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A guide to helping organizations replicate a successful physical activity program for older adults
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The Sound Steps™ Walking Program
What Is Sound Steps™?
How We Got Started
The "Tool Kit"
Contact Information
How to Get Started
Planning Team
Getting Started
Budgeting and Funding
Sound Steps™ Implementation Plan and Budget
Recruiting Participants
Advertising
Direct Mail
Newsletters and Media Relations
Posters and Flyers
Program Implementation
Developing Your Walk Sites
Recruiting Volunteers
Establishing Specific Walk Dates and Times
Walk Duration
Program Flexibility
Monthly Walking Logs
Walk Leader Training and Recruitment
Recruiting Walk Leaders
Developing a Walk Leader Job Description
Walk Leader Training
Walk Leader Retention Ideas
Motivation and Retention
Kick Off with Registration Week
Registration Form
Goody Bags Are a Good Thing
Monthly Incentives
Monthly Socials or Workshops
Newsletter
Celebration
Evaluation
Promotional and Advertising Materials
Valpak ad
Poster/flyer
News release
AARP postcard
Step counter
Neck wallet
Sound Steps™ booklet
First aid kit
Squeeze buddy
Bottled water
Celebration signs
Celebration talking points
The Good Health Herald newsletter
A Final Word
The Sound Steps™ Walking Program
What Is Sound Steps™?
In the summer of 2003, the Healthy Aging Partnership™ (HAP) launched a two-year pilot program called Sound Steps™, which was aimed at encouraging sedentary older adults to walk for fun and fitness. The program involved adults ages 50 and older and was based at six Seattle community centers that operated senior adult fitness programs. Walkers met regularly (at least once a week and often more) and walked in groups on pre-established routes around the centers. A team leader employed by the community center coordinated walk schedules and helped keep Sound Steppers on track. Walkers were also encouraged to
walk on their own or with "buddies" and to keep monthly walking logs. The logs, along with interviews with the walkers, fueled an evaluation of the program to help determine if long-term fitness behavior was changed. Participants received items such as pedometers, first aid kits, and educational brochures to encourage ongoing involvement. In its first year, Sound Steps attracted approximately 500 participants. In the second year, 620 people registered.
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How We Got Started
HAP, a well-established coalition of 35 Seattle-area not-for-profit and public organizations dedicated to the health and well being of older adults, had long targeted promotion of physical activity as a goal. Its efforts had primarily focused on encouraging such activity through publicity and seminars for senior-care professionals, rather than implementing actual programs. Spurred by interest from AARP, one of HAP’s member agencies, HAP decided to make Sound Steps™ its first-ever venture into developing and implementing a community-based program for older adults.
A core action team comprised of representatives from HAP partner agencies
met regularly to develop and implement the program. The HAP's contract coalition
manager/communications consultant provided overall coordination, including
budgeting and publicity. AARP provided funding and connections to its member
base. Seattle Parks and Recreation provided a vehicle for implementation
as well as the programs’ initial pilot sites, six Parks and Recreation community
centers. The University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center offered
to undertake a comprehensive evaluation process. Other members of the action
team included representatives of Comprehensive Health Education Foundation
(C.H.E.F.®); Public Health Seattle & King County; and Aging and Disability
Services Seattle/King County. HAP and its partner agencies contributed $67,250
in cash and in-kind services to fund the program, while a two-year $25,000
"National Blueprint Mini-Grant" through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
further established Sound Steps™ as a two-year pilot.
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The "Tool Kit"
Sound Steps™ was widely publicized through the Seattle area and among HAP partner agencies between May 2003 and September 2004. As a result, interest in the program from other organizations prompted many questions. How exactly did HAP go about this? How much did it cost? Who participated? How did you publicize the program and recruit participants? Were you successful? To respond to these questions—and to further HAP’s mission of promoting healthy aging through community partnerships—this online "tool kit" was developed. It provides a step-by-step guide that
will enable other coalitions, community organizations, senior centers, community centers, etc., to replicate Sound Steps™ on their own.
As noted earlier, Sound Steps™ was a two-year pilot program. This tool kit is being developed at the end of the second year to respond to interest from other organizations. Just as HAP is sharing what it learned with you, we hope you will reciprocate with your "lessons learned" as you replicate our efforts.
