Issue Brief/Policy Paper
SparkAction.org is a collaborative online storytelling and advocacy platform to mobilize action for and by young people.
SparkAction is a neutral brand that cuts across the silos and creates a central “megaphone” to mobilize like-minded adults and youth around calls to action. We also provide behind-the-scenes supports to help organizations and advocates use digital technology and old-fashioned communications savvy to reach and move their audiences, and have been successful launching and running campaigns and communications projects for Raise the Age New York, the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act, Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance (CTJJA), Opportunity Youth United (OYU), and more.
SparkAction was launched in 2010 after a year-long strategic planning process that involved more than 150 organizations that identified their key capacity gaps and underscored the ways a central platform could be useful. It offers articles, news and resources to inspire and inform, linked to opportunities for its 38,000 subscribers and site users to take action online and on the ground.
Online contests that build community, engage youth, and integrate with Facebook and Twitter. For example, one recent contest invited young people to submit a video with their solutions to reconnect themselves and peers to work and education, and campaign for their favorite ideas on social media.
Create easy-to-use Zip Code action alerts on your issues, targeting local, state and federal elected officials and others, with your talking points. SparkAction will work with you to craft engaging shareable graphics and messages to accompany the alerts and a plan to get them out to your networks; you keep all the information on activists.
We help you design, implement and measure your social media strategy and tactics.
Increase grassroots citizen participation by training and supporting youth, parents and community members to conduct effective campaigns across a range of media.
Support is available for local partnerships to develop and execute effective online communications and social media strategies to advance your efforts.
These campaigns bring together the field’s best organizations and content and integrate them with large-scale calls to action. You’ll find examples on SparkAction.org.
Caitlin Johnson
caitlin@sparkaction.org