Deep Dive Breakout 1: Joining the Chorus: How Your Advocacy Work Actually Makes the World a Better Place

It’s true: the data shows that participation in grassroots advocacy actually increases positive perceptions of democracy and civic engagement by advocates. Dr. Amy Meli presents her research findings and leads a panel of advocacy practitioners who will share the hopeful takeaways they’ve gathered from years in the industry.

Nora Eigenbrodt, National Eczema Association
Gabe Snow, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Austin Walker,  Save the Children Action Network
Amy Meli, University of Virginia (moderator)

Notes:

America’s Electric Cooperatives:

• 39 state association managers
• 48 national board members
• 900 CEOS of local electric coops
• 7500 board members of local electric coops
• 30000+ individual PAC contributors
• 71000 employees of local electric coops

Save the Children Action Network:

• Advocate training program
  • Digital and online training options
  • In-person training options
  • Youth advocate training
  • Volunteer leader program
    • Advanced training, leadership development, community, technical assistance, collaboration

National Eczema Association:

• Building NEA’s ambassador program
  • Helping advocates build their skills and talk to lawmakers on the state and federal level
  • Raising the profile of eczema on the Hill
    • ‘More than just a rash campaign’
    • Eczema champions
    • Building strong staff relationships
    • Showing impact through securing more congressional champions, securing additional funding
• Grassroots advocacy vs professional development
  • Understanding our advocate base and their incentives for participating
  • Building networking opportunities

How involvement in interest groups influences perceptions of government

• Interaction with government (mediated by grassroots pros) > higher external efficacy
  • Advocates do listen and will use talking points that their advocacy leader shares with them
• Civic education and training > higher efficacy, lower affective polarization
  • You are helping them understand government better, advocates will not necessarily have a passion for civics, just a passion for the issue!
• Interactions with both sides of the aisle > lower affective polarization
  • Face-to-face interaction helps humanize lawmakers despite party

Questions

• Benefits from volunteers when they participate
  • Save the Children: showing the value of grassroots advocacy and civic engagement.
    • The audience that STC works with is often financially vulnerable- so showing tangible impact and benefits is important.
    • Leadership development  – advocates come because they’re passionate about the issue but stay and grow with the org because they find community and develop partnerships with others.
      • Some previous volunteers end up getting hired by STC and grow more with the org.
      • One advocacy experience can be enough to create a spark and get people interested in advocacy.
      • Gives the opportunity to reclaim the narrative and empower people in the fight of their work
• Connecting with people at their orgs who wouldn’t be involved in advocacy/policy otherwise but are involved because of their passion about the issues
• Eczema Association: Why are patients particularly effective grassroots advocates, and what are some takeaways that apply to other audiences?
  • Patients are always advocating for themselves, with doctors, employers, insurance companies, and other members of the community/their lives. Advocating for lawmakers is a natural extension of that self-advocacy
    • They advocate for themselves because they have to. It’s not just a passion, it’s a need.
  • Creating trust is essential for patient advocates – you want to make sure that they know you see them and understand their reality.
• Rural Electric: having different orgs/partners put their differences aside to advocate on the same side
  • Having the different partners put their interests aside to help advocate for a united issue happens all the time.
  • Connecting why it’s so important to be an advocate for electricity access for different community partners – farmers, ranchers, businesses, etc.
• What are some things we do in training programs to increase civic education and engagement?
  • Save the Children: by using STC early education programs, they leave assumptions at the door and meet people where they are in their civic education.
    • Create a set of goals for the training, and engage people where they’re at
    • Avoid party politics, but talk about advocacy and the common ground on advocacy issues
    • Help slowly build people’s comfort for these conversations
    • Set up ground rules of respect
  • Eczema: make a personal connection to the policy ask
    • Issues with insurance coverage > access to care policy issue
    • Build on the narrative of common sense reform
    • Provide resources on the individual level as well as the federal and state policy level.
  • NRECA: we don’t do a ton of advocate training for board members
    • There is a lot of training, but not advocacy-based
    • These advocates mainly need to be able to talk about the coop and what the coop’s mean
    • The training that exists more emphasizes what the role is of why they’re there. 
      • Priming advocates, not being so prescriptive with what advocacy means
• Interactions with policymakers and long-term engagement
  • STC: had an advocate who didn’t have a lot of advocacy experience but had very strong party identification
    • Throughout several meetings, her relationship with the lawmaker got fleshed out, and her position on her party evolved
    • Her advocacy work and her experience with her lawmaker really helped her think critically about her lawmaker’s responses, if he was the right fit for her views, and if she wanted to support him in the future
    • Bipartisanship is important to STC, but they do emphasize that alignment with policy priorities is important for supporting lawmakers
  • Eczema: understanding that lawmaker offices may not match the level of engagement, and navigating that
• Correlation between active reception of communication and belief in advocacy work
  • Data shows that if advocates feel that their views are being taken into consideration, advocates are not as opposed to lawmakers voting against their interests
    • But what does this validation look like? It has to be more than a form letter
• For advocates that have a lot of limitations, how do you prepare them/empower them to advocate
  • Emotional advocacy is tough – advocates don’t want to cry in front of their lawmakers, but we can communicate that an emotional connection is okay and helps connect with lawmakers
    • We don’t want to push emotional stories, but we don’t need to feel like they’re inappropriate
  • Check in on boundaries with advocates, how can you help advocates share their stories while respecting their boundaries on what they want to share?
    • Sometimes, seeing others share their stories can help open them up as well
• Going long periods of time with no wins – are wins necessary to inspire advocates?
  • Wins are helpful, but the way you communicate matters. This is an educational opportunity, but also, there are lots of different kinds of ‘wins.’ small steps matter!
    • Wins or no, keep the momentum going with your advocates
• Targeting youth for advocacy
  • STC: Availability and interests are more of a factor for youth audiences, they have different schedules! And generally need to feel more motivated to advocate.
    • But you need to make sure that your advocacy program is still effective and fits your priorities.
  • NRECA: former youth advocates have gone on to work on the Hill, are involved in state government, etc.
    • You’re building the relationship and able to continue to sow the seeds as they grow up.
• Combatting burnout with advocates
  • Diversifying engagement opportunities