Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET --- This webinar presented the benefits of partnering with community colleges to educate and enroll hard-to-reach young people in health insurance. We described in detail how to approach community colleges about playing an active role in educating their students and shared best practices about the types of tactics that can be used to reach students on community college campuses.

1. Engaging Community Colleges in
Outreach and Enrollment
Wednesday February 26, 2014
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2. SPEAKERS
Moderator:
Rachael Klarman, National Youth Engagement
Director, Enroll America
Presenters:
Amy Lin, National Organizing Director, Young
Invincibles
Meghan Blickman, Pennsylvania Organizing
Director, Enroll America
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3. AGENDA
I.
II.
III.
III.
Capitalizing on Your Strengths
Why Target Community Colleges?
How to Engage Community Colleges
Tips on Monitoring & Evaluation
IV. Q&A
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4. I. Capitalizing on Your Strengths
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5. What Has Worked Well So Far?
• 33 days until the end of open enrollment
• This is the time to:
ü Focus on what you do WELL
ü Build on what you have done so far
ü Leverage relationships with your network
ü NOT the time to invest a lot of resources in doing something totally new
IDENTIFY
what has
worked
Make plans to
REPEAT these
strategies
But AMPLIFY
for the next
five weeks
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6. II. Why Target Community Colleges
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7. Why Target Community Colleges?
• Demographic make-up of community college
• Few offer student health plans
• Community colleges are every where
• Since they are present in most communities that
makes them a great way to conduct outreach in
rural communities
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8. Why Not Four-Year Colleges?
• Four-year colleges often require students to show proof
of adequate insurance.
• Students are more likely to be covered through their
parents insurance.
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9. What’s In It For Community Colleges?
Community Colleges have a compelling interest in helping
their students get covered.
• A recent study on college completion suggests that
having health insurance would help students complete
their degrees.
• Many community colleges already make an effort to
connect students to programs such as STAMP or TANF
benefits.
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10. Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA)
• There are 6 campuses in Northern VA
• To set up events, Young Invincibles Navigators
contacted the school’s:
•
•
•
Administration – Dean and Director of student
activities and services
Faculty of relevant classes (social sciences, health)
Student life coordinators
• We have conducted outreach, education, tabling, and
enrollment at every campus and the surrounding area
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11. University of DC Community College (UDC
CC)
• Table set up most of the day at a regular time every
week in a busy location
• Hand out educational materials and information to
anyone walking by
• DC In-person assisters are there to enroll students
immediately
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12. II. How to Engage Community
Colleges
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13. Overview of Pennsylvania Outreach
• Northampton Community College
•
•
•
Partnership with Benefits Access Program
School identifies uninsured students
Tabling and information Sessions
• Allegheny Community College
•
•
Partnership with administration
Focused on enrollment events
• Carnegie Mellon University
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•
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Partnership with administration, but managed by students.
Emphasizes enrollment of part time employees.
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14. Other Community College Events
• Miami Dade Community College
• More than 500 students served
• City Colleges of Chicago
• Enrollment events planned in
every campus
• At the first event, 225 student
attended; almost half went all
the way through the enrollment
process
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15. Who to Talk to at Community Colleges
ü The Dean of Student Affairs
ü President’s Office
ü Student Health Clinic
ü Organization that connects students to financial benefits
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16. What to Ask
• Host and promote enrollment events
• Send information to students
• Allow your organization to table on campus
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17. Tips for Hosting Successful Events
Enlist the school’s help promoting the event.
ü School-wide email that includes RSVP link
ü Social media
ü Campus newspaper/radio
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18. Have Navigators and/or CACs Present
• 1:10 assister to consumer ratio
• Make sure to have assisters who can assist consumers in
Spanish
• Have Navigators give a brief presentation before they
have students create accounts and look through their
options.
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19. III. Tips on Monitoring & Evaluation
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20. Develop an Evaluation Plan Before
You Implement
Why evaluate?
Things to
consider…
Suggested
Questions:
• Identify which outreach strategies and partners reach the most
consumers
• Basis for future funding requests
• How will you know if your strategy was effective?
• What outcomes will you be measuring?
•
•
•
•
How did consumers hear about your organization?
How did they get your phone number?
How did they come to attend a particular enrollment event?
How many consumers created an account? Successfully enrolled?
Collect information that will help you build a better system for next year:
When do you ‘lose’ consumers? What helps get consumers ready to buy insurance? How many times
do you talk to a consumer before they sign up? What are the barriers/ questions people have?
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21. Future Webinars in this Series
How to Engage Faith Communities in Outreach
Monday, March 3, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Creating an Earned Media Strategy: Fast Ways to Engage Local Media
and Motivate Consumers
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Conducting Effective Enrollment Events and How to Get More
Support
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. ET
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22. IV. Q&A
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