Raising Awareness allows youth to think about how they want to communicate their goals, gather community feedback, and discover how their community partners can support them. While this step is sometimes overlooked, raising awareness is an important opportunity for youth to gain perspective on the need and refine their ideas. It is great practice for the youth to learn how to talk about their project and what they want to accomplish. It is a chance for youth to shine, as they may choose to use face-to-face and/or technological communication strategies.
Watch the video below for a short overview of Raise Awareness.
In the Guidebook, facilitators will find the following:
- A list of the crucial questions youth will need answers to before they are finished raising awareness
- Real examples of strategies other youth projects have used to raise awareness
- A process for youth to deepen their understanding of the community partners and stakeholders they identified earlier
- An early strategy for gathering constructive feedback about ideas, before the youth have invested too much time and energy
- And an evaluation checkpoint, which allows youth to be sure they are ready to move on and reminds them to reflect and celebrate their accomplishments
Click the image at the right to download the Guidebook. 
Supplemental Resources 
The supplemental resources below support the downloadable Guidebook and are not intended to be used alone.
Handouts
Youth Self-Assessment Handout—Raise Awareness
Don’t forget to reflect and evaluate before you move on.
Videos
Early U.S rocket and space launch failures and explosion
Guidebook Activity: Fail Fast (page 38)
This video contains a compilation of NASA’s launch failures. Use the video to introduce youth to failing fast and learning from mistakes.
