Family Outreach Plan

Local 57 Family Outreach Plan

Reaching workers through the communities and households they actually live in

Prepared for: Organizing director + family outreach coordinator Status: Operational plan. Complements the direct mail and intake tracks; reaches the same households through additional, more textured channels.

PART 1 — Read This First

The direct-mail piece (per direct_mail.md) lands on the kitchen table. That is one channel. This document maps the rest of the channels that the worker’s household and community already inhabit — the school, the soccer field, the church, the neighborhood, the community center, the family barbecue, the kid’s birthday party.

A worker who hears about the Bridge Fund from a mailer is one kind of contact. A worker whose spouse mentions it after hearing about it from another spouse at their kid’s soccer game is a different kind of contact. The mailer is a fact. The spouse-to-spouse mention is a movement.

Three operating principles:

1. Show up where people already are. Do not summon them somewhere else. The campaign does not host its own community events and wait for Local 57 families to attend. The campaign shows up at the events those families already attend. The worker’s daughter’s softball game. The parish festival. The neighborhood association meeting. The high school career night. The volunteer fire department breakfast. That is where the work happens.

2. The campaign is a community institution, not a sales channel. The campaign’s presence in community spaces is sustained, useful, and respectful. It contributes — sponsorship, volunteer hours, food at the festival, scholarships for kids of working families. It does not extract. Communities that feel respected become receptive. Communities that feel mined become hostile.

3. The household decides the household’s pace. A family that engages with the campaign at a school event is not on a sales funnel. They are a family. They will engage again if they want to. The campaign maintains warm, low-pressure contact across years — not aggressive follow-up across weeks.

PART 2 — The Family Outreach Coordinator

A dedicated position, full-time, reporting to the organizing director. Profile:

Strong community organizing background, ideally with experience in school-, parish-, or neighborhood-level work
Local to the region; knows the geography, the institutions, the unwritten norms
Comfortable in spaces where unions are not the assumed identity (a Catholic parish festival, a youth sports league, a neighborhood association)
Bilingual where workforce composition warrants
Member of the campaign coordinating committee; equal footing with organizing director and communications director

Reports to: Organizing director. Coordinates with: Communications director (for shared assets), Bilingual coordinator (for Spanish-language community work), Retiree liaison (for retiree-led community presence).

PART 3 — Channels and Touchpoints

The list below is not exhaustive. It is a starting menu. The coordinator’s first 60 days are spent mapping which channels are most concentrated with Local 57 families in the six-local footprint.

A. K-12 schools

What it looks like:

Sponsorship of school events with appropriate signage and informational presence
Information tables at school career fairs and parent nights
Career-day classroom visits by IBEW journeymen and journeywomen
Scholarship programs for high school seniors entering the trades (with the IBEW JATC as the natural pathway)
Partnership with vocational programs (more on this below)

Specific opportunities:

Annual sponsorship of the high school robotics teams, technology education programs, building trades classes
Tutoring or mentorship programs at vocational high schools
Apprentice-to-student visits in welding, electrical, electronics, and construction courses
College and career counselor relationships — the counselor who tells a senior about the IBEW JATC is doing the campaign’s work without knowing it

What the IBEW provides:

Information about the apprenticeship application process
Tour invitations to the JATC
Direct contact with apprenticeship coordinators
Scholarships for tools and equipment for accepted apprentices

What the IBEW does not do:

Recruit directly against UBC Local 57 by name in school settings (schools are not battlefields)
Politicize the school environment
Distribute materials criticizing other unions at school events

B. Vocational and community college programs

Specific institutions in the footprint:

Ranken Technical College
St. Louis Community College — building trades programs
Lewis & Clark Community College
Lindenwood University’s industrial arts programs
Regional career and technology centers (CTCs)

Engagement model:

Industry advisory board membership (gets IBEW a seat at the curriculum table)
Adjunct teaching by working journeymen
JATC pre-apprenticeship articulation agreements
Apprenticeship application support for graduates
Equipment donations and shop sponsorship where appropriate
Annual scholarship for top-performing students entering the trades

The strategic value: Many Local 57 workers were trained at these same institutions. Building strong campaign relationships with the schools changes the recruitment pipeline at its source. A community college graduate considering apprenticeship who hears about the JATC from their instructor is reached at the right moment.

