Community Outreach
As a professional, you'll need to clearly articulate the services you provide while encouraging clients to take an action based on your recommendations. By participating in events like the ones mentioned below, you'll practice explaining the value of your services while increasing awareness of communication disorders throughout your community.
"On-Campus" CSD Awareness
Share news through your university's TV or radio station, attend virtual meetings of other organizations on campus, or generate a social media campaign. Now's the time to get creative!
Chapter Examples
Butler University
Several of our members are actively involved with Butler’s American Sign Language (ASL) club. Members collaborated to sign The National Anthem at a Butler basketball game, illuminating the importance of equitable communication to the broader community. Our participation in both efforts underscored the significance of collective endeavors in creating a more supportive and informed society.
University of Arkansas
Winter Wonderland is our annual event to serve local Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing families. Each year, we partner with Arkansas Hands & Voices to host families who experience hearing loss. We offer about 10 unique wintry craft stations that are run by NSSLHA members who volunteer for the event. This year, we even had one of our members volunteer as Santa--the kids loved getting to meet and talk with him. Winter Wonderland involves lots of planning from the executive board (each craft must be different from the rest and an appropriate difficulty level for the age group we typically have in attendance). From fun sensory handprint painted reindeer to Santa Searchers made out of toilet paper rolls and wrapping paper, the kids got to enjoy each others' creations while parents got to mingle and foster new friendships. In total, we had about 50 NSSLHA volunteers split into 3 teams for set up, craft team (during the actual event), and clean up. We could not have done it without them! Winter Wonderland is a chapter favorite and our members love sharing how much they learn from members of the Deaf community.
University of Northern Iowa
During Family Weekend at our university, our NSSLHA chapter hosted a tour of our clinic and CSD department. This allowed our members to showcase where we received our education and gather together. This outreach was posted to the entire university which allowed everyone across campus to have the opportunity to join us. Multiple members of our executive team planned and directed this event. During the planning process, we had our event submitted to the campus website and shared on social media. We had food and tours with students and faculty available to explain and describe our role in NSSLHA in the department. This event took place on campus during the fall. A lot of interest was shown in our field, and a large group joined us. There were over 40 people in attendance who were not members of our club but were invited by our members.
University of the District of Columbia
The UDC NSSLHA chapter collaborated with the Department Head to organize a compelling SLP Awareness Day tailored for local high school students. This initiative aimed to deepen their understanding of the Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) field. With the participation of approximately four dedicated members from our chapter, the event showcased interactive activities designed to captivate and engage the students.
Through this event, we sought to illuminate the multifaceted nature of Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) and its significance in addressing communication challenges.
Our interactive sessions were strategically curated to pique the students' interest and foster meaningful interactions with the subject matter. By providing hands-on experiences and thought-provoking discussions, we aimed to inspire the next generation of aspiring professionals in the CSD field.
James Madison University (Undergrad Chapter):
JMU NSSLHA has made great strides towards bolstering our PR, which has allowed us to gain more traction around campus. In the past year, our presence on Instagram has increased rapidly. We have highlighted members each month, posted our events, and we have monthly CSD "day in the life" where students in our major show what they do in a day as a CSD major. We are hoping that this well-rounded look at some of our members and hearing about their experiences will increase our outreach across campus. Due to increased media presence, we have been able to connect with other organizations across campus such as Relay for Life, CSD-Demarginalized, Best Buddies, and offices around campus such as the JMU Career Center, Community Service Learning, Writing Center, and Student Affairs. Through these connections we have been able to attend fundraisers and major events that promote community involvement on campus. We have also been able to collaborate with offices to promote our club as well as host events that foster growth in professional development. These efforts have allowed us to form lasting connections and build a name for CSD around campus as we attract more people to our major.
Case Western Reserve University (Combined Chapter):
Our first community outreach activity was tabling at Diversity 360 (D360). D360 is an event organized by the Undergraduate Diversity Collaborative (UDC), this event gives clubs and organizations the opportunity to showcase their history and important diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. To plan for this event, we created CSD trivia and a poster board about our CWRU NSSLHA chapter. We tabled for two hours and were visited by hundreds of students! During the event, we shared information about what NSSLHA is, how to join our chapter and National NSSLHA, some trivia about CSD, information about careers in the field of CSD, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in CSD. This was a great event it was nice to engage with so many members of the CWRU community and give them more information about NSSLHA and CSD. Several people signed up to join our chapter and there was a lot of interest in the field of CSD!
A.T. Still University (Grad Chapter):
As a new chapter, one of our early goals remains to establish relationships with allied groups around campus and within our community. In February, our chapter co-hosted an interprofessional, collaborative meet-and-greet with the Student Academy of Audiology (SAA) chapter at our school. We titled it "NSSLHA loves SAA" and the fun couldn't have come at a better time as both chapters were wrapping up midterms. Members socialized over pizza and snacks and participated in fun games and trivia to win some school 'swag'. Our favorite part of the event was when the chapters collaborated on various case-studies that one of our wonderful board members had diligently prepared for our event. We worked together to discuss best possible practices, how we could support each other's domain and profession, and even referred to current research in promotion of evidence-based practice. We all learned a lot about each other's domains and ways in which we might work together in the future.
