Geiger Gibson Capstone in Community Geiger Gibson Capstone in Community Health Policy & LeadershipHealth Policy & Leadership

Webinar SeriesWebinar Series

1.1.Executive Branch RoleExecutive Branch Role2.2.Legislative Branch RoleLegislative Branch Role3.3.Judicial Branch RoleJudicial Branch Role4.4.Advocacy RoleAdvocacy Role

Merle Cunningham MD MPH - Program DirectorMerle Cunningham MD MPH - Program Director

Geiger Gibson Program in Partnership with NACHCGeiger Gibson Program in Partnership with NACHCGWU School Public Health & Health ServicesGWU School Public Health & Health Services

The Role of Advocacy in Health Policy

October 22, 2013

Presented byAmanda Pears Kelly

National Advocacy DirectorNational Association of Community Health Centers

Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be better able to:

1.Understand why & how advocacy influences health policy

2.Appreciate the keys to successful advocacy

3.Apply the rules for organizing grassroots advocacy

Advocacy and Health PolicyAdvocacy and Health Policy

Good Policy Should Come First: Who Wants to Advocate for Bad

Policy?

Why Does Advocacy Matter in Health Policy?

Policy Decisions Do Not Happen in a Vacuum - Competing Priorities- Dueling Numbers- Health policy is about people

Advocacy is Not Just Lobbying- Getting Policymakers to Pay Attention- Getting Legislators to Vote Yes (or No)

Legislative Decisions ALWAYS Involve Politics- Good Policy Development is not enough- Sometimes votes matter more than relationships- What Good is Perfect Policy that Never Becomes Law?

Action = Effective AdvocacyAction = Effective Advocacy

• Effective advocacy has one requirement: ACTION

– Simply discussing issues, challenges, and plans is NOT effective advocacy.

• To Be An Effective Advocate & Attain Your Goals You MUST

– Make advocacy an ongoing commitment and priority.

– Translate discussions, plans, and passions into moveable actions.

– Make your voice and perspective heard and understood.

Effective Advocacy = PowerEffective Advocacy = Power

• Grassroots advocacy is about BUILDING POWER

–Power is not measured by the number of advocates on a list

–Power is not measured by the number of small (or even large) victories we win.

• Power must be measured by our ability to successfully advance our own agenda and to make it unthinkable that any other political or special interest would ever want to take us on.

The Real Deal: Relative Effectiveness of Advocacy Communications

1. A visit to your health center

2. A personal meeting back home

3. A personal meeting in Washington

4. Personal telephone calls

5. Personalized Letters (faxed)

6. Personalized emails

7. Template emails (ineffective unless in

volume)

Advocacy 101Advocacy 101

The Basics• Know what you want• Know who can give it to you • Know what they want • Know how to make the loudest squeak• Advocacy is an ongoing effort

Keys to Successful Advocacy• Advocacy is a competitive activity • There are winners and losers and, sometimes a

stalemate is a win!• Advocacy is an ACTIVE, not a passive process• You are not the only one who wants something; So

you have to be heard through the din of all the other interests

GoalsGoals

1. To win 2. T0 positively Impact Advocacy

Targets3. To build an Ongoing Capability 4. To involve your board and staff5. To involve the community

MetricsMetrics

1. Can someone get the target on the phone?2. Can you get the target to your center & how

often?3. How often is the center in the media?4. How many local organizations/elected officials do

something CONCRETE to support you?5. How many grassroots advocates do you have?

How active are they?6. How many voters have you registered? Do they

vote?7. How much of what you ask your targets for do

you get?

RecognitionRecognition

-Recognize your targets-Recognize your community supporters

-Recognize your best grassroots advocates

-Recognize your advocacy leaders-Recognize your center!

Empowering Yourself Through Advocacy

Your level of commitment is directly related to your ability to make an impact.

You must demonstrate personal commitment to your issues if you expect to receive the support

and commitment of your officials and community members.

Do’s & Don’ts of Do’s & Don’ts of Health Center AdvocacyHealth Center Advocacy

Dos:

– Know What You’re Asking For

– Know Your Audience

– Know Your Opponents

– Know The Rules

– Make a Commitment

– Be Polite

– Say THANK YOU

– Keep it Simple

Don’ts:

– Offer Answers You Don’t Have

– Assume Knowledge of Health Centers

– Believe Someone Else is Taking Care of Your Advocacy

– Burn Bridges

– Be Intimidated

– Confuse Being Quiet for Being Polite

– Express Partisanship

– Forget to make your ASK

Making Effective Advocacy Happen:Making Effective Advocacy Happen:Building A Culture Of AdvocacyBuilding A Culture Of Advocacy

• In order to realize the full potential of our grassroots power it is critical that we create a culture of advocacy at the local, state and federal levels

• Building a culture of advocacy means:– Changing the culture and attitude from within the health

center, recognizing advocacy as a critical and mandatory component to our daily work and planning.

– Making a commitment to doing the work to build and organize our grassroots in order to fully realize the potential of our grassroots power.

– Growth and recognition of grassroots advocacy and effectiveness the same way other critical skills and programs are recognized for health center staff and boards.

Building A Culture Of Advocacy

Essentials For Empowering Your Health Center Through Advocacy in the community

•Recruit Advocates Inform others of your issues and advocacy efforts, ask them to get involved and make a commitment to health center advocacy.•Develop Partnerships Reach out to local businesses and organizations to educate them about the health center and ask them to join in health center advocacy efforts.•Increase Exposure: Begin an advocacy campaign at your health center.

-Set up legislative visits at the health center with local, state, and federal officials regularly.-Write letters to the editor on health center issues.-Hold health center events -Make people (elected officials, the media, the public) aware of who you are and what you provide the community.

Building A Culture Of AdvocacyBuilding A Culture Of Advocacy

Build And Maintain Relationships With Elected Officials

• Establish an ongoing schedule of hosting and meeting with local, state, and federal elected officials and their staff at the health center. •Know your officials interests, background, committees, career etc.• Let your officials know how many patients/ constituents you are serving and update them regularly on developments•Offer yourself as an information resource to your officials and their staff.•Recognize and thank your officials for their support of health centers.

Making Effective Advocacy Happen: Establish What Works At Your Center And In Your Community

Essentials For Empowering Yourself Through Advocacy

–Staying Informed- provide board members, staff, patients, and community partners with regular updates on what’s happening in D.C. and your state capital and how it could affect their center.

–Ongoing Priority and Commitment- make advocacy a standing item on the agenda at every board meeting.

–Recognition- publicly recognize and thank both officials and health center advocates.

–Patient Involvement- involve your patients in as many advocacy activities as possible.

YThe success of a policy can only be measured by

it’s impact on real people – not with numbers or abstractions.

The success of your advocacy can only be judged through the benefit of the policies and actions you make happen.

UltimatelyUltimately

“…The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”

-Mohandas Gandhi

Questions?

apearskelly@nachc.com