Looking to raise awareness of the Affordable Connectivity Program and enroll community members? Whether it be a back-to-school fair, a health and resources pop-up, a community market, or a standalone event, an ACP enrollment event is an excellent way for community members to learn about the program, ask questions, and get enrollment support.
STEP 1: Plan
To get started, collaborate with participating partners and staff to determine your goals before planning all the event logistics.
- Align on the event’s primary goal – will attendees get information about the ACP, apply for the ACP, or apply their benefit code to an internet service plan? It can be a mix of all of these or just one!
- Set a realistic goal of how many attendees will show up so you know how many staff are needed to support and what other organizations you may partner with.
- Given your goals, consider the best space, date, and time to host this event – will you tag along to an existing event or create a new one?
STEP 2: Prepare Your Staff
Make sure staff and volunteers have taken our online certification, LearnACP, to get a crash course in all things ACP and set them up for success to help community members understand the ACP and apply for the ACP.
Go over the event flow and ensure everyone’s role and tasks feel reasonable and clear.
STEP 3: Promote
Once you’ve worked out the logistics of your event, start getting the word out by using various communication strategies to help community members show up to the event ready to enroll.
- Think outside of the box in your outreach! Include local gathering spaces like grocery stores, laundromats, and community centers in your outreach plan.
- When promoting via social media, use your official social media accounts to raise event awareness and ask your participating partners to repost or share posts with their own comments to elevate the event. You can check out some sample social media posts in our Social Media Toolkit.
You can also help people prepare for the event by sending them to GetACP.org, a mobile-friendly site that prepares households for ACP enrollment by:
- Checking their eligibility and determining the easiest way to apply.
- Identifying the documents needed when applying.
- Finding “free-with-ACP” and “low-cost-with-ACP” internet plans in their areas.
STEP 4: Execute
It’s the day of your event! Don’t forget to track your impact as you begin implementing your plans. Three steps will help to ensure community members and event staff have a successful and smooth event experience.
- Collect community member contact information for follow-up.
- Identify when a community member has completed the ACP application.
- Track if community members can successfully apply their ACP code to internet plan.
STEP 5: Reflect
Remember to follow up with attendees, partners , and staff for constructive feedback and support needed post-event. Metrics you tracked for success, such as attendance, number of participants enrolled, or outreach channels used, should be reviewed with relevant stakeholders. Integrating these event learnings into the next ACP event will ensure good times keep on (en)rolling!