C. Faith communities

The single highest-leverage non-workplace channel for many Local 57 households.

Engagement model:

Identify parishes, congregations, and faith communities concentrated with Local 57 households
Build relationships with clergy and lay leaders through respectful, sustained contact
Offer informational presence at festivals, fairs, and community gatherings with the host community’s invitation
Partner on broader “good jobs” campaigns where faith-based labor advocacy already exists
Sponsor community service activities (food drives, building projects, scholarship programs)

Specific opportunities in the St. Louis region:

Catholic parishes — especially Spanish-language parishes serving Latino workers
AME, AME Zion, COGIC, and Baptist congregations with strong working-class memberships
Eastern Orthodox parishes serving the region’s Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian communities
Other immigrant-community religious institutions

Cultural touchpoints:

Annual parish festivals — sponsor with food, volunteer hours, and information presence
Wedding and funeral notice scans (with consent) — the campaign’s relational tradition
Communion, confirmation, and bar/bat mitzvah recognition (small contributions, not extracted attention)
Holiday season collaborations (food baskets, gift drives, community meals)

Clergy briefings:

Annual presentation to the regional clergy associations on the campaign substance
Briefing kits available for clergy who want to understand the issue
Direct hotline for clergy to make worker referrals to the Bridge Fund

The discipline: Faith community engagement is reverent. It is not a marketing opportunity. The campaign shows up because it cares about the community, not because the community is a target market. The relationship is decades-long, not quarter-long.

D. Youth sports

The most consistent weekly touchpoint for many working-class families.

Engagement model:

Sponsor youth teams (Little League, soccer, basketball, hockey, football, swim)
Provide team uniforms, equipment, snack sponsorship, end-of-season banquet support
Volunteer at concession stands, scoreboards, registration tables
Award annual “trade values” scholarships for graduating senior athletes pursuing trades

Why it works: Youth sports are where working families spend their evenings and weekends. A campaign that supports the leagues becomes part of the leagues. The conversation about Local 57 happens at the snack stand between parents, not in a flyer they were handed.

Specific opportunities:

South Side Athletic Association
North County Football & Cheer
Greater St. Louis Soccer League
St. Louis Area Soccer Association
Regional Little League districts
High school booster clubs

Geographic specificity: The family outreach coordinator maps the leagues with highest Local 57 household concentration and prioritizes those leagues. Sponsorship of every league in the region is unsustainable; selective deep engagement is the model.

E. Neighborhood associations and civic clubs

Engagement model:

Membership and attendance at neighborhood association meetings in concentrated ZIP codes
Sponsorship of neighborhood events (cleanups, festivals, holiday lights, block parties)
Volunteer hours at neighborhood-based community service
Briefings to neighborhood association leadership on the campaign

Specific clubs and structures:

Knights of Columbus councils
VFW and American Legion posts
Local Eagles, Elks, and Moose lodges
Sons of Italy, Hibernian Society, and other ethnic heritage associations
Volunteer fire departments and EMS organizations

Why it works: These structures concentrate working-class men and women — many of them union members or union-adjacent — who talk to each other regularly. A respected presence in these structures spreads the campaign’s substance through conversations the campaign never directly conducts.

F. Community development organizations

Engagement model:

Partner with community development corporations (CDCs), worker centers, and economic development nonprofits on shared “good jobs” frameworks
Provide working-trades speakers for community forums
Support job-training and pre-apprenticeship programs at community centers
Sponsor neighborhood economic-development events

Specific partners:

Better Family Life
Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
Casa de Salud
Worker Centers (organizing immigrant workers and informal labor)
Affordable housing developers
Reentry organizations (LIVI, Mission St. Louis, etc.)

