Advocacy: A Tool for Your Community

1. Advocacy: A Tool for Your Community Presentation by NAKASEC April 3, 2010 Columbus, Ohio

2. What is advocacy? • Advocacy is when an individual engages in dialogue about an issue they care about. It can occur in many forms - educating the public, organizing trainings, research, legislative visits to get to know a legislator, letter writing, rallying in front of city hall, voting, and even wearing a t-shirt that makes a statement. • Lobbying is a type of advocacy and refers to when we try to influence the decisions that legislators and government officials make. There are 2 types of lobbying: • Direct lobbying • Grassroots lobbying

3. Why is advocacy important? Advocacy: • Is a form of civic engagement and opportunity to participate in democratic society • Changes lives by uplifting policies that benefit our community • Ensures that elected officials keep their promises and govern fairly • Develops new leaders within our community

4. Example 1: Advocating on the State Level for Social Health Programs

8. Example 2: Advocacy on the National Level for the DREAM Act

11. Example 3: National Advocacy Day – Citizenship Day

15. What are the key issues facing AAPIs in Ohio? • Lack of information about APIA health • Immigration – # of visas, backlogs to get green cards from temporary visas, undocumented in APIA, funding for ESL, naturalization services, • Asian Pacific Legislative Day!!! To educate legislators on APIA issues. What issues? • Political Underrepresentation • APIA is exempted from ‘minority’ • Collaborating amongst APIA & outside of APIA communities

16. What is an advocacy day? • An advocacy day is when a group of people visit their elected officials with a shared purpose • Advocacy days can be national, statewide, or local

17. How do you organize an advocacy day? • What is your goal for the day? For example, develop a relationship with a Congress member, bring visibility to the AAPI community, rally around a specific issue such as immigration reform, increase community capacity for developing civic engagement and individual leadership, etc. • What is your desired outcome? Think about what impact you want the advocacy day to have - how many people do you want to mobilize, who are they, how many legislators do you want to meet, etc. Also, think about what type and how much media coverage you want to achieve and plan accordingly.

18. 3. Who is organizing the event? Identify if it is a central organization or a collaboration of groups. If the latter, determine what the roles and responsibilities of each participating organization. 4. Who are the participants? Clearly identity whether they are specific constituents or come from a common sector.

19. Who is your target? Your target is who you want to send your message to. They can be specific elected officials, administrative bodies, etc. • When is your advocacy day? Timing is important. Consider the legislative calendar, political timing (election cycle, lame duck), holidays or symbolic days (Migrant’s Day or AAPI Heritage month), organizational capacity and relevance, participants’ availability, other organizational events, etc.

20. What is your media plan? Identify your media goal (make it both ambitious and realistic) and align press events/activities to reach your goal). Basic components of a media plan include messaging, media lists, and in cases of collaboration who will reach out to who? • What educational materials are you going to need? Internal materials trains participants, clarifies message, goal and who you are and why you are doing a lobby day. External materials tells the general public including media/legislative staff and electeds your message (who you are and what you want).

21. 9. What is your budget? Identity your income and expenses. Also, if working in coalition, clarify the shared expenses and joint fundraising (who is paying for what?

22. 1st Ohio Asian American Legislative Day Supporting Asian American Community and advocating for economic development, civil rights, health and arts/culture

24. Components of an Advocacy Day • Program • Press conference • Legislative visits • Trainings for participants • Debrief/evaluation with participants

25. Sample packet for an advocacy day You should prepare a participants packet to distribute prior to or on the day of the event. This packet may include: • Program schedule • Talking points • Background materials on issues and participants • Emergency contact list • Map of the legislative and executive buildings clearly marked • Tips to a good legislative visit If the event requires lodging for participants, additional materials may include a lodging map, travel advice, what-to-bring list, etc.

26. Planning an Advocacy Day Program Tips: • Have a registration or check-in point for all participants on site • Set aside a block of time for legislative visits. For example, 9-11 AM or 1-4 PM • Either before or after the legislative visits, have a central meeting place at a specific time so that participants can gain a sense of solidarity. You can have speakers talk about the importance of the event, etc.

