It is not necessary to learn all of this information to be a PedNet advocate, simply sign up and we can train you on what to do. This page, however, is a good point of reference to help make your advocacy voice heard in the community.
Type of Advocacy
- Media Advocacy
- Media Advocacy refers to television, newspaper, magazine, print ad and the internet. You use the media to inform and educate the public on the issue at hand.
- Contacting Elected Officials
- Whether you call, e-mail or write to your elected officials, you are expressing your views of the issue.
- Creating Personal Awareness
- Fliers, petitions, speeches, face to face discussions are all excellent ways to make the public aware of your ideas.
Recruiting others to Advocate
Locating others who share your vision is important to an advocacy cause. The more people involved, the more the public in general will hear about and listen to your cause.
In order to be an effective advocate, keep these 10 points in mind:
- Accentuate the positive!
Keep your eyes open for positive events that happen in and around your community initiative or because of your group's work. - Emphasize the organization's values and accomplishments to the community.
Always highlight the positive values and vision relating to the organization's work. - Plan for small wins.
People like to see results, no matter how small. Sometimes significant progress on a particular community issue is slow to show itself. - Check your facts.
Understand the organization's issues and actions inside and out. This involves being able to quote a source of information or point to reliable statistics for claims you make publicly. Facts should guide your actions and public statements. If you are caught with inaccurate information or documentation, you could seriously damage the organization's reputation, embarrass yourself, and take attention away from important issues at hand. It is vitally important to be truthful and straightforward or the message gets lost. - Be passionate and persistent.
Working for community health and improvement can be an uphill battle, because so often the solutions need to be the responsibility of everyone, not just of a few. It's important to have the passion and persistence to overcome entrenched attitudes the public may have toward health and community problems, and possible public resistance to change. - Be prepared to compromise.
Building healthy communities sometimes calls for compromise with groups whose goals may not be identical to your own. - Stay the course.
Advocates have successfully gone head-to-head with some pretty powerful people, including politicians, CEOs of well-known businesses, and national lobbying organizations. Facing such influential opponents can be scary, especially when they will most likely have greater name recognition and resources to oppose you. As an advocate for your community, you will have some credibility with the public--after all, you're fighting for their well being. - Look for the good in others.
When you encounter members from groups that disagree with your goals or viewpoint, don't assume they are "out to get you" or ready to pick a fight. - Keep your eyes on the prize.
Opponents may try to distract you from your advocacy activities by attacking you personally. By responding to their name-calling, you waste precious energy and lessen your chances for future cooperation or compromise with these people. - Make issues local and relevant.
When you bring your issues to the local level, you increase your chances for public support. Issues become relevant to community members when they are close to home. Some ways to really bring issues home to people in your area include using statistics for the issue gathered locally, using such local role models as businesses or volunteers, or presenting the issues in a certain way to help community members understand how they will be affected.
Source: The Community Tool Box: http://ctb.ku.edu
