Help promote this forum to homeless people

[Dominic]

"It's time to put the word on the street." Blues Brothers

An offer was made by a forum member to help promote the forum to homeless people in his city.

Super cool. But how do we do this?

My first thought is to fax a letter sized poster to soup kitchens with a request to stick it on their wall. Something like:

Do you use the internet?

If so, check out this message board:

www.homeless.org.au/forum/

Chat with people all round the world.

Or here is a ready made poster you can print out: http://www.homeless.org.au/forum/Pro...ess-Forums.doc

Any other ideas, or people willing to help put the word on the street?

[snowangel]

I do know that here, many shelters and churches that work with the homeless put out monthly newsletters. It may be a good idea to contact some of them and see if maybe they would put something in their newsletters to promote this forum. Just an idea to help get the word out.

[Starla]

I think it would be really cool if an inner city internet cafe gave out coupons to organisations that deal with homeless people to enable them to come into cafes to use the internet free for a few hours...

The 24hr one on darlo rd (next to krave) is great..cause its warm(warmer than outside..) and for $3 you can stay as long as you like..

[Rose]

Here in South Australia we have a school called the Open Access College, that does all the lessons externally. When my son was studying there, they had a few students who were streeties. I'll ring them and see if they can spread the word amongst their streetie students - but does anybody know if there are similar colleges/schools in the other states? And if so, what about getting onto them? These places have direct contact with homeless kids who want to keep studying; maybe they'd be willing to put out a flyer, or a few words in the newsletter.

Cheers,

Rose.

[Dominic]

As I mentioned in the January newsletter it would be great if we could promote the forums to more homeless people around the world.

I know there are quite a few service providers registered as members - if you are a service provider can you think of a way your organisation could help promote the homeless forums? If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me or ask in this thread.

[Punter]

Dom, If you are still keen to put posters up at soup kitchens, food vans etc. let me know and I will do my best to get a flyer to the Brisbane services I know of.

Perhaps you could email me a copy of what you would like put out and I could run off copies and see if I can get the vans to advertise the forum in their windows. Just let me know and I do what ever I can to promote our wonderful little community here.

[Dominic]

Thanks Punter, I made up a poster people can adapt or just print out and use: http://www.homeless.org.au/forum/Pro...ess-Forums.doc

[Punter]

No worries Dominic,
I'll get some copies printed tomorrow and try and get them posted around the vans etc. I'll let you know how I go during the week. Hopefully everyone will have no problems displaying the flyers.

[sashalee]

Dom,
What about this idea i came up with.....
I thought we could promote the site by getting the food vans and places like rough edges, EEL, vincentian village, etc, to print even just the logo ---->[www.homeless.org.au/forums] on their coffee cups?
I'm not sure how realistic that is in terms of expence, but surely it wouldn't be too much??? Maybe fundraising could solve that hurdle?
I know from experience that sitting in green park up the X on cold winter nights i'd cling to the warmth of my paper coffee cup for hours... if something was written on it, i would have read it. And a coffee cup is easy to carry to a local net cafe for those ppl who, like me, cant memorise addys very well.
Like it???
Just an idea

[Punter]

Not a bad idea Sashalee but funding will probably be a problem.

What I have been thinking is as well as posting flyers on vans etc, we need to provide cards with the web address on it so the volunteers on the vans can hand them out to anyone who asks about the flyers. Over the next couple of days I am going to run the idea past a few of the service providers to see if they are willing to co operate. Even business card size pieces of paper with the web address would do if the vans are willing to hand them out.

[sashalee]

even stickers to stick on the cups???????

[Rose]

Originally Posted by Punter

Even business card size pieces of paper with the web address would do if the vans are willing to hand them out.

This works well. I've handed out some of these. You can fit eight or more on an A4 page, cut them apart and carry them with you in a wallet or bag or whatever you carry with you. Not as durable as cards, but cheap enough to pay for yourself. Save it and just print another page when you need one. Not so useful for people who have to visit the library to use a computer though.

[Dominic]

Stuff I hand out on the streets is usually laminated then chopped up to business card size.

When services get involved in promoting the forums they need to check it out and sign-off on it as ok. There are sometimes politics and other weak crap like that involved but i understand it as I wouldn't endorse something I haven't checked out myself.

Posters on street vans and hand-out cards are the way I believe, or if a service offers net access, someone who uses that service asking if its cool to print out the poster and stick it on the wall near the computers. Already I believe there is interest from a service that offers net access to make the forums the homepage for internet explorer. So that's kinda cool.

Printing stuff on cups is a good idea but too salesy I think (and too expensive). I'd prefer a business card type deal or flyer on the side of a street van.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by Dominic

Stuff I hand out on the streets is usually laminated then chopped up to business card size.

If the expense of laminating is a problem, go to Woolworths and buy a roll of clear school book covering...sticky on one side like contact. Stick your printed A4 page on it, then do the other side...not as tough as laminating, but still pretty serviceable. Less likely to be washed in the pocket of a pair of jeans than a piece of paper.

[Punter]

Originally Posted by Rose

If the expense of laminating is a problem, go to Woolworths and buy a roll of clear school book covering...

Good idea Rose! I had been thinking of an inexpensive way to make little business card size pieces of paper more durable. Thanks for the tip.

Must admit I have been busy and haven't caught up with the vans I intend to approach but I will be on the case next week for sure!!!!

[Magenta]

Even emailing various drop in centres frequented by homeless clients and serve meals in all the states..so they can print it out and put it up for us?

[Punter]

Originally Posted by Dominic

When services get involved in promoting the forums they need to check it out and sign-off on it as ok. There are sometimes politics and other weak crap like that involved but i understand it as I wouldn't endorse something I haven't checked out myself.

I am finding this to be true. It's not as easy as print out a flyer and ask them to put it on the side of their van. But hey that's cool it just means it might take a bit more time than I thought. I have emailed the web address to a couple of van service provider's and if they are cool with the sight I'm thinking about getting basic cards printed up. The cards would just have the logo, a basic blurb and the web address. This with the flyer on the side of the van seems to be the way to go.

I have also made a list of other service providers to approach and ask if they can display the flyer and cards. I am waiting for Dom to get back to me about the idea of getting cards printed up. It's relatively inexpensive about $25 for 250 to $75 for 1000. I'd be happy to cop that as a one off and provide the cards for the vans etc. Like I said its not as easy as I thought it was going to be but it will be worth it to help promote our little community here and hopefully help other people out.

[Dominic]

I'm just waiting to hear back about a service provider in Brisbane that is going to offer free net access. I believe they plan to use the custom entry page as their default homepage (www.homeless.org.au/forum/) so that will be vital info for the cards if it goes ahead, we may even target it more and make a Brisbane specific entry page with links to local services and opening times of services. so hang tight, I'm keen on it, just want to see where they are heading and we can launch off from that starting point with cards and posters etc.

[Punter]

No Worries Dom. I've forwarded the site address to a few people so they get a general idea of what the site is all about and I'll rely on your Rosie's connections for that service. At the moment I'm just getting people to check out the site and then we can go with posters and cards when ready

[KaBong]

How about notifing local radio stations?