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Outreach has the ability to be so much more than free admission – it has the ability to be transformative. If you are looking for outreach to be more than a delivered one‐
time only program or a single visit to the museum – but to truly reach people, then this program is right for you. Jane Turner, Executive Director
Program Overview
Brief Overview
 Created in 2007 to meet a need
for outreach and education in
underserved Atlanta
neighborhoods
 Operating in 7 neighborhoods
currently, reaching over 1,000
children each month
 Designed to reach young
children from birth to age 8
and their families
 Based on a partnership
involving community input and
education
 Starting point…..neighborhood
focus groups to learn what
families needed from the
Museum
Core Components
 Imaginators (professional troupe of actors and educators) visit with monthly with schools and child development centers
 Museum in a Box, aligned with curriculum standards, is content and resource rich to link child care providers and educators to Museum exhibits
 Family engagement with neighborhood programs, free admission to Museum, field trips
 Artist and Scientist in Residence to engage children on weekends in their neighborhood
 Training for early childhood educators provided at the Museum in partnership with Quality Care for Children
 Imagine It! Express bus provides free transportation
Stories of Impact
http://youtu.be/7AwpGu
1_fxY
Benefits to the Museum
Connected Learning . . . Connected Communities provided
great benefits to the Museum, including:
•Improved perception of the Museum by neighboring
communities
•Increased access to Museum by underserved
populations; 72% of families were first-time visitors
•Brought funding and recognition to the Museum
•Museum broadened and strengthened partnerships
•Increased role of Museum as key player in Atlanta
initiatives
What is in this Tool Kit?
This tool kit includes:
• An in‐depth Strategic Overview of the Entire CLCC program
• An Evaluation Tool Kit based on CLCC – but including helpful hints for all types of evaluation
• Selected Curricula from the Museum in a Box program
• A Partnership list
• A link to the “Stories of Impact” video about the CLCC Program
• This powerpoint – which gives the high level view of the program. How to Get Started
How To Get Started
Engage in Questioning with Board & Staff
• Who are we as an institution?
• What are we good at?
• Where do we want to grow?
• Who do we want to reach and why?
How to Pick Neighborhoods
Check list for Neighborhood Selection:
Low-income, low-resource, high poverty neighborhoods that are a
cohesive unit
• Neighborhoods with a certain number of children in the age ranges
you work with – you want to have an impact over time
• Existing community resources – schools, libraries, community
centers, arts
• Entry points: community organizations, etc. to help introduce
Museum to the community
• Local political leaders or groups who are interested – or at least
willing to introduce us
• Child care centers – can we have multiple touch points
•
Neighborhood Images
Neighborhood Strengths
Every one of the Musem’s partner neighborhoods have brough their
own strengths to the table. Some of those are:
• A strong desire to work with the children’s museum
• Good partners to introduce us to the community, to teachers,
parents, and grandparents
• Committed community action groups
• Local schools, child development centers, in-home child care
providers who wanted to partner and get more resources for their
children
Conduct Focus Groups
Focus groups provide input in a way that cannot be
obtained from primary data (e.g. Census, school data)
• A trained focus group leader can solicit opinions,
experiences, suggestions in an informal setting that is
comfortable for neighborhood residents
• Success factors
– Multiple methods to recruit participants
– Incentives for participation
– Transportation, activities for children, and food
Partnerships are Key
The Benefits to the Museum of partnership are multi‐layered. Partners can:
• Get you connected with movers and shakers in the community – the alpha grandparents and moms!
• Provide you with resources, such as meeting rooms, programming, or just stuff
• Communicate your activities to the folks they work with
• Communicate your impact to the larger community
What our Neighborhoods Wanted
& What CMA Delivered
What Our Neighborhoods
Wanted
Each neighborhoods’ desires for their children were
unique, but some of those desires included:
Arts programming
In-depth science experiences
Free visits to the Museum
Aid in helping parents understand why their children should stay in
school
• Resources for parents
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Some of What CMA Delivered
•
•
•
•
•
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Weekly, educational Imaginator visits to participating schools and
centers;
“Museum In A Box” curriculum trunks (themed around the
Museum’s feature educational exhibits) given permanently to each
participating school and child development center;
Teacher training sessions;
Art and Science workshops for children and families sessions;
Family group interaction and activities with an emphasis on working
with parents to create positive parent/child interactions;
Regular organized free visits to the Museum on the Imagine It!
