[MCAEnews] Advocacy Ideas

[The MCAE Advocate]

 Luc Schuster, MCAE's Public Policy Field Organizer, recently held
four regional meetings around the state. At the meetings people shared
advocacy ideas that they were implementing at their local programs.
Look below to see the report Luc has written of the ideas that people
shared.
 Kenny Tamarkin 
 Executive Director 
	Advocacy Ideas from Regional Public Policy Meetings 

	November-December, 2007 
	In order to prepare for the upcoming state budget season, MCAE
hosted a series of four regional public policy meetings. These
meetings were organized by four regional public policy coordinators
with help from Luc Schuster, MCAE Public Policy Field Organizer. The
purpose of these meetings was two-fold: 1) to reflect on previous ABE
advocacy campaigns and sketch a likely timeline for the FY ’09
budget process; and 2) to strategize together on how to improve our
effectiveness without overburdening folks in the field. Discussions at
these regional meetings were rich and each was comprised of a good mix
of seasoned veteran ABE advocates and less-experienced ABE
practitioners eager to boost their involvement. Following is a
sampling of ideas and feedback received at these meetings. Thanks to
everyone who contributed! 

	 ·          Many people were noted that ABE advocates have been
most effective when facing cuts. We should be just as energetic and
well-organized when working for increased support. We should be less
reactive and more proactive in our advocacy efforts.  

	 ·          When doing advocacy work—postcard writing, letter
writing, emailing, phone calling, office visits—the general sense
was that the more personalized the communication, the more effective
it is. In this vein, people seemed to like the new orange postcard
because it gives space for students to write a personalized note. 

	 ·          Alerts could do a better job at telling a narrative so
that non-insiders understand their importance. People like the alerts
format since they include all the key information, but sometimes newer
folks could use even more background.  

	 ·          When point people forward the alerts to their staff and
students they can add the contact info for their specific legislators
to make it easier for people to respond quickly. 

	 ·          People liked the “Notes from the Field” idea of
compiling reports back on a regular basis and sending it back to point
people so that everyone is aware of all activity.  The idea is that
sending out periodic reports will give everyone the overall picture of
what advocacy has been done across the state. This is in response to
two problems: 1) people feeling like they are isolated in making phone
calls, writing letters, etc. and do not fully realize the extent to
which they are part of a large ABE advocacy community doing this work
together; and 2) people feeling like they are spending precious time
reporting back into a void without seeing how this information is
used. 

	 ·          Perhaps central MA programs should target Lt. Governor
Tim Murray, former Mayor of Worcester, as an angle for reaching the
governor. 

	 ·          The research department at the Dept. of Corrections did
a research project demonstrating a 19% lower recidivism rate for GED
grads vs. non-GED grads released from prison. This report has been a
good tool for making an economic argument to legislators. The report
is available for others to use as well. 

	·          Legislative visits can be educational in two directions.
A visit to the state house by a class is educational for students in
learning about state government, even while they also talk to their
legislators about their ABE program. A visit to a program by a
legislator, on the other hand, is particularly educational for the
legislator. It is critical for us to reach out to elected officials
who are not well aware of the work we do. Legislators never say that
they oppose ABE, so the key is getting them to feel connected enough
to us so that they actively support increasing funding. 

	·          We can use the phrase “Keepers of the American
Dream” when describing the students we serve. 

	 ·          Programs should put legislators on all mailing lists.
Send invitations to all legislators representing any of your students.
Even if they do not attend, they see that you are being active and
hopefully feel more connected to your program. 

	 ·          Another idea for informing legislators is to send
examples of exemplary student work directly to them. This is not
direct advocacy but it is a way of educating legislators and keeping
us in the forefront of their minds. 

	 ·          Several programs host annual legislative breakfasts,
providing a good opportunity for legislators to visit programs and
meet our population of students.  

	 ·          Rather than doing a more traditional program visit, one
program had a legislator actually teach a class. 

	 ·          Many folks felt that while there are strong ABE
partnerships with the business community, we need to make them even
stronger. Additionally, where we do have strong relationships we
should encourage those business partners to become active champions of
ABE. Having someone advocate for us speaks louder than us advocating
for ourselves. 

	 ·          Send holiday cards to elected officials. 

	 ·          Evening and Weekend Programs – Advocacy is a
challenge since state house and government offices are usually closed.
You can still send newsletters to legislators and local officials and
visit evening events such as school committee meetings. You can also
have students calling during day classes say explicitly that they are
also calling on behalf of X students in an evening class who otherwise
would have called themselves. 

	 ·          Targeting the Governor—People seemed convinced that
we should ramp up our efforts to target the Governor before he
presents House 1. One possible strategy is getting the Governor to
visit ABE program so that he can see the human impact of ABE. 

	 ·          Many people liked the idea of having advocacy training
sessions from MCAE available for students and staff. 

	 ·          While each of the four regional meetings were energetic
and attended by about 10 people, people were concerned about how to
broaden the circle of folks involved in ABE advocacy efforts. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/mcaenews/attachments/20080108/5c7f8416/attachment.html