27. Debrief or evaluate the day with the participants. This can be done together at a central meeting point after the legislative visits or in a take-away form that you collect after the day • Have all participants fill out report forms detailing their legislative visit. Set up a drop-off site for these report forms • Have an all-day office on-site equipped with internet and printer

28. Organizing a Legislative Visit: What do to before the visit 1. Set your legislative goal – decide how many legislative visits you would like to do, who your target is (who you want to meet with), and make sure your goal matches your capacity 2. Create legislative teams according to the district the participants are from. One team can make 2-3 visits in one day. 3. Once the team is confirmed, determine who will schedule the visit. Is it the team leader? If for example the participants are limited English proficient, have a central staff set the meeting up for the team.

29. 4. Identity the centralized staff who is compiling and organizing all the logistics such as times and dates of visits scheduled, who is in what team, contact information, etc. 5. Have the legislative team get together to: • Research and learn about the target including what committees h/she sits on • Identity the goal of the meeting • Develop an agenda for the meeting • Designate roles for each person during the legislative visit. For example, who will lead the meeting (give the introduction), note-take, share testimony, etc? • Review the items in the legislative packet • Review logistics

30. Organizing a Legislative Visit: What do to during the visit 1. Show up early or on time and dress appropriately. 2. Start on a positive note. Have one person thank the elected official for the meeting and thank him/her for their support in the past. Introduce your group and your purpose for the visit.

31. 3. Make a brief presentation. Include what you’d like to accomplish at the beginning of the visit. The purpose of your visit should be clear, concise and appropriate. 4. Know your agenda and stick to it. Elected officials will try to shift the conversation to a more comfortable topic. Keep returning to your central message. 5. Get the elected official to talk. What you learn is as important as the information you give. Ask specific questions that require specific answers. Don’t be afraid of uncomfortable silences, wait for answers to your questions.

32. 6. Always include a specific request. Think about what kind of changes you’d like to see in your particular issue and ask for their support. Make it clear you want to continue to build a relationship. 7. Acknowledge the risk if you are asking for something politically difficult. Help the elected official develop bridge-building messages that can speak to the majority.

33. 8. If you hit a brick wall in a visit, accept that at that time. After meeting, think of more creative was to reach a person. Can you find more allies? Can you hold a community forum and develop more support? 9. End on a positive note. If you have found common ground, recognize where you disagree but return to that “feel good” point. Review any agreements or requests for information. Thank the representative for the meeting.

34. Organizing a Legislative Visit: What do to after the visit • Always follow up. Send a thank you letter after the meeting re-stating any agreements and re-stating your request. Thank the staff person, or elected official for the meeting with you. 2. Invite the official to your offices or an event your community is having. Remember that this is the first step in building the relationship.

35. Writing a Legislative Request Letter • The request letter should be faxed to the legislator’s office to the attention to the scheduler, district staff, and legislative staff. You can even email it to the same people. The more people you direct the request to, the better. • Once you send the letter, call the office to make sure the letter was received. Call until the meeting is scheduled. • The letter should include: a) Recipient’s name, title, address, and fax number b) Greetings to the Congress member c) Introduction that explains who you are and the purpose of the advocacy day.

36. Sample legislative visit request letter The Honorable Sherrod Brown United States Senate 713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 VIA FACSIMILE: 202-228-63212 February 1, 2010  RE: meeting request Dear Senator Brown: On behalf of a coalition of local and national community organizations, we are requesting a meeting with you on Thursday, March 25, 2010 between 1 – 4 p.m. to discuss issues important to the Asian American Pacific Islander community. A constituent from your district is confirmed to attend. We look forward to meeting with you, the Legislative Director, and/or senior staff. We will follow up with your office to confirm a convenient meeting time. Please feel free to contact Project Coordinator Tara Vang at (202) 339-9321 or tvang@nakasec.org if you should have any questions. Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, John Lee Title, name of organization

37. What is a legislative packet? A legislative packet is what you give to the legislator’s office when you go for a visit. This packet may include: • Letter addressed to the Congress member stating who you are and purpose of the visit • List of participating organizations • Information about your organization • Fact sheets on the issues you are visiting about • Organizational contact information i.e. business card

38. Any Questions?

39. Contact Information Young Sun Song, youngsun@chicagokrcc.org, 773-588-9158 HyunJoo Lee, hlee@nakasec.org, 323-937-3703 x 202

40. THANK YOU!