Strategic Communications

The Institute has the privilege of reaching and communicating with millions of Americans about the deep value and lasting benefits of early care and education. We use a wide-ranging set of strategies, methods, and tools to inform, motivate, and inspire others to begin to care as deeply about early care and learning as we do.

Integrated and Comprehensive Approach

Starting with the statewide survey we did with Gallup in 2015 and continuing through to the statewide public engagement campaign we launched in 2022, the Institute’s use of strategic communications has been a guiding force for our work in engaging with Nebraskans. With both the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan and the Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Commission, the Institute stressed the importance of working with stakeholders, creating a unifying vision, and using strategic communications to guide and support programmatic goals. In the case of the commission, members determined that one of their goals would focus specifically on building public will and commitment in the state as a critical strategy for mobilizing resources and ensuring public policy change to better support the professionals who are so essential to quality early childhood education. This work established the foundation for the collaborative statewide public campaign described later in this chapter.

Adapting to the Changing Media Landscape

The last decade has seen a dramatic shift in the media landscape. As a result, the Institute’s communications team has adapted and evolved a set of strategies to meet the ever-changing needs of how the public consumes information. Core to these efforts is a heightened focus on digital media and our own communications channels, an emphasis on measurement and analytics, and increased storytelling with a concerted shift to ensure the voices of the individuals and communities at the center of our work are highlighted in the stories we tell, and that they are also considered a primary audience as we think strategically about how, when, and where we communicate our work.

Creation of Early Years Matter

There are currently no news outlets in Nebraska—and a dwindling number nationwide—with a dedicated early childhood education reporter. To help fill this void, the Institute created its own early childhood news beat in summer 2019 by hiring former career reporters to help launch Early Years Matter, a storytelling platform dedicated to sharing early childhood news from across Nebraska and highlighting the work of the Institute and its school district and university partners. The goal of Early Years Matter is to become a regional and national voice advancing news about, and providing evidence and support for, early childhood education. Story ideas strive to educate key constituencies, including policymakers, about early childhood education; feature outstanding work done by the Institute, its partners, and the wider early childhood community; and cover events that are key to the mission of the Institute and the early care and education community.

With the formation of Early Years Matter, the Buffett Institute has been able to amplify early childhood issues, interview leaders in the field, and give a richer, more contextual view of our work. Since its inception, we have published more than 50 columns and recorded eight video interviews. We have held conversations on talking to young children about racism; reported about the brain science behind early childhood development; interviewed early educators, school administrators, and University of Nebraska faculty; and profiled Thriving Children, Families, and Communities Conference speakers. We have also written stories detailing strategies that have helped children academically and emotionally after the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, shared recommendations by our Workforce Planning and Development team for using federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, told the story of how Nebraska employers re-evaluated child care and family-friendly work policies during the pandemic, detailed Nebraska Preschool Development Grant activities, and much more.

Additionally, through a contract with the Nebraska Press Association, our columns and stories are distributed to a network of roughly 150 weekly and daily newspapers in Nebraska. Buffett Institute stories have been picked up and published by major statewide publications, including the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star, and smaller, rural community outlets like the Falls City Journal and the Aurora News-Register.

The Digital Landscape and Social Media

The Institute uses social media as a tool to amplify the Institute’s voice and reach diverse groups that include educators, parents and families, academics, employers, policymakers, and members of the general public. We also use social media as one part of a coordinated, multi-channel outreach campaign for major Institute events, including the launch of the Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Commission report, COVID-19 survey reports, and the annual Thriving Children, Families, and Communities Conference.

Since its beginning, the Institute has worked to develop its primary digital channels— Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube—but the creation of a digital communications role within the unit in 2020 provided new and needed capacity to think more strategically about the Institute’s use of social media, expand our online audience and reach, and experiment with digital tools to showcase the Institute’s work and partnerships. We now have more than 8,000 followers and subscribers across all our channels, allowing our posts to reach thousands of people each month. Metrics show that in fiscal year 2020–21, posts on the Institute’s three primary social media channels—Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter—were seen 1.5 million times. More than 28,000 users accessed the Buffett Institute website in 2021–22, resulting in nearly 84,000 pageviews. There was a 134% increase in users during the July 1, 2018–June 30, 2021, period compared to the three years prior. Social media gives our followers a vital glimpse into the work we do—the school leaders who meet with Program Development staff, data highlights from our latest research brief—and is yet another means to share our own story directly with the public.

Highlighting the Voice of Community and Workforce

Through traditional and digital storytelling, the Institute can tell not only its own story but can also share the voices and experiences of the early educators, families, and community leaders across Nebraska who participate in our programs or are seeking to expand and improve child care options in their own communities. Our commitment to Elevating the Early Childhood Workforce includes ensuring that early childhood educators are represented in our work and respected as subject-matter experts. We have given voice to early educators hobbled by COVID-19 and hiring struggles, amplified the voices of our own early childhood experts at the Institute, and built stronger relationships by working on stories with school, university, and community partners.

Early Years Matter columns have highlighted a new child development center in Red Cloud; a tribal language program at an Educare program in Winnebago; the cattle rancher, lawyer, and teacher who combined forces in Boone County to fundraise and build an early childhood center; and an Omaha mother and her toddler daughter who have benefited from home visiting services and PreK through the Superintendents’ Plan.