Voices for Children and Ohio United Way

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Voices for Children and Ohio United Way

• Raise Your Voice
• Advocacy Trainings

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Todays Agenda

• Overview of Childrens Issues and the Campaign to
  Protect Ohios Future
• Why do Public Policy?
• Non-profits and Lobbying
• Working with Your Elected Officials
• Advocacy Tools
• Building Coalitions
• Working with the Media
• Group Exercise

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Who Are We? Why Are We Here?
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Advocacy is the pursuit of influencing outcomes
that directly affect people's lives.

• Examples of Advocacy include
• issue identification, research and analysis
• educating the public on crucial issues
• lobbying for or against legislation
• voter registration and education
• litigation
• lobbying governmental agencies at all levels
• participating in referenda or initiative
  campaigns
• grassroots organizing and communication with
  local leaders and
• testifying before governmental bodies.

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Does it work?

• If we get 10 letters in from constituents in our
  office, we take notice.
• Ohio State Legislator
• A Senators office stopped in to see our
  volunteers and ask them to stop calling because
  we were blocking their phones.
• Situation as described by a phone bank
  coordinator from a U.S. Senator District Office
  Aide
• AARP it certainly isnt because they make large
  campaign contributions.
• Ohio State Legislator

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Why do public policy?

• Policymakers face difficult choices stemming from
  limited resources.
• If you do not lobby, other priorities will take
  precedence.
• You are the experts on the needs of your
  agencies/clients.
• Cultivation of policymakers can lead to future
  collaborations.
• Every major health and human service issue is
  affected by public sector funding and regulatory
  activity.

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Non-profits and Lobbying
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Working with Your Elected Officials
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Elected Officials

• Building relationships is KEY
• Get involved BEFORE they are elected
• Best place and people HOME
• Do your homework!
• Tell your storiesbut keep it local
• Youre an experthelp educate

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Know Your Legislator

• Who represents you? www.ohio.gov
• Research their personal history
• Review voting record
• Catalog data on committees, assignments,
  endorsements and donations

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Aides/Staff

• Roles and responsibilities research, write
  policy and track legislation
• Generally overworked
• They need you.you need them
• High turnover rates

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Know the Process
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How a bill becomes a law
The chart at left graphically illustrates the
many steps required for a bill to become law in
Ohio. A chart dealing with how a bill becomes
law in Congress would look essentially the
sameand be essentially as useless since it is
the factors underlying the process campaign
contributions, lobbying, grassroots activism,
media focus, and politics, that determine which
legislation moves through legislative sausage
factory to become law. http//www.legislative.stat
e.oh.us/process.cfm
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Legislative Realities 101(a)How a bill really
becomes law in Ohio

• Bill must be sponsored by a member of the
  majority party and, ideally, lobbied for by by
  firm allied with the majority
• Bill must not call for substantial new spending
  or be seen as government interference in the
  lives of everyday Ohioans

• Support of leadership is important, but term
  limits and anti-government philosophy now
  pervasive in the General Assembly have undermined
  party discipline
• Growing tendency to deal with problematic issues
  via the budget process

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Legislative Realities 101How a bill really
becomes law in Congress

• Most legislation, including appropriation bills,
  are introduced in the House.
• House and Senate leadership controls the process
  via Rules Committee and calendar
• Most legislation dies in committee or subcommittee

• Appropriation bills are now primary vehicles for
  policy making
• Sixty is the magic numberabsent 60 votes in the
  Senate, any piece of legislation is consigned to
  the dustbin of history

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Legislative Realities 101How a bill really
becomes law in Congress

• Special interest groups now have unprecedented
  influence over the system due to the cost of
  campaigns
• Since passage of Medicare, pork rather than
  policy has, to a great extent, become the measure
  of a legislators performance

• Statesmanship has given way to an ever more
  politicized and stagnated legislative process
  focused on budgetary matters
• Increasing willingness to defer decisions on
  difficult issues to the states

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Legislative Realities 101How a bill really
becomes law in Congress

• Appropriation bills, either 13 required, periodic
  (such as transportation), or emergency, are now
  primary policy making tools in Congress
• Lack of germaneness standard allows these bills
  to be targets of poison pills or exploited as
  Christmas Trees

• Chairs of various appropriation committees now
  wield incredible power
• Proposals attached to appropriation bills have
  greater probability of passage

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Effective Advocacy
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Steps to Effective Advocacy

• List your issues
• Prioritize your ask
• Target decision makers
• Develop a white paper
• Educate legislators
• Activate grassroots support
• Be flexible
• Have integrity

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List Issues

• Develop a comprehensive list of legislative
  issues.
• Identify short-term and long-term goals
• Identify budget items and administrative/policy
  items
• Weigh political reality of issues

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Prioritize Issues

• Identify ONE short-term and ONE long-term issue
• Try not to work on more than one issue

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Target Decision Makers

• Determine which policymakers influence each issue
  (relevant committee, leadership, relevant
  administrative agency).
• Identify volunteer, staff and allies with
  potential relationships to target decision
  makers.
• Utilize your relationships with business and
  labor leaders.
• Build relationships with key legislative staff.

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Develop a White Paper

• Collect solid data that is sourced to make your
  case
• Find precedent or other state examples
• Develop short main messages
• Describe how it will work- identify revenue
  source
• Keep to one page

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Educate Legislators

• Schedule tours for legislators in their district
• Make appointments in Columbus
• Use bi-partisan language
• Attend meetings/events where legislators will be
• Become a reliable source of information/expert
  for legislators

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Organize and ActivateGrassroots Support

• Write letters
• Make phone calls
• Testify on relevant legislation
• Organize clients that benefit from service
• Contact media
• Letters to the editor
• Gather public support

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Flexibility

• Willingness to compromise is crucial
• Consider phase-in, pilot to scale
• Recognize healthy differences of opinion

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Integrity

• Develop objective responses to opponents views
• Use caution in characterizing your opponents to
  others
• Tell the truth
• Reputation is everything

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Building Coalitions
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Working with the Media
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Learn from Experience
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Wrap-up and Evaluation