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Thinking About Advocacy
Calling City Hall to complain about a tax bill you think is too high?
Helping when your elderly neighbor gets a confusing letter about his Social Security, by making phone calls and dealing with the bureaucracy?
Making a presentation at your faith group about a community project you care about and know well?
Responding when your child's school says they may change the rules about whether pregnant teens can stay in school and they want to hear from the parents?
Testifying before a state legislative committee as part of a panel, about a bill affecting something you know well and care about?
If you answered, "yes" to any of the quiz questions, then you are an advocate, because each is an example of advocacy.
- The first is "self-advocacy," something we do all the time when we speak up for our selves or our families.
- Second is an example of "case advocacy," which often involves helping someone deal with a complicated bureaucracy.
- Third is an example of "public (or community) education," which is another form of advocacy.
- Fourth is an example of "administrative (or regulatory) advocacy," which includes responding in writing when a governmental unit proposes a change in its rules and invites public comment.
- And fifth is an example of "legislative advocacy," almost anything done to influence a legislator's vote - testifying, speaking, writing a letter...
Many people hesitate to get involved in advocacy because they equate it with activities they are not comfortable with - like demonstrations at the Capitol or public protest. Those are legitimate advocacy strategies, but they are only part of the story.
"Advocacy" covers a range of activities broad enough to include just about everyone, in just about any kind of setting. And most are things we already do for our neighbors, our friends, and ourselves. Policy advocacy just carries that activity into the policy arena.
It helps to keep a few underlying principles in mind.Advocacy assumes that people have rights, and those rights are enforceable.
Advocacy works best when focused on something specific.
Advocacy is chiefly concerned with rights or benefits to which someone is already entitled.
And policy advocacy in particular is concerned with ensuring that institutions work the way they should.
These last two points are related. You have a right to accurate tax bills; your neighbor has a right to his Social Security. Speaking up to protect such rights is not unreasonable.
You would not just pay unfair tax bills or give your neighbor a list of soup kitchens and suggest he adjust to life without Social Security. Instead, you take action to make certain that the government systems involved (the tax office, the Social Security agency) operate according to the law. That is part of policy advocacy.
Anyone can be a policy advocate who is willing to:
- Speak up;
- Help others get services or benefits to which they are entitled;
- Challenge government systems when they do not work;
- Work for, and vote for, laws, budgets, and policies that do work; and
- Be a voice for others (especially those with troubled lives) with policy-makers.
Ours is a system that works well for anyone with knowledge of, and access to, the political process. It works less well for those who either do not know how to get involved, or who face problems in getting involved - like children, low-income families, and those with mental or physical disabilities.
In 1995 a group of child advocates in Washington State began conducting an annual 3-day Advocacy Camp, a place to train advocacy leaders for more effective work statewide. The framework developed for Advocacy Camp offers a good way to think about, and plan for, advocacy work. The basic idea is simple: Good Advocacy rests on a Three-legged Stool; to be effective, all three legs must be in place.
- The Capitol Leg.
This leg of the stool refers to everything that goes on where the laws and policies are made: city or county council, state legislature, U.S. Congress. That is where you have full or part-time lobbyists, where you hold lobby days or go to testify, where someone sends out regular ALERTS, where citizens go to meet with their legislators during the Legislative Session, where you can meet with people who staff the Legislators and the various Committees. And, after an ordinance (local) or law (state, federal) is passed, this is where you meet with staff from Executive Branch agencies to work out plans for implementation of the laws.
- The Community, or Grassroots, Leg.
This leg of the stool refers to everything that goes on in the community. This is where you set up your telephone trees and e-mail lists for responding to the alerts coming out of the Capitol; it is where you set up "Take 5 Tables" to generate cards and letters or sign people up for your networks (see page _ ). It is the place where grassroots campaigns take root; it is where you do community education, sponsor community/ candidate forums, and host site visits by your elected officials.
- The Media Leg.
This leg of the stool refers to everything we do to spread the word to more people, whether through establishment media - local radio, TV, & newspapers - or through informal media like professional newsletters, congregation bulletins, apartment house notice boards, and e-mail chat rooms. We need this leg for three reasons - first because elected officials pay attention to the media; second because we need to reach more people than those already informed and persuaded, and third because we have to deliberately counter the inaccurate, misinformation that shows up all too often in the popular media.
(1) Two of the three legs are firmly planted where you live. The work done in the Legislative or Congressional District is as important as the work being done in the Capitol.
(2) You need not cover all three legs of the stool alone. You can work with other groups to see that all three are getting attention. For example, on an issue like childcare (which affects people of all incomes, and children of all ages, children with disabilities and children whose parents work the night shift), it is easy to think of ways to share the workload:
- To cover the Capitol Leg: think of groups already lobbying in the Capitols - early childhood education professionals, statewide child advocacy groups, women's organizations, faith communities (which is where a lot of child care is located).
- To handle the Media Leg: think of approaching a local community college or university communications program and a local Junior League group; or
- To take the lead on the Community Leg, think of asking the PTA, a women's group, Kids Count leaders, or perhaps a supportive business group.
(3) Do not worry if you do not have all three legs in place from the start. Work with your strengths, and build from experience. Just aim to have the three legs in place within a reasonable time frame, like 2-5 years.
*This article references information drawn from Part 5 of the OMB Watch publication So You Want to Make a Difference.