Stop pushing your existing courses to underserved and diverse neighborhoods. Instead, start creating unique and customized classes for different neighborhoods. That’s what Aviva Hillenbrand and her staff have done in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The concept is called “Authentic Programming,” and it works fantastic. The practice was announced in a breakthrough session attended by hundreds of people at the big LERN Annual Conference this year.
Programs are clearly interested in developing classes for diverse audiences. Now there’s a successful model for doing it.
Top 3 Questions
The interest in reaching diverse audience was clearly demonstrated by the top three questions attendees asked the session presenters on Authentic Programming.
-How do you decide which classes would interest your community?
-How did you market to reach those areas or demographics specifically?
-If you do not have a staff person that is part of that community what is the best way to make contact? Is there a specific way to approach this?
More sessions and how-to information on this exciting new approach will be presented at the 2025 Annual Conference, Nov 18-21, 2025; Online.
