Chances are there are tons of people out there who don’t know the first thing about homelessness or the fact that it affects over 1 million young people each year. Make some awesome flyers so they can find out the 411 and how they can make a difference too.

Double Check

First, make sure you have the option of posting your signs on telephone polls and community bulletin boards. If your town won’t allow you to do that, see if you can pass out flyers at your town hall, public library, a local business or at school.

Do Some Research

Gather some data for the signs and figure out how you want to present it. Do Something has some great info on teen homelessness including causes, effects, and things you can do.

Investigate

Locate some shelters nearby where people can drop off their items or create your own drop-offs. You can pick up the jeans and other clothes each week. Remember: you want to make it as simple as possible for people to help out.

Details

Ask your local shelter what’s really needed and what isn’t, and include this list on your posters. Your posters should also include a contact email address for questions.

Images

Images are powerful and are as much a part of the message as the chosen words so don’t be afraid to use them.

Power in People

Now that you’ve got all this info, get some friends together to help you design and complete the posters or flyers. They can also help you put them up when you’re done.

Variety is key

Keep in mind, that in order to make this campaign effective, you have to vary your strategy. So think about making a few different kinds of signs:

• Small flyers to pass out to people
• Big, colorful posters to post on telephone polls: you want these to stand out because people will be driving and/or walking by them so you want to grab their attention.
• Informative flyers to post on cork boards or town message boards.

Timing

November is Homeless Youth Awareness Month so that’s a great time for a campaign but if you’ve miss the date, don’t be hesitant to start a campaign before or after November. Homeless youth need help 365 days a year so get out there!

Be Bold

Think of strange places you can put up posters and see if you can get permission to post them there. Marketers have put up ads in odd places because it’s an effective tactic. Like the doors in bathroom stalls of restaurants, cafes, and/or even in restrooms of your local bus or train station.

Post and Repost

While going out one day and posting is great, keep in mind that weather may damage posters so you’ll want to go out periodically and repost your signs. You also won’t catch everyone in one day so schedule a few days to go out and distribute fliers.

The Extra Mile

If you want to take this sign campaign even further, you could start a pick-up service that will go door to door to pick up used jeans and other items. Another idea could be to partner with a local office like the police department or town hall and set up a collection site there.

And don’t forget to let Do Something know the amazing things you’ve done!