This article originally appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Strategies for Success: Tips for effective state-policy advocacy

By Heather World

This year's state budget shortfall means that hundreds of programs for children and families are sitting on the chopping block-so advocates for children need to be as effective as possible. Some longtime advocates, legislators, and legislative staff have suggestions:

Build relationships

Make your organization known to legislators and their staff at all times-not just when you need support.

Meet your new assembly member shortly after the election, says Chris-tian Griffith, consultant with the Assem-bly Budget Committee. Find out which staff person advises the legislator on your issue and invite that person to the meeting.

"Communicating often helps staff members pick out your logo," says Kathryn Dresslar, legislative director to Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D, Sacramento), whose daily stack of mail is 18 inches tall.

Dresslar suggests writing thank-you notes-not "for you to have a higher place in heaven," she explains, but "to get your name in front of legislator again."

If you've written a letter to schedule a meeting, left information with staff, sent a thank-you note, and invited the legislator to see your program, you've had four chances to get the legislator's attention.

Bring solutions, not problems

"You can't just always go in and whine," says Steve Barrow, director of the Results Strategies and Advocacy Institute.

"The most effective advocates are not the ones who say, 'We've got a problem and we think you should solve it,'" says Assemblymember Joe Sim-itian. "They're the ones who say, 'We've got a solution that everyone can agree to.'"

"There is nothing more dispiriting," he adds, "than listening to people who are genuinely anguished and to have them walk away and you think, 'I have absolutely no idea what they want.' Be clear with your message. For example, 'I'm here today to ask you to save Stage 3 child care and reject this administration's proposed budget cuts.'"

Educate your legislator

With term limits, a third of the Assembly is gone every two years, says Dresslar. "They don't have time to become experts in an issue area, nor do they have the time to see long-term solutions. That makes your job more important as an advocate."

Legislators and the media should think of your organization every time they want information about your issue, says Barrow. It helps to develop various formats: letters to the newspaper editorial page, longer reports for reference, one-page memos for legislators, and fact lists for reporters and community members.

Rally your forces

"Grassroots lobbying is probably one of the more effective things you can do," says Lupe Diaz, policy advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. That could mean bringing members to Sacramento, meeting legislators in their district offices, sending letters, or making calls.

Legislators tend to disregard testimony from "the usuals," professional advocates who haunt the Capitol halls, says Dresslar. A group of people affected by a policy, especially if those people have traveled from across the state, makes a big impression, she says.

Diaz remembers November 2001, when Governor Davis proposed mid-year cuts in subsidized child care. More than 200 parents receiving subsidized child care traveled to the Capitol. While other advocates held a rally and press conference outside, a group of parents met with the governor's representative.

"It became a different conversation," says Diaz. "There was less rhetoric." Later that day, the governor's representative announced he would not cut child care funds.

The Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), another grassroots group, gets legislators' attention because "we're the voice of the people being affected by the policies," says Anne-Marie Flores, a PICO activist.

Reach legislators where they live

"Engage your legislators at home," advises Jim Keddy, PICO executive director. "Invite them to local activities. Get to know local district staff. Demonstrate to legislators that you have a real presence in their local communities."

Legislators also respond to information specifically about their district, says Ceclia Mansfield, PTA policy advocate for education. In 2001 the PTA was working to get support for a measure providing extra funds for the lowest performing schools.

"We discovered that every Senate district had schools in the lowest [tenth]," says Man-sfield. They gave each senator a list of the very low performing schools in his or her district. The result? "We got money for the lowest performing schools!"

Approach legislators strategically

"Typical protest activity is just more noise," says Keddy. "You can have a big protest about the budget in a community whose legislator is not really in the game at all-or whose leaders are so solidly Democrat that it doesn't really matter."

Instead, think strategically about which legislators you need to reach. If you bring a group of people from your organization to speak in Sacramento, says Jack Hailey, staff director for the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, see who the critical swing votes will be in the legislature and have a person from their district there. Advocates "need to identify the moderate Republicans and work with them to try to convince them of the need for avoiding cuts in these important programs," says Michael Dimmit, staffer for Assemblymember Jenny Oropeza (D, Long Beach). "More than any other group, [PICO] took the discussion [of Medi-Cal cuts] into Republican districts-I think that's significant."

Don't write off "opponents"

Learn about legislators before you meet with them. Prepare responses to possible objections. Some legislators are so "ideological" they won't be swayed, says Len Finocchio, principal policy associate for Children Now, but there are ways to influence others.

"You have to have people of his ilk call him up," he advises. Does the legislator go to church? Get someone in the faith community in his district to call him. Does she run a small business? Get other small business owners to call her.

"Always give them the benefit of the doubt," Finocchio adds. "Politics is all about compromise."

"Part of your advocacy approach is not to assume a certain political party won't vote in your favor," says Diaz. "It's just a matter of framing the issue." Both Democrats and Republi-cans can be interested in social services, she adds, citing foster care as an example: "From a Democrat's perspective, they don't want kids out there being abused, and from a Republican perspective, they think children should be raised in a loving home."