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Contact Information
If you have questions about the materials in this kit, contact the following individuals:
Teresa Moore, Moore Ink. PR, 206-721-9540, teresa@mooreink.com
The Healthy Aging Partnership (structure, accomplishments, history),
advertising and promotion of Sound Steps™
finances and budgeting
David Jensen, Seattle Parks and Recreation, 206-684-4664, david.jensen@seattle.gov
program implementation
Karen Lewis, C.H.E.F., 206-824-2907 ext.1905, karenl@chef.org
Sound Steps™ partner involvement,
Tool Kit development
Pam Caldwell, AARP, 206-517-9349, pcaldwell@aarp.org
Sound Steps™ partner involvement
Julie Walwick, University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center, 206-616-3146, walwick@u.washington.edu
evaluation
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Planning Team
The first component of a successful program is good leadership. For your
Sound Steps™ program, pull together a team of people who are passionate
about older adult health, experienced with older adult programs, organized,
and committed to the project. It’s critical to include team members who
have expertise in PR/marketing, evaluation, fund development, and someone
connected with the venue, such as community center staff. It’s best to
keep the size of the team limited to 7 to 10 people.
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Getting Started
Allow yourself plenty of time (at least three months) to plan and prepare
for the kickoff of your Sound Steps™ program. It’s helpful to develop a
task list, timeline, and budget so the planning team has a clear understanding
of their responsibilities and deadlines. Be realistic and start with a
program duration of two to three months, then work up to extending the
length of the program as it gains momentum and interest from participants.
It’s always good to start with the end in mind. Decide early on what your
program goals are and then develop your objectives. Try to be as realistic
as possible as you begin your goal-setting. If you have a very limited
PR/marketing budget and you are mostly relying on word-of-mouth and posters
to advertise the program, this should be reflected in your anticipated
registration numbers. It’s not a bad thing to start small.
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Sound Steps™ Implementation Plan and Budget
HAP’s Sound Steps™ program got a big boost from a two-year $25,000 grant.
In-kind contributions of staff time and materials from partner agencies
also played a huge role in HAP’s ability to promote and implement the program.
Although HAP spent approximately $30,000 in cash and generated nearly $30,000
more in in-kind services in the first year of the two-year pilot program,
organizations with smaller budgets should not be dissuaded from considering
a Sound Steps™ program. Start with what you have, and adjust your efforts
to fit your budget. To give you an idea of how HAP budgeted and funded its
program, here are overviews of expenditures and revenues.
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Expenditures
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| Activity |
Amount |
| Walker recruitment |
$9,140 |
| Participant education |
10,935 |
| Rewards and recognition |
5,205 |
| Project management, writing and PR |
14,000 |
| Program implementation |
8,000 |
| Program evaluation |
15,000 |
| TOTAL |
$62,280 |
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Details of the expenditures. MS Excel
; pdf
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Here are some ideas on how to recruit participants for a Sound Steps™ program.
The Implementation Plan and Budget provides details about costs and timelines
for these activities. PDFs and descriptions of each of the materials described
here can be found in the Promotional and Advertising Materials section.
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Advertising
The budgets of most nonprofit and public organizations prohibit costly advertising,
but that’s okay. Fancy newspaper or TV ads would be nice, but they aren’t
mandatory to recruit walkers to your program. HAP spent less than $5,000
on advertising, all of it on a direct-mail piece known as Valpak®. This monthly
mailing comes in a bright blue envelope and includes flyers from local retailers
such as restaurants, dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. In Western Washington,
each Valpak "zone" includes 10,000 households organized by neighborhood
and ZIP codes. The nonprofit rate is $165 per zone, so HAP was able to reach
290,000 households (the total for the entire city of Seattle) for $4,785.
The colorful flyers were extremely effective in reaching potential walkers,
since the Valpak ads are quite popular among budget-conscious seniors.
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Direct Mail
AARP, a major participant in Sound Steps™ and HAP, boosted publicity efforts in 2003 by mailing 6 x 9 inch postcards promoting Sound Steps™ to 5,000 members in ZIP codes surrounding the six community centers. These types of direct-mail efforts are consistently shown to be effective in reaching older adults.
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Newsletters and Media Relations
As a coalition of more than 35 nonprofit and public organizations, HAP had
a ready distribution network for dissemination of Sound Steps™ recruitment
information. HAP produced a brief newsletter article and emailed it to its
partners for publication in their own monthly or quarterly newsletters.
