Your local newspaper's opinion pages are an important, but sometimes overlooked, outlet for the afterschool message. Generating positive editorials, letters-to-the-editor, opinion columns, "op-eds" and cartoons should be part of your overall media strategy - after all, they're read by opinion leaders in your community, elected representatives, reporters, your colleagues, the families your program serves, and many others.

In recent months, dozens of newspapers around the country have carried pro-afterschool messages on their opinion pages. If your local newspaper hasn't yet joined the chorus, or if it's only singing meekly in the background, don't sit back and wait, take action. Here's how.

Here are the basics:

Newspaper opinion pages usually have five elements:

Editorials

Letters-to-the-Editor

Op-Eds

Columnists and Cartoons