Why it works: Community development organizations have direct access to the populations the campaign most wants to reach — workers earlier in their careers, families weighing economic decisions, returning citizens and immigrants entering the workforce. The IBEW becomes a credible “good jobs” partner before any individual worker thinks of the campaign as a “union” thing.

G. Holiday and seasonal touchpoints

The campaign maintains a calendar of community moments to participate in:

Time of year	Touchpoint
January	Martin Luther King Jr. service days
February	Black History Month community events
March	Spring break job-fair circuit
April	Easter community meals
May	High school graduations, Cinco de Mayo
June	Pride events (where regional context supports)
July	Fourth of July parades and community events
August	Back-to-school events and supply drives
September	Labor Day (campaign-anchor moment)
October	Halloween community events
November	Veterans Day, Thanksgiving food drives
December	Holiday gift drives, community meals

Year-round presence builds the kind of relationship that makes a Bridge Fund conversation possible when the time comes.

PART 4 — The Specific Programs

Several family-outreach programs deserve named structure.

A. The Trades Scholarship Program

Annual scholarships for graduating high school seniors entering registered apprenticeship programs in the building trades. Funded jointly by the six locals, NECA, and any willing community partners.

Scale: 20–40 scholarships per year, $1,500–$5,000 each. Eligibility: Open to any senior in the six-local footprint, regardless of family union affiliation. Selected on merit, recommendation, and demonstrated interest in the trades. Strategic value: Connects the campaign to families with college-bound kids; reaches guidance counselors; builds long-term IBEW pipeline; functions as a powerful goodwill anchor.

B. The “Take Your Kid to Work” Day

Annual event where IBEW journeymen bring their kids (and the kids of community partners) to working jobsites for a day. Hard hats, safety briefings, hands-on activities, lunch with the trade. Coordinated with employers and insurance carriers for liability handling.

Scale: ~100 participating kids across the six locals. Strategic value: Recruits the next generation; introduces the trade to families who may not have considered it; creates lasting impressions on kids who become apprenticeship applicants 6–10 years later.

C. The Annual Family Picnic

Each of the six locals hosts an annual family picnic, open to members, retirees, transitioned workers, and community partners. Food, music, kids’ activities, brief campaign updates, lots of informal conversation.

Cost: $5–15K per local. Reach: 200–800 people per local. Strategic value: Builds internal solidarity; engages families in a context where the campaign feels like community, not work; surfaces new contacts through casual conversation.

D. The Holiday Gift Drive

Coordinated December gift drive serving working families in need, including any Local 57 households known to the campaign. Toys, coats, food. Volunteer staffed.

Strategic value: Concrete community service without political extraction; the campaign visibly cares about families regardless of which union they are in; participation by transitioned workers creates ambassador moments.

E. The Spouse Network

A loose, opt-in network of IBEW spouses (and spouses of transitioned workers) who serve as informal community organizers in their schools, parishes, soccer leagues, and neighborhoods. Monthly newsletter, quarterly gathering, social media support group.

Why it works: Spouses talk to other spouses. A Local 57 worker’s wife who hears about the Bridge Fund from another mother at school pickup engages differently than one who reads about it on a flyer.

Scale: 50–150 active spouses across the network. Coordination: Run by a designated spouse-network coordinator, often a current IBEW spouse, with modest honorarium support.

F. The Apprenticeship Open House

Quarterly open houses at the JATC, open to prospective apprentices, their families, guidance counselors, community partners, and anyone curious about the trade. Tours, demonstrations, financial planning information, application support, food.

Scale: 30–80 visitors per open house. Strategic value: Lowers the barrier between “thinking about it” and “applying”; brings family members into the conversation; gives counselors and community partners a concrete experience to refer people to.

G. The Faith Communities Briefing Circuit

Annual cycle where the campaign director and the family outreach coordinator brief regional clergy associations on the campaign substance. Builds clergy relationships; surfaces parish-level partnership opportunities.

Format: Quarterly 90-minute breakfast briefings, hosted at rotating clergy gathering venues. Cost: $500–$1,500 per briefing.