From the newsletter article, a similar news release was developed. Weekly
newspapers are also a great resource for reaching older adults, who typically
make up a large portion of the readership of these papers. HAP distributed
news releases and calendar notices to weeklies and dailies throughout Seattle
to promote Sound Steps™ sign-ups.
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Posters and Flyers
HAP designed simple posters and flyers to help spread the word. Laminated
11 x 17 inch full-color posters were printed and then delivered to volunteers
to distribute for display in Sound Steps™ community center sites, nearby
libraries, grocery stores, senior centers, HAP partner agency offices, churches,
pharmacies, retirement communities, etc. Identical 8½ x 11-inch flyers were
printed and provided to the community centers so visitors could take the
information home with them to consider.
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Developing Your Walk Sites
Once your planning team determines the goals and objectives of the Sound Steps™ Walking Program for your community, it is now time to think about the best ways to implement the program. It is a good idea to establish specific walk sites. To determine the walk sites, we recommend that you look at the demographics of your service area to determine in which neighborhoods there is a higher density of older adults (those 50+). Look at not only the demographics, but also what older adult programs and services are already offered in your service area. This will help determine if you have a good target market with which to begin. It also helps to determine potential partners! Be sure to
include the staff who will be instrumental in implementing the program in the planning process early on. Use their expertise of the neighborhoods and of the older adults that you hope to target.
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Recruiting Volunteers
If you are planning on using volunteers to run the program, think about possible ways to recruit appropriate volunteers early. Are there groups of older adults that are already active at your walk site? Is there an exercise class that you could call on to help? It is best to have a pool of volunteers (10 to 15) at each site so that no one person feels the burden of making it happen. Engage the volunteers from the ground up by having them register participants. This involvement builds ownership in the program. Given that they are from the neighborhood, they are naturals for welcoming older adults into the program.
Think about concrete roles for the volunteers. Use a sign-up sheet for registration
hours so that volunteers can take a two or three hour time slot. Have volunteers
choose walking routes in their neighborhoods. They can sign up to lead walks,
or to be backup for walk leaders to make sure that slower walkers are accommodated
in the organized walks. Volunteers can welcome new walkers and make sure
they have a partner who walks at a similar pace.
Keep the walks simple. Walking is not a complicated physical activity and can be done by most able-bodied older adults. Empower the older adults to make it their program.
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Establishing Specific Walk Dates and Times
Now that walk sites are established, it is a good idea to schedule specific
walk times and dates. You can be very creative here! We recommend that you
create at least one walk time per week when walkers who enjoy group walks
can meet and walk in the neighborhood. This is also an opportunity to create
some social engagement within the walking program. Having specific days
and times for the walks affords you the opportunity to provide workshops
specific to walking, nutrition, other walking programs, or anything related
to healthy aging! Once the walkers congregate and meet with the walk leader,
begin your walks. It is very helpful to have some walking routes predetermined.
Consider preparing maps of suggested walks in the neighborhood. Have options
that are one, two, and three miles. Of course, if you are comfortable doing
so, you may play it by ear. Just start walking and see where you end up!
Be adventurous and have fun!
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Walk Duration
Because you will have walkers of varying abilities, it is a good idea to
start slowly. Walking for one hour per scheduled walk is a good idea. Walk
out for 30 minutes, turn or loop around (depending on your route), and walk
another 30 minutes back to your starting point. Be prepared that some walkers
may not be able to walk that long or that far. That’s okay! Encourage them
to walk out as far as they think they can and turn around. Some walkers
will feel great about making it two blocks out and two blocks back. That’s
great! Encourage your walkers to walk at their own pace for as long as they
can do so within the designated time. One way to insure that walkers of
all ability levels feel welcome is to have sufficient numbers of volunteers
to be able to split into different groups. Make sure everyone has a walking
partner who walks at a similar pace. Many people will join these walks because
they want to find a walking partner, so do what you can to make this happen.
Keep reinforcing that it is not a competition, and that everyone should
be proud of doing what they are able to do.
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Program Flexibility
As you implement the program, we suggest your first walk be a big kickoff
walk! Thank the walkers for coming out to participate. Thank them for making
the choice to get up, get moving, and have fun! One of the nicest features
to the Sound Steps™ Walking Program is that it provides a lot of flexibility
for the walkers. Walkers don’t necessarily have to come to the group walks.
