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Host an Open House

Potential Audience:

  • Schools
  • Colleges
  • Youth organizations
  • Service clubs
  • Faith-based groups
  • Community organizations

Highlight your work

An open house can be a great way to highlight the work your organization
is doing and how AmeriCorps is addressing community needs. An open house is a great opportunity to use the AmeriCorps PowerPoint presentation (on the Impact CD-ROM). Add your own slides to provide visuals of the impact that AmeriCorps is making in your community.

Show examples of your program's accomplishments

Examples of your accomplishments could be those that appeal to the head or the heart. If you work with children in an after-school program, display some of their artwork and show the changes that have happened in student grades since your program began working with them. If your organization provides tax assistance, have a chart that shows the amount of money that tax assistance volunteers helped
bring back into the local community. Share a story of a low-income or elderly resident who needed this assistance.

Have a resource table

Provide participants with information about the valuable services that your organization provides to the community. Utilize the editable AmeriCorps fact sheet to develop an attractive fact sheet about your program's accomplishments.

Order free giveaway materials

AmeriCorps has free posters, stickers, and bookmarks that can be used as giveaways at your event. Order them at NationalService.gov/Pubs. These
will remind participants of your program.

Have a sign-up sheet

A sign-up sheet will allow you to get the contact information for participants and ask if they would like to be contacted when volunteer opportunities arise.

Connect

Connect with other AmeriCorps programs in your area to stage a joint open house, which can also be used as recruitment fair. Use this opportunity to connect your AmeriCorps program to others and to the larger national service family.

Use your event to collect needed items

Use your event to collect needed items for your projects. If AmeriCorps members serve with an organization that provides food services to vulnerable families, use the open house to collect nonperishable foods. If AmeriCorps members serve at a school, collect books or school supplies. This will allow participants to become a part of the AmeriCorps story and to contribute to your program's goals and impact in the community.