H. The “Good Jobs” Coalition

Coordinated with community development partners, a formal coalition advocating for good jobs in the region — including but not limited to the campaign’s specific demands. The IBEW is one of many member organizations; not the lead voice on every issue.

Strategic value: Builds the campaign’s community legitimacy; surfaces opportunities for coordinated procurement and political work; gives the IBEW credibility on broader regional economic justice questions.

PART 5 — Measurement

Metric	Year 1 target
K-12 school partnerships established	8–15
Vocational/community college partnerships	4–8
Faith community partnerships	10–20
Youth sports leagues sponsored	12–24
Community development organization partnerships	4–8
Family-outreach-attributed intakes	8–15% of total intakes
Trades scholarships awarded	20+
“Take Your Kid to Work” Day participants	100+
Annual family picnic attendees (across six locals)	1,500+
Spouse network active participants	50+

Family outreach is the slowest-converting workstream in terms of direct intake attribution. Its compounding effect is indirect: a workforce that hears about the campaign three times from three different community touchpoints converts at a higher rate when the direct ask finally comes.

PART 6 — Year 2 and Beyond

The family outreach workstream becomes more institutional in Year 2 and beyond.

Year 2:

Many of the Year 1 partnerships become annual rituals
Trades Scholarship Program is established as a recurring institution
Spouse Network reaches critical mass
Family Picnic, “Take Your Kid to Work” Day, Holiday Gift Drive become regional fixtures

Year 3+:

The campaign’s family outreach apparatus persists past the campaign itself
Many programs become permanent IBEW community functions, even if the underlying campaign concludes
The community relationships built outlast any specific campaign moment
Future labor campaigns in the region inherit a community infrastructure that was not there before

This is one of the campaign’s most durable legacies. The community presence the campaign builds for tactical reasons becomes a permanent strategic asset.

PART 7 — Operational Discipline

A. The respect principle

Every community partnership operates on a “what can we offer” basis, not “what can we extract” basis. Sponsorship is given without conditions. Volunteer hours are given without metrics. Presence is given without sales pitch.

This is harder than it sounds. The temptation to convert every community moment into a Bridge Fund pitch must be resisted. Communities that feel respected open up. Communities that feel mined close down.

B. The political discipline

Family outreach work happens in spaces that include people across the political spectrum. The campaign’s substantive issues (the wage gap, the Bridge Fund, the area standards principle) are bipartisan. Political endorsement work (done by the PAC) stays separate from family outreach.

C. The confidentiality discipline

Family outreach builds the campaign’s reach but does not violate its confidentiality. A worker whose family attended a campaign-sponsored school event does not have their identity recorded in any database. Aggregated reach data only.

D. The relationship discipline

Community partnerships are personal. Every clergy briefing, every school visit, every coach relationship has a specific staff member responsible for maintaining it. When that staff member transitions, the relationship is warmly handed off — never dropped.

E. The “no asks” zones

Some spaces are off-limits for direct campaign asks, even when the campaign is present:

Inside the sanctuary at a religious service
At funerals or memorial services
In school classrooms during instructional time
During specific cultural moments where the campaign’s commercial nature would be disrespectful

The coordinator’s judgment defines these. Err on the side of restraint.

PART 8 — What Never to Do

Never treat a community partnership as a list-building opportunity.
Never collect personal information from community-event attendees without explicit, transparent consent and clear use disclosure.
Never pressure a community partner to host a campaign-specific event they did not invite.
Never use a community partnership for political endorsement work.
Never let a sponsorship be characterized as conditional on community partner support of the campaign.
Never let a community organization feel that the campaign’s relationship is contingent on what they can do for the campaign.
Never bring press to a community event without the community organization’s explicit consent and their preferred framing.
Never extract a worker referral from a clergy member, coach, or community leader without that worker’s eventual knowledge.

This plan is operational. Specific partnerships, sponsorships, and event details should be adapted to the actual community geography of the six-local footprint. The family outreach coordinator and the bilingual coordinator collaborate closely on every Spanish-speaking community partnership. The work is slow, sustained, and compounds. Plan for years, not quarters.