How RALLY is Helping to Build Storytelling Capacity among Public School Communications Directors
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How RALLY is Helping to Build Storytelling Capacity among Public School Communications Directors RALLY Follow Oct 4, 2019 · 3 min read

By Victoria Thorp

Two non-profit education organizations — the Colorado League of Charter Schools and the Georgia Charter School Association — asked RALLY to improve the capacity of member schools to communicate about their mission and programs. In response, a group of RALLY colleagues started thinking about how to create a training program that leveraged the expertise of RALLY and the network schools.

“We knew that we could not provide customized support to every school in these two geographically scattered regions,” Steve Mancini, RALLY Principal, said. “Instead, we wanted to foster learning communities where communications directors would be exposed to new approaches to storytelling and have a chance to learn from each other.”

Credit: Drew Charter High School

Seven public school communications directors each from Colorado and Georgia signed up to participate in this inaugural program. All of these participating schools educate a significant number of students from low-income families. Cohort members will participate in four one-hour webinars facilitated by RALLY. They will also be able to attend optional “virtual office hours” where they can problem-solve together with RALLY staff and their peers.

But as anyone who has ever sat through a webinar knows, creating a culture of learning and sharing among adults who may not know each other well in real life requires more than just scheduling calls and sending emails.

“The best practice for forming a learning cohort is to have both a clear purpose and criteria for participating,” RALLY Account Executive Kasey Iranon explains. “Our goal was to foster a group of school communications directors who are ready to proactively tell compelling stories, so we made sure the schools who joined had the capacity and mindset to put ideas into action.”

Rachel Van Brocklin, communications director of Rocky Mountain Prep in Denver, is one of the Colorado communications directors who are excited at the chance to learn and interact with each other.

“The opportunity to be in the RALLY cohort is fabulous because I can learn about the latest trends in communications, build stronger relationships with my peers, and use the strategies to drive my goal of sharing more positive stories about our schools,” Rachel said.

The RALLY Learning Cohort in Georgia was lucky to get started in August with an in-person meeting at the Drew Charter School in Atlanta. Cohort participant Charisse Richardson, who is Drew Charter School’s Strategy Director, said that Georgia schools are looking to RALLY to help learn new ways to address their unique media outreach challenges.

“We want people in Atlanta and beyond to better understand what our schools are doing to prepare students to succeed in the 21st century,” she said. “By working with RALLY, we can better tell stories that will reach elected officials, influencers, and other key decision-makers.”

When the two cohorts complete the first semester in December, RALLY hopes to look back and see thriving learning communities that will not only execute new skills for pitching stories but also continue to share ideas with each other.

“There are incredible things going on in public school classrooms across the country,” said RALLY Account Executive Claire Shipton. “We want schools to be able to share their work and stories with their communities, helping share educational opportunities available to students and parents, as well as building broader public support. Building communications capacity is the foundation of that process.”