Template: Newsletter Article – Helping Our Community

You can use Keystone STARS to gain positive attention for your program while helping raise awareness that quality early learning matters! As a recognized Keystone STARS provider, YOU are very important in helping families and communities understand and appreciate your commitment to quality child care/early education. Find logos, templates and resources at the STARS Outreach Tools page at https://www.pakeys.org/keystone-stars/keystone-stars-outreach-tools/. 1. Display your STARS certificate, poster, window cling, bookmarks and brochures in your front window or high traffic area of your program. Ask your STARS specialist for more copies. 2. Add the STARS logo to anything that includes your program logo, such as: Letterhead Website and Facebook page Advertisements Parent letters, flyers and newsletters Program sign Staff or child t-shirts Rate sheet and schedule Pens, folders and notepads Link to the Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children website at www.papromiseforchildren.com/en/pages/keystone-stars and like PA’s Promise on facebook. 3. Add the following tagline to all of your publicity and written materials, including radio or TV ads, newsletters, websites, and press releases: “Keystone STARS rated as a STAR [Number] program recognized for providing quality early learning experiences to help your child shine.” 4. When answering the phone and on automated voicemail messages, add a tagline at the end — “A Keystone STAR [Number] quality rated program.” Download on-hold message scripts and recorded messages from the STARS Outreach Tools page. 5. Show and Tell! Talk with your enrolled and prospective families about Keystone STARS quality and how it benefits everyone! As you show families different aspects of your program, tell them how this improves their children’s learning and how Keystone STARS helps make this learning happen. Take time during orientation visits, parent meetings, and even in your daily communications to families to share how Keystone STARS is improving your program and helping their children shine. Did you start using a new curriculum? Put together a new learning center? Did staff take a new class that makes your program safer? (Tip sheets and online presentations are available on the STARS Outreach Tools page.) 6. Talk to your staff about promoting your STAR level to parents and the community. Encourage them to show and tell. 7. Encourage families to share their stories and use them in your newsletters, on your website and in your social media posts. Be sure to mention the programs the families participate in. Submit stories to Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children for even greater impact at http://papromiseforchildren.com/en/contact.