ADVOCACY MADE EASY

Tips for Conducting a Public Advocacy Workshop

JNCL-NCLIS conducts advocacy workshops for member organizations throughout the year. Below is an outline of the workshops and links to the handouts given out to the attendees. Feel free to use the outline and handouts to conduct your own workshop. If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Lenker.

I. Advance planning You may find that few people are interested in attending this session when there are so many others they think might be more important to their classroom performance. The following tips should help increase attendance:

• Schedule the session so that as many people as possible will be able and encouraged to attend.
• Publicize the session using the flyer in this packet (or one specifically tailored for your meeting).
• Feature the session prominently in the program.
  Make announcements about the session at every plenary session, breakfast, lunch, etc.
• Ask influential members of the Board to personally help recruit people to attend the session.

II. A "Walk-through" of the Workshop

A. Introduction: It is often useful to begin with a brief discussion of what the attendees think advocacy/lobbying is and mention that their perceptions might be changed by this session. In moving to the discussion of issues that concern teachers, note that they will leave this session with specific public advocacy strategies that will help them influence the policy-making process just as "big money lobbyists" do.

B. Issues Facing the Profession: Most teachers will identify with at least a few of the items on this list, but they probably do not realize that their actions can have an impact on the way decisions about these professional issues are made. The list on this handout can be used as a quick summary of issues many teachers care about, or the group can take a few minutes and generate their own set of issues.

Click here to view issues [pop-up]

C. The Politics of Issues Facing the Profession: Many teachers have never thought about the connection between professional issues and political action. This section of the session should focus on this connection and help the participants realize that their input is important in the policy-making process at all levels.
Any one of the issues listed in Part B may be used to discuss how the language teacher actually implements an effective advocacy strategy. Pick one (the example uses well articulated sequences of language study) and discuss what the teacher must do, who the teacher must work with, and what kinds of advocacy activities will be most likely to be effective for influencing policy on that particular issue.

Click here to view an example [pop-up]

D. Identifying decision makers: Who are people in positions of power? Define who the people are that make decisions in communities, school districts, and on the state and national level. Identifying these individuals enables you to choose the most effective method of advocacy.

Click here to read more [pop-up]

E. Help! At this point, the participants may be overwhelmed at the amount of work involved. Take time to talk about an organizational structure that will encourage and support such activities by individual members. Describe your organization's activities or ways in which you would like to begin building a political action committee and network.

F. What must I do? Individuals can be politically active in a number of ways. This portion of the session should be dedicated to discussing actual advocacy activities. To avoid overload, point out that individuals need not be responsible for the entire list, but pick the one that is best suited to them and leave the others to the rest of the committee. In this way, advocacy will be a group effort!
HANDOUT: Building an Advocacy Network [pop-up]
HANDOUT: Things to Do . . . Or Advocacy Made Easy [pop-up]

G. Advocacy Tips: Many teachers feel that they have no experience doing public advocacy and would like some practical advice on writing letters, making phone calls, setting up appointments, and so on. Role-playing and group work can be effective ways to address their fears.

Click here for Advocacy Tips [pop-up]

H. Publicity: It is important to publicize events and issues an organization is working on. A press release should be issued when there is a newsworthy event or development, react to breaking news, establish a position on an issue or to announce a new program. You should distribute the press release to the appropriate media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television).
HANDOUT: How to Write a Press Release [pop-up]
HANDOUT: Sample Press Releases [pop-up]

H. Conclusion: Try to get a commitment from each of the participants in the group to be a part of your organization's public advocacy committee or network. Remember to get names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses in order to start and/or maintain an accurate database. Finally, assure them that they have the necessary tools to begin public advocacy immediately. In their new work, they will need to keep in mind the characteristics of a good advocate. Confidence will come with experience.

III. Follow-up: The political action chairperson and committee must actively involve these participants in public advocacy projects as quickly as possible. Assign them specific tasks and ask for reports to share with the rest of the committee. Publicize their successes!

The training process is never finished. You might wish to run a similar session each year at your conference and target it specifically to new members.

In addition, you may wish to hold a session for those already actively involved. It could be a forum to discuss new issues and strategies that have been effective, as well as a way to maintain an accurate network list.