Do This Before Launching a New Program For Your Community Organization

If your team is trying to establish systems and guidelines for a new program that will soon be launched, these suggestions might be of interest.

Developing a New Community-Based Program

While details will vary greatly, depending on the type and size of the new community-based program or service you are designing, this general framework may help identify the systems and guidelines that will likely be required.

• Know the consumer: Who will the consumers of your new program be, and how will you connect with them? Have your team sit down together and create personas for the different types of people you anticipate being interested. Once you’ve done that, it becomes easier to determine how you will reach out to make them aware of this new opportunity for support.
  
  
• Screening process: Will your new service be open to anyone in the community, or will there be criteria that must be met? If it’s the latter, how will you determine the requirements, and which team members will be responsible for conducting the screening? It’s important that the process be fair and equitable for a diverse population. Also make certain your screening system includes future plans for objectively evaluating the program’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
  
  
• Size restrictions: Do you anticipate a slow start-up or one that will likely take off in a hurry? That’s important to know if you can’t handle a large influx all at once. If you’ve conducted a feasibility study during the planning phase of your project, anticipating initial requests and ongoing growth might be easier. If not, How a Feasibility Study Can Benefit Your Projects is a good resource to review.
  
  
• Community launch: How will you get the word out to your local community? Do you have good relationships with local media and influencers? Will you need to devote part of your start-up budget to advertising? What time frame have you identified for pre-promotional planning? These are all questions you’ll want to address and establish guidelines for moving forward. Remember, after the initial launch, most programs need ongoing awareness campaigns to keep the program top of mind for potential participants.
  
  
• Participant feedback: Have you thought about or created a system for soliciting feedback from participants? You’ll likely want to have a process for doing that on a daily basis, as well as a more formal evaluation at the six-month and/or one-year mark. Initially, it might be something as simple as a suggestion box in the lobby or an email address people can use to send input on how well things are going and opportunities for improvement.

Hopefully, this information helps you create systems and guidelines you feel confident in as your program grows and evolves!

Updated on 11-11-2025