vammproject4 (1)

Recommendations
Our evaluation of Hands Up Ministries’ interpersonal communication strategy, and subsequent research of the
topic yielded three recommendations. They are as follows:
Monthly community forums
Suggestion box
Newsletter
Community Forum
Monthly community meetings would provide a forum for the community to express their wants, needs, or concerns
to Hands Up Ministries. Based on data acquired from surveying the Highland Park community, 58% of members
are willing to commit one to five hours per week to HUM. That being said, a monthly community forum would likely
be well received by the community. Community forums would be effective because they are a regularly occurring
event where leadership of HUM is present. For Cassie Matthew, her presence at the monthly forums would
provide not only firsthand information about what the community wants, but also time for her to build important
relationships with the community. We believe monthly forums would be well received because they fit the time
constraints express by community members in the surveys, they make community feel they are more involved
in the decision-making process, and because they provide an opportunity for community members to interact
with leadership. In addition, information gathered at the forums would help provide a focus for HUM’s projects.
Suggestion Box
The suggestion box would be an anonymous box for a form that the community members of Highland Park can
fill out and leave at a designated spot in the neighborhood. The form would entail a short survey and a section
where the community members can express their concerns and give suggestions. At the aforementioned
monthly forums, leadership would have the opportunity to address the concerns and suggestions provided in
the suggestion box. As interviewee number four said when asked to comment on communication strategies,
face-to-face communication is the most effective way to communicate. However, because of availability and
staff size restrictions, face-to-face communication opportunities are limited. The suggestion box acts a pseudo
face-to-face form of communication, because the suggestions would be addressed at the monthly forums.
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