Encourage the walkers to walk on their own as well! Encourage them to find
walking buddies in the program. Have a neighborhood sign-up sheet so that
walkers can exchange phone numbers and other times they would be available
to walk. They can walk by themselves, with their buddy, with the group during
the scheduled walks—whenever and as often as they would like! This flexibility
provides fewer barriers to the walkers. They walk on their schedule!
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Monthly Walking Logs
Create walking logs for walkers to track how much they walk each day. These walking logs can be an incentive to walk, particularly if they see a day or two with nothing written on it. Encourage people to walk to the store or the post office and record that time as well as time they spend walking for exercise. Recording time rather than distance is easiest for people. Suggest they aim for a goal of at least 30 minutes of walking a day, at least five days a week. Let them know that they can even keep track of 10 minute walks on their walking logs.
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Recruiting Walk Leaders
There are many arenas in which to recruit volunteer walk leaders. Look at
your current program participants. Are there any of those folks who will
make good walk leaders? Utilize the volunteer recruitment programs in your
area to help promote this volunteer opportunity. Advertise, advertise, advertise
this opportunity. Are there walking programs already in place that might
be good sources for volunteers? Community centers, senior centers, churches,
AARP, United Way, and many other community partners may offer opportunities
for recruitment. The sky is the limit! In addition, you may have staff resources
available to lead the walks. Seattle Parks and Recreation Senior Adult Programs
Staff provided the walk leadership.
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Developing a Walk Leader Job Description
Developing a simple and concise job description will help with the recruitment of your volunteer walk leaders. It is always a good idea to be as specific as possible when developing your volunteer walk leader job description. Include your position summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, training, job benefits, time commitment, and immediate supervisor or direct report. (Sample job description - Rich Text Format)
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Walk Leader Training
Try to keep your training to a minimum! We recommend four hours maximum.
When designing your training format, it is a good idea to provide lunch
or snacks. Core training components should include program design; roles
and responsibilities of walk leaders and program coordination team; required
paperwork for walkers (registration materials), walk leaders (program materials
including incident and accident reports); walk leader resources (supplies,
community resources, paperwork, storage crates, etc.); team building and
leadership activities; walker retention (developing workshops, picnics,
potlucks, etc.); determining walk schedules (leader availability); questions
and answers.
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Walk Leader Retention Ideas
Keeping your walk leaders (volunteers or staff) engaged and motivated are
very important as they are integral to the success of your walk program.
Some suggested ideas include: monthly check-in meetings with lunch or snacks,
weekly or bi-weekly check-in phone calls, sweatshirts or t-shirts, incentive
prizes, a leader goody bag with all information, and some giveaways of your
choosing.
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Kick Off with Registration Week
It is a very good idea to have a registration period to "kick
off" your program. This gives you a good idea how many walkers you will
have for the program. Also, it gives you a pretty good picture of how well
your marketing campaign has gone thus far. In addition, having the registration
during designated times at your walk sites helps familiarize walkers with
the sites. If you can have the walk leaders participate in the registration
process, that is even better. Walkers make an immediate connection with
the person "in charge." We found that a one-week official registration period
was successful. Of course, people can join in anytime throughout the program
as well.
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Registration Form
The Sound Steps™ Evaluation Team developed a registration
form which was used to collect baseline information describing the walkers.
This questionnaire gathered the following information: general physical
activity level, walking level, self-rated health status, satisfaction with
social activity level, how the participant heard about Sound Steps™, reasons
for signing up, and general demographic information such as age, marital
status, income level, and ethnicity.
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Goody Bags Are a Good Thing
Goody bags provide an easy way to get folks motivated and moving right away.
Inside the goody bag should be your registration materials, walking guide
(see attachment), walking maps, sponsor information, walking logs, name
badges, and incentives such as a pedometer, shoelaces, snack bar/cookie,
etc.
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Monthly Incentives
When walking logs are turned into the walk leaders, having a monthly incentive
or reward is great motivation to keep folks up and moving! As walkers turn
in their walking logs, walk leaders provide a "prize" or "incentive gift"
to thank folks for taking time to take care of themselves and for participating
in the Sound Steps™ program. Monthly incentives can include stretch buddies,
pocket first aid kits, and water bottles that feature the Sound Steps™ logo.
Be creative and have fun with your incentives!
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Monthly Socials or Workshops
M monthly socials, potlucks, luncheons, workshops on walking, and similar
activities help to keep walkers engaged and motivated! Many walkers are
looking for opportunities to socialize as well as getting out and getting
moving. A monthly social gathering helps to build a walking community and
provides opportunities for walkers to meet their neighbors.