NSSLHA Loves
Support a CSD organization or cause of your choice! At any time throughout the year, hold events for chapter members to volunteer their time or make monetary donations to your chosen organization or cause. It can be volunteering through your program's clinic, an organization that supports speech or hearing disorders—whatever works best for your chapter. We simply want you to spread the NSSLHA Love throughout your community!
Chapter Examples
Utah State University (Combined Chapter):
Our aim was to truly help people in need and advocate for a meaningful cause. We care deeply about our Deaf/Hard of Hearing community, so we chose to find an organization that assists them. Our council spoke to Deaf community members directly about the organizations they knew of that were helpful. After deliberation, we decided that donating to the Sego Lily Center for the Abused Deaf would be the best choice. We partnered with the ASL club on our university campus to spread our reach. Advocacy topics were shared on both club’s Instagram pages as well as club members. Some of these were resources for the abused Deaf and awareness about domestic violence. As it was around Halloween, our fundraiser consisted of people donating to our cause and submitting a picture of their pet in costume or without if they chose. These pictures were then posted in a competition to see who had the cutest pet. The top winners received an Amazon gift card. One winner chose to donate the money they won back to the center. In total, we were able to raise $267 for this organization and help them in their cause.
Carlos Albizu University (Grad Chapter):
We are proud and grateful to inform that our student chapter carried out the 1st Screening Fair at Island-Municipality of Vieques. After a little bit of research into marginalized communities, we decided to help the Vieques community. Vieques is a small island part of the archipelago of Puerto Rico that has a population of approximately 10,000 people. Unfortunately, because they’re a small island, they don’t necessarily have accessibility to all the services that the “large island” has. In other words, when they need some type of treatment or intervention, they must get on a ferry that transports people from Vieques to the “big island” and vice versa. We arranged everything with the municipality staff (date, venue and logistics). When the day came, we jumped as fast as we could on that boat and were ready to make an impact. To make the most of this initiative, we contacted some families that wanted to receive the screenings at home before we arrived. This way, we performed the screenings both in the Multiples Services Center and some residences. Counting the chapter members and the professors that accompanied us, we were 18 people. After all, we had the chance to impact 25 participants.
Elmhurst College (Undergrad Chapter):
In November, our NSSLHA chapter hosted a fundraiser for Child's Voice. Child's Voice is a nonprofit organization located in the Chicagoland area that helps children with hearing loss learn to listen and talk as well and prepares their students to attend their local, mainstream school. In preparation for this fundraiser, the executive board researched local restaurants that host fundraisers, and we decided to use Panera. We coordinated an evening with our local Panera for the fundraiser to occur. In order to participate in the fundraiser, the person wishing to participate only needed to show our donation flyer to the cashier at Panera, and then 20% of their payment went to Child's Voice. We advertised the fundraiser to NSSLHA members, other students, faculty, professors, and Child's Voice and their families. The night of the fundraiser was a success, and as a result, a total of $108.31 was directly donated to Child's Voice.
National Speech-Language-Hearing Month—Every May
Each May, the National Speech-Language-Hearing Month provides an opportunity to raise awareness about communication disorders and the role of ASHA members in providing life-altering treatment. Follow ASHA's yearly theme and host events on campus to promote the event!
World Hearing Day—March 3, 2025
World Hearing Day raises awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. Follow the World Health Organization's yearly theme and host events on campus to promote the day!
University of South Florida (Undergraduate)
When planning the activities, I wanted to make sure that we were providing educational information and raising awareness on how to prevent hearing loss and promote hearing care. This year the theme was changing mindsets so we focused on dispersing the information provided by the WHO. Before WHD, I prepared a presentation on the importance of WHD and call-to-action facts to share with members. E-board members also worked with AuD students before WHD at a USF event to promote hearing and speech services and pass out earplugs. On WHD, we posted an informational post on our Instagram page and encouraged members to share it with their followers to spread awareness. In addition, members commented on something that they learned or will start to implement in their lives such as speaking clearly and slowly when with a person with hearing loss. For the presentation, there were about 30 members in attendance and around 40 members participated in the social media component. Overall, we dispersed educational information to members through our meeting and utilized our social media platform to increase awareness of WHD.
Healthy Communication & Popular Technology
Support ASHA’s Healthy Communication & Popular Technology initiative by sharing our 5 Tips to Protect Your Hearing flyer [PDF] on your campus.
Fundraising Walks
Mississippi University for Women (Combined Chapter) held an awareness walk around campus for Parkinson's Disease and its impact on an individual's ability to communicate with family and friends. Two guest speakers shared their struggles with Parkinson's and therapy's impact on them with our SLP students. Our chapter officers created 100 awareness pins for SLP students to wear as we walked around campus, speaking with our visitors. Our officers also made pamphlets to pass out for more information on what Parkinson's is and how therapy can be of the best service to individuals with the disease. The chapter raised money for the Rock Steady Boxing organization through this event. This allows Parkinson's patients to work on agility, endurance, and hand-eye coordination. Our guest speakers spoke about how important it is for individuals with Parkinson's to get daily exercise.