Take Action: Tips for Businesses/Groups

Every community member has an important role in preventing teen crashes. If your organization can help reach parents of young drivers, we ask that you pitch in to help save the lives of the about 3,000 kids that die on U.S. roads each year—that’s eight teens a day.

Through the “Parents Are the Key” campaign, CDC seeks to distribute safe teen driving tools to all parents of new teen drivers.

The posters, flyers and fact sheets available on the Materials page will help parents to keep their teens safe behind the wheel.

Six Steps to Getting Your Organization Involved

1. Review Available Materials: CDC has developed a tool kit of customizable materials in English and Spanish to help community-based organizations and businesses reach local parents of teen drivers. Materials include ready-to-use newsletter articles, posters and flyers, digital and radio ads, talking points, social media tips and ideas for spreading the word. Many of these materials allow local organizations to use their own logo. Download them from the Materials page.
Outreach
Grab the attention of local parents at a football game, car wash, or other high school event. Ask community leaders or student government groups to help distribute posters and flyers. Remember that seasonal events—such as homecoming, spring break, prom and graduation—are good times to connect with other parents.
Let your local newspaper, radio station or TV station know about your safe teen driving efforts. The Media Outreach Guide offers tips for reaching out to your local media. You may also want to connect with local groups—such as public information officers of local health departments.
2. Use Your Assets: Does your organization have a newsletter, website or blog that reaches local parents? Or perhaps your business—such as a supermarket, auto service center, movie theater or coffee shop—receives a significant amount of foot traffic among moms and dads? Leverage your available channels and assets to reach parents with the digital and print “Parents Are the Key” posters and flyers available online. Show your support of “Parents Are the Key” on Facebook, and be sure to share campaign activities with your followers on Twitter.
3. Seek Campaign Partners: CDC encourages local communities to work together to help local parents prevent teen crashes. Reach out to other leaders in your community such as local government officials, school administrators, law enforcement officials or traffic safety advocates for campaign participation and support. Other potential campaign partners include trauma centers, hospitals, faith-based organizations and insurance agencies.
   • Contact your school district officials and local PTA chapters to ask if they will help spread the word to local parents. Propose that school administrators share the “Parents Are the Key” fact sheets, newsletter article and website url. Ask them to include a campaign badge or button on the school’s or chapter’s website.
   • Contact the instructors and management of local driver education schools. Ask them to promote the “Parents Are the Key” materials and website when parents enroll their teens in a class. Suggest they use the parent-teen driving agreement in their curriculum and add a badge or button to their school’s website.
4. Plan a Campaign Launch: Once your campaign partners are in place, coordinate plans for a campaign launch with fellow participants. Execute a campaign launch alongside an event such as National Teen Driver Safety Week (mid-October) or immediately prior to seasonal occasions such as homecoming, spring break, prom or graduation. For ideas and recommendations for event planning and media relations, be sure to download and review the Event Planning Guide and Media Outreach Guide.
5. Track Your Efforts: Keep track of your safe teen driving efforts to help measure the impact of your “Parents Are the Key” campaign. Be sure to tally the number of posters, flyers and fact sheets you distribute to local parents. Capture media placements generated from broadcast, online and print outlets. Monitor website traffic if you post campaign badges, buttons, widgets or digital ads. Share the news and celebrate your success among all participating organizations.
6. Provide Feedback: Tell us about your success at the campaign website (under the “Share Your Thoughts” tab). And please feel free to provide any recommendations or thoughts on how CDC can improve the campaign—and help save teen lives.