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Newsletter
Because all walkers do not walk with the walk groups, it is a good idea
to mail a monthly newsletter to all walkers. This provides you the opportunity
to stay in touch with everyone. This is a great venue to promote upcoming
community walks and events, newsworthy physical fitness information, anecdotal
walker quotes, healthy aging articles, walker stories, evaluation information,
Sound Steps™ special events, and so much more. Walkers who do not walk with
the walk groups really appreciate that they’ve not been forgotten. A sample
newsletter can be found in the Promotional and Advertising
Materials section.
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Celebration
The end of the Sound Steps™ "season" is a great opportunity to celebrate
the success of the program and the participants. Parties can be as simple
as a potluck, root beer float party, muffins and fruit, BBQ, or picnic fare.
Again, this is a great time to be as creative and fun as you can. Walkers
will provide you with good input as to what they would like as well. At
the party, you may wish to hand out certificates of appreciation or completion.
Have a dignitary welcome the walkers to the last walk of the season. Thank
them for participating and tell them you look forward to seeing them next
year or next quarter or next month. This all depends on your season. Sample
celebration materials can be found in the Promotional and
Advertising Materials section.
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In order to evaluate the effectiveness of our Sound Steps™ program, the University of
Washington Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC) collected both qualitative and quantitative information from the participants. The Sound Steps™ Evaluation Team, consisting of representatives from the Sound Steps™ Action Team, developed a baseline questionnaire that was used at registration and monthly walking logs completed by participants in order to assess whether or not the level of walking increased over the summer.
HPRC created a report summarizing the findings of the evaluation. These evaluation results provided suggestions to improve the program and to potentially secure additional funding.
This evaluation was thorough because it was a pilot project and one of the partners was an academic research group. Determine what makes sense for your program. It isn’t necessary to do it all. Gather the information that will be useful for you to understand what is working and what isn’t. Be open and creative on how to hear from people. Figure out what your funding sources or potential funding sources want to know about how it went. The evaluation tools included in this kit can be adapted in whatever way makes sense for your group. Below is a list of all the different potential tools for evaluating your Sound Steps™ program.
2003 Sound Steps™ Evaluation Report
2003 Sound Steps™ Executive Summary
2004 Sound Steps™ Evaluation Report
2004 Sound Steps™ Executive Summary
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These are the promotional and advertising materials used in the initial
two-year pilot of Sound Steps™. When possible, PDF or Microsoft Word® versions
of the materials are provided.
- Valpak ad (pdf)
Direct-mail coupons advertising the program were distributed to walk
site neighborhoods via the Valpak company.
- Poster/flyer (pdf)
Flyers were developed for each walk site and distributed throughout
the neighborhood, at grocery stores, senior centers, retirement communities,
etc.
- News release (MS Word) (rtf)
- AARP postcard (pdf)
AARP, a partner in the Sound Steps™ program, sent this postcard to its
members in the Seattle area.
- Step counter (pdf)
Pedometers with the HAP logo were a big hit with the walkers, although
some complained about the “talking” pedometer that was purchased. Three
different options are described here.
- Neck wallet (pdf)
Walkers received badge holders/wallets to wear around their necks. The
badges included the walker’s name and the Sound Steps™ logo on the front
and emergency contact information on the back.
- Sound Steps™ booklet (pdf)
This booklet offered tips on how to get started in a walking program,
advice on fitness clothing and shoes, staying motivated, etc.
- First aid kit (pdf)
First aid kits were used as prizes and rewards to help keep walkers
motivated.
- Squeeze buddy
Hand exercisers, also called "squeeze buddies," were fun and useful
gifts for walkers. Each included the HAP logo and phone number.
- Bottled water (pdf)
We gave away bottled water—complete with the Sound Steps™ label—at
the end-of-summer celebrations.
- Celebration signs (pdf)
Signs directed people to where the celebrations would be held.
- Celebration talking points (MS Word) (rtf)
Suggested talking points for the end-of-program celebration.
- The Good Health Herald newsletter (pdf)
Mail or email your comments to:
The Healthy Aging Partnership
c/o Moore Ink.
4422 48th Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98118
teresa@mooreink.com
For more information on Sound Steps™ and the Healthy Aging Partnership, visit the web site at www.4elders.org.
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