recycles paper and paper products for use by artists, teachers, and others. Or start your own recycling project by using extra printer paper or printing on the back of "scrap" paper.

Distribution

These tips can save you the time and money of mailing newsletters:

• Distribute newsletters in teachers' mailboxes
• Distribute newsletters to volunteers by giving them out at a weekly meeting or keep a stack in the project's office or tutoring space
• Ask to put a stack in
  • community centers
  • senior centers
  • banks and credit unions
  • recreation centers
  • churches
• Post a copy (with contact information) on bulletin boards in grocery stores, public libraries, clubs, and other places that interested community members go. (If you run a tutoring program, bookstores could keep a stack or post one in the window.)
• Ask other organizations, such as the PTA or Rotary Club, to distribute them at their meetings
• Investigate the possibility of having them folded into the local newspaper

Newsletters can be an effective way of promoting your project and gaining community support. Remember, the recipe for newsletter success is to keep it simple, informative, and fun!