Express and on their own;
Play and Learn sessions with children during community events
such as Countdown to Kindergarten and parental GED classes;
Collaborating with existing parenting programming (such as Parent
Café’s) to promote role-modeling.
Barriers
• Transportation: How easy was it to get to the museum,
can we park for free, we don’t have a car?
• Communications: What are the best ways to reach all
our audiences, parents, grandparents, community
leaders, educators?
Communications
Transportation
The Imagine It! Express
• Holds 42 people with
handicapped accessibility
• Runs on recycled peanut oil
from a local Chick-Fil-A!
Museum Community Programs
Imaginators in early
learning centers, schools,
family home care at least 1
time each month up to 26
visits per month
Museum in a Box
Curriculum given three
times per year to each of
our education partners.
Curriculum aligned with
standards. A box includes
activities, curriculum, art
supplies, games, videos and
books.
Museum Visits
• Field Trips by schools and
early learning centers
• Family days
• Target Free Second
Tuesdays
Capacity Building
Partnerships with Quality
Care for Children and
Georgia State University
College of Education
allows us to do up to 8
educator workshops each
year
Partnering with Parent
Cafés in neighborhood
locations helps us to
reach parents.
Arts In the Community
Artist in Residence Programs
• Drumming/Storytelling
• Sculpture Project
• Dancing/Stepping
• Acting Classes
• Pottery
Science in the Community
Scientist in Residence Programs
• Chemistry of Cooking
• Weekly Science Workshops
• Science in Art Restoring
Family Activity in the Museum
& in the Community
• Family Day at the
Children’s Museum
• Atlanta Braves
• Atlanta Dream
• Georgia Aquarium
• World of Coca Cola
• Ice Skating in Centennial
Olympic Park
These experiences open up
the world to the families
and children . . .
Evaluation
Evaluation is Key
The Museum made a strong commitment to evaluation
from the beginning. Working with an outside evaluator,
we:
• Created a Participatory evaluation process
• Developed a strong partnership between evaluator and
Museum staff
• Built internal capacity over the years
• Adjusted and fine-tuned program based on findings
• Discovered that results bring funding
Evaluation Methods
Used mixed methods to evaluate: Educators, Families,
partners and staff:
• Focus groups
• Surveys
• Post-only teachers after Imaginator visits
• Post-only teachers for Museum in a Box
• Pre/post for family trips to Museum
• Post-only for Artist and Science in Residence
• Observation of program
• Annual reports with updates as needed for funders
See the attached Evaluation tool kit for methodology
CLCC Desired Outcomes
• Increased understanding by families of the importance
of power of play in learning
• Increased awareness of the museum as an educational
resource by families, early learning providers, and
schools
• Improved access to activities, materials and supplies
that enhance children’s learning
• Increased neighborhood and civic engagement
High Touch, High Results
Each year the Imaginators reach large numbers of
children in repeat visits, with repeat impact.
Educators Say . . .
What CLCC Achieved
CLCC Achievements
• The outreach effort has increased positive attitudes
about the Museum as a resource in an economically
deprived neighborhood and extended the “walls” of the
Museum out into the community.
• Outreach efforts are increasing the diversity of people
using the Museum.
• Attitudes of parents have been improved toward the
Museum, toward the concept of play as learning, and
parents have become more comfortable in visiting the
Museum.
• Educators strongly agree that Imaginator visits help
positively impact student achievement.
CLCC Achievements
CLCC Achievements
CLCC Achievements
Is this the Right program for
You?
Take the Challenge!
Credits & Contacts
The Children’s Museum of Atlanta would like to thank the
Institute for Museum & Library Services for support of
this program and the National Tool Kit and the Arthur M.
Blank Foundation for their support of this program from
the beginning and their deep commitment to early
childhood education.
Contacts:
Karen M. Kelly, Director of Exhibits & Education,
[email protected]
Tawana Francisco, Manager of School and Outreach
Programs, [email protected]
Julie Sharpe, CEO, Sharpe Solutions, [email protected]
©The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, Inc.