Champions programs tip sheets all now available!

Today we’re releasing the remaining five tip sheets in a nine-part series on launching and running community champions programs. These publications are an output of the CSCCE community champions programs working group, and were co-created with members of that working group in writing sprints during the Spring of 2022. 

In this blog post, we revisit the first four tip sheets in the series as we summarize the whole collection, essential reading for anyone interested in mobilizing emerging leaders in their community. 

The nine stages of community champions programs

The nine stages of community champions programs, as discussed in our working group meetings and initially published in part two of our Community Participation Model guidebook. Image credit: Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement. (2021) The CSCCE Community Participation Model – Exploring the Champion mode. Woodley and Pratt doi: 10.5281/zenodo.5275270.

Our nine-stage model takes a granular approach to designing, implementing, and closing/continuing community champions programs. By creating one tip sheet for each stage, we and the working group members created resources from which readers will be able to pick and choose the areas they need input on, while also having access to a detailed collection of synthesized experiences across the entire progression. 

Each tip sheet began life as a discussion topic in our monthly working group meetings, with all members contributing to shared notes documents that formed the primary source material for the tip sheet authors. Then, CSCCE’s Communications Director and Content Archivist Katie Pratt coordinated writing sprints for volunteers to meet and turn these ideas into tip sheets. After a staff editing and formatting phase and final sign off from the authors, the tip sheets were published on Zenodo and curated on our Community Champions Programs resource page for anyone to download for free under a CC BY-NC-ND license. 

In addition to CSCCE staff members Lou Woodley, Katie Pratt, and Camille Santistevan, the members of the working group were:

  • Alycia Crall
  • Vanessa Fairhurst
  • Emma Ganley
  • Cass Gould van Praag
  • Lena Karvovskaya
  • Logan Kilpatrick
  • Anne Kornahrens
  • Zoë Leanza
  • Emily Lescak
  • Erin McLean
  • Vid Nukala
  • Esther Plomp
  • Iratxe Puebla
  • Brigitte Portner
  • Malin Sandström
  • Elissa Schuett
  • Lindsay Starke
  • Tracy Teal
  • Elisha Wood-Charlson
  • Claire Wyatt
  • Pajau Vangay
  • Anna Volkova

The new tip sheets

All of the tip sheets are available on Zenodo here, or click on an individual tip sheet below to view and download them separately:

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 1

by Lou Woodley, Katie Pratt, Camille Santistevan, Vanessa Fairhurst, Esther Plomp, and Iratxe Puebla

May 11, 2022

Making a case: Should you have a community champions program?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 2

by Lou Woodley, Katie Pratt, Camille Santistevan, Anne Kornahrens, Emily Lescak, and Esther Plomp

May 11, 2022

Inclusive recruitment: How do you find your champions?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 3

by Lou Woodley, Katie Pratt, Camille Santistevan, Vanessa Fairhurst, and Lindsay Starke

May 11, 2022

Participation requirements: What are your champions expected to do?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 4

by Lou Woodley, Katie Pratt, Camille Santistevan, Emma Ganley, and Lindsay Starke

May 11, 2022

Onboarding: How will you welcome your champions into the program?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 5

by Katie Pratt, Lou Woodley, Emily Lescak, and Lindsay Starke

July 26, 2022

Rewards and incentives: What are the tangible benefits to champions for taking part in your program?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 6

by Katie Pratt, Lou Woodley, Alycia Crall, and Elissa Schuett

July 26, 2022

Training and other support: How will you support your champions?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 7

by Katie Pratt, Lou Woodley, Anne Kornahrens, Zoë Leanza, and Elissa Schuett

July 26, 2022

Increasing engagement: What do you do if your champions lose interest in the program?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 8

by Katie Pratt, Lou Woodley, Vanessa Fairhurst, and Emma Ganley

July 26, 2022

Offboarding: How will you close your program? What’s next for your champions?

Community champions programs tip sheet: Stage 9

by Katie Pratt, Lou Woodley, Alycia Crall, Anne Kornahrens, and Zoë Leanza

July 26, 2022

Evaluation: How did your program go?

Champions guidebook

For more background on community champions and how to empower members into these roles, check out the second part of our Community Participation Model guidebook. The model initially identified CHAMPIONS as a meta-mode, with individuals acting in any of the four main modes of community engagement (CONVEY/CONSUME, CONTRIBUTE, COLLABORATE, and CO-CREATE) to MAINTAIN, GROW, or EVOLVE a community. 

Download a copy of the guidebook: 

The CSCCE Community Participation Model – Exploring the Champion mode

by Lou Woodley and Katie Pratt

September 16, 2021

In this companion guidebook, part two, we focus in on the CHAMPION mode, in which emerging leaders within a community act in either informal or formal capacity to MAINTAIN, GROW, or EVOLVE the community.

Work with CSCCE to build or nurture your champions program

As part of our consultancy work, we have partnered with several STEM organizations to help build champions programs. You can find out more about what these collaborations look like by clicking on the images below: 

To inquire about consultancy, please email training@www.cscce.org. You can also find out more about our range of consultancy offerings here.