Fishin' where they're biting

[Walkman]

Working on an Open House. I want to specifically target SMs for ES. We can go to schools and have tons of prospects for cadets. I'd like some ideas of places to go where I can set a table and chat up potentials to send to the Open House. There are some locally owned outdoor sports shops I was thinking of talking to. What other places do y'all think?

[Pylon]

Wherever you hold your open house, you can put different targeted flyers around places where you're likely to find "civic-minded" individuals who are more likely to volunteer in CAP and particularly the ES missions.  Ask to post up recruiting/open house flyers in your local police station and fire station employee lounges, the VA hospital, the town hall, veteran's associations (VFW, American Legion, etc.)

You could even target the message towards each audience specifically to strengthen the draw.  Use a picture of an adult in CAP uniform doing some CAP mission, but change the headliner.  For the veterans associations and VA, maybe a headline like "The uniform still fits. Continue to serve your community and nation through Civil Air Patrol."

Non-military fraternal organizations might also be a good fit, though if they're service-minded organizations they may see you as trying to compete with them for members.  Think like the Knights of Columbus, Elks Lodge/BPOE, Kiwanas, Rotary, etc.  People who are involved with these types of organizations are probably more likely than the average joe to be civic-minded and open to volunteering.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

I grew up near a fire station and there was a lot of interaction between the firefighters and the local community.

Your local FD would be a good place to try.  They have a lot of connections.

I don't know how the regs would address this, but you could try AF recruiting offices, though in my experience ANG and AFRES recruiters would probably be more amenable to it.

[NCRblues]

The above ideas are very good, but a word of caution...

A unit just south of me tired these ideas to recruit SM's for ES. They gave them the "98% of inland SAR" line, and promised lots of actual ES/homeland security missions. When all those promised missions never came to be, those people simple left with a bad idea of CAP. In fact one of the ex-members was a battalion fire chief, he will not even speak to CAP anymore. He feels we lie to our members about the actual amount of ES we are doing in today's world...

So just be careful what you promise VS. What we actually get.

[RiverAux]

I've often thought that gyms might be a good place to look for ground team members.  Giving them a realistic assessment of missions is something to be done at the open house. 

[CAP4117]

I got recruited through my involvement in the Red Cross, and I almost got another Red Cross person to join (but she moved out of state). You might try developing a relationship with your local chapter and seeing if anyone might be interested in joining CAP as well.
EDIT: The ES mission and what the Red Cross does overlaps somewhat - that might be a good place to start. I got interested in disaster work by joining the Red Cross, so CAP seemed like a good next step to me.

[Woodsy]

See if a nearby base will let you set up a table outside the exchange or comisary.  We've had great results doing that, especially the freshly retired guys that are still in their late 30's or early 40's looking to stay involved as they transition to a civilian career. 

[Extremepredjudice]

Visit a school for adults: college.

[RogueLeader]

Visit a school for adults: college.

Nope. Just over-aged teens.

[Extremepredjudice]

Visit a school for adults: college.

Nope. Just over-aged teens.

Not my college.

It is like 10% retired military, 30% over-aged teens, 40% old people finishing their degrees, and 20% are just there.

[lordmonar]

Working on an Open House. I want to specifically target SMs for ES. We can go to schools and have tons of prospects for cadets. I'd like some ideas of places to go where I can set a table and chat up potentials to send to the Open House. There are some locally owned outdoor sports shops I was thinking of talking to. What other places do y'all think?

That sounds good.  Also hit up your local scout council....there may be a lot of Scouters (adult scouts) that want to get involved.  Also hit up your local universities and community colleges.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

That sounds good.  Also hit up your local scout council....there may be a lot of Scouters (adult scouts) that want to get involved.

I was a Life Scout; only missed my Eagle because I turned 18.

Scouters are a rough analogue of CAP adult members...Scoutmasters, committee members, etc...that are involved with facilitating the Scout programme.

My dad was my Scoutmaster for awhile (and he was rougher on me than anyone else in the troop!).  I knew another Scoutmaster who had been a Marine.

Types like that would be interested in CAP, but a lot of them are so immersed in Scouting (and that's not a bad thing at all)  that they really wouldn't have time for another volunteer group.

[Private Investigator]

The above ideas are very good, but a word of caution...

They gave them the "98% of inland SAR" line, and promised lots of actual ES/homeland security missions. When all those promised missions never came to be, those people simple left with a bad idea of CAP.

So just be careful what you promise VS. What we actually get.

+1 x 100

That is so true. Do not promise anything you can not deliever. Also advise them missions are on Wednesdays at 1300 or Friday at oh dark thirty or whenever they come up. You will have some senior members expecting to do missions on Saturdays and Sundays only.

Good luck

[Walkman]

Great ideas everyone!

The "civic-minded" demographic is an angle I hadn't thought of. I was shooting for people that are into the outdoors or military, but that's a good way to go. We might net more people willing to be involved in ways other than ES that way.

Our unit CC is very active in his VFW. I can make a poster directly for that.

I have a separate plan on working with RM recruiters. Like most units, we have several members with really solid military background that I plan on utilizing for this.

I know what you mean about being realistic about the Ops Tempo. There was a little of that when I joined. Here's how I'm planning on handling it:

"We were previously only a cadet program unit. Right now, we're launching a new ES program and it's in the early stages, focused on training, training, training. Once we've fit a level of ability with our teams, we'll have the opportunity to do more local ES work. Here's what's been going on in MIWG: (insert 2011 stats here) for you to get an idea of what things you could be involved in"

What do you think of that kind of pitch? MIWG actually is pretty active in ES and already has some good relationship. I'm also pretty ambitious as to what I'd like to get to locally.

I've also been with Scouts for a number of years. I've noticed (and I think this parallels our cadets a bit) that if they don't get their Eagle by the time they are 16, you'll lose a good chunk of them to the "3Ps"-Perfume, Petroleum and a Paycheck. I was going back and forth with hitting Scout units, as the I thought the younger ones would be too involved in the program to have much time to do ours, and the the older ones who had already done a lot of scouting would be 3P'ers. I agree that there would be few Scouters to have the time to be a part of CAP at the same time. However, maybe it's a matter of planting seeds for the future. Most adults start working with Scout to do it with a child, and only a few will stay with it after that child finishes. We offer something else to those who are in that situation.