Fit your message to your audience

For both legislators and community groups, says Alli Harper, statewide coordinator for Parent Voices, always think about the audience when crafting a message.

If child care advocates are speaking to an education group, they can show how quality child care affects school readiness. If they're speaking to a business group, they can show how child care allows parents to contribute to the economy.

Keep it positive

"You'd be amazed how many people think that unduly aggressive behavior is going to persuade somebody. People are more likely to be persuaded by someone they like. There is no quicker way to lose a member than to say, 'Well, you people obviously don't care about children,'" says Simitian.

Instead, Finocchio advises advocates to be "gracious but tenacious."

It's important to be known as "playing well with others," says Dresslar.

And, Simitian adds, "People underestimate how important that 'thank you' can be. They remember you as someone who was good to work with and appreciative of their efforts."

Timing is key

Talking to a legislator in September about a bill is not helpful, because in September there are no committee hearings or floor sessions, says Jack Hailey, staff director of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. "The fall is a good time to invite people to see your program and talk to them about general issues."

Effective advocates, Hailey says, "stay one step ahead of the bill process. Don't wait for the testimony," he advises. "You don't always get as much time as you need or sometimes not every member is in the room."

Instead, swing into action two weeks before a bill's committee hearing, he says. This is the time to send letters and make phone calls.

"Be brief, be specific, be timely," Hail-ey concludes.

Form alliances

"It's very powerful if you can build coalitions of people who don't travel in the same circles," Dress-lar advises.

For example, Diaz points out that child care advocates have brought in parents and labor groups to represent working people who need child care, teacher organizations to talk about the importance of quality care for school readiness, and women's groups, because women still bear most of the responsibility for child-rearing.

Think outside the box, says Finocchio. "Find and collaborate with 'unlikely allies.'" For example, he says, small business owners say providing health insurance to their employees is too expensive, so they are interested in supporting moves to insure all Califor-nia children.

Cultivate the media

Schedule meetings with editorial boards. Go to a newspaper's web site, do a search for your issue, and see which reporters come up. Then call them-but only if you have something to offer. "They want stories that have controversy or conflict," Finocchio says.

In 2001, as legislative analyst for the Children's Advocacy Institute, Diaz joined other advocates for foster children in calling reporters and pitching stories about children in foster care. They gave the reporters parents and children to interview.

"A lot of times we were making cold calls to reporters we had never contacted," she said. But by late in the year, the group began to see results, as more and more stories about foster care popped up in papers across the state. In early 2002, the Assembly Democrats made foster care their "number-one priority" and sponsored about 13 foster care bills worth $300 million.

Before that "they have never had a number-one priority!" says Diaz.

Adjust advocacy to the times

"Be able to prioritize," says Fin-occhio. "In the advocacy world, the needs never let up, ever, and it's very easy to waste away."

Sometimes that means picking battles that are politically realistic. "Last year and this year we gave up fighting for the expansion of Healthy Families to cover parents because we realized the money wasn't there," Finocchio says.

A sharp focus worked for foster care advocates last year, says Senator Debra Bowen. "They didn't try to solve all of the problems plaguing the foster care system in one year," she says. "They picked one battle and decided to focus all their energies on it"-the problems of kids leaving foster care when they turn 18.

As a result, Bowen says, the legislature signed bills establishing transitional housing programs, continuing financial assistance for foster kids going to college or getting job training, and creating programs to teach foster kids how to live on their own.

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People: Your greatest resource

Steve Barrow, of Results, Strategies, and Advocacy, emphasizes the power of volunteer activists. The Quakers, for example, he says, have very few resources but maintain a strong organization with volunteers.

Figure out who can bake the best cookies, who has the best meeting place, who can manage a web site, Barrow says. Give someone responsibility for getting a meeting place; someone else sends out invitations.

Getting people to write letters or participate in a legislative meeting takes its own kind of advocacy, says Lupe Diaz, policy advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty. "Make [the issue] real and personal for people," tell them how a particular policy will affect them.

Persistence and one-on-one outreach to parents is important, says Maria Luz Torre, Parent Voices coordinator for San Francisco. "People say yes to people, not to letters."

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Advocacy for children: Key players

• Children's Advocacy Institute (Sacramento office), 916-444-3875, www.SanDiego.edu/childrensissues
• Children Now, 510-763-2444, www.childrennow.org
• Children's Defense Fund California, 510-663-2984, www.childrensdefense.org
• Pacific Institute for Community Organization, 916-447-7959, www.piconetwork.org
• California Parent Teacher Association (Sacramento office), 916-442-5667, www.capta.org
• California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, 415-882-0234, www.rrnetwork.org
• Child Development Policy Institute, http://www.cdpi.net
• Contact information for more than 200 participants in the Children's Advocates Roundtable is on line at www.4children.org/caround.htm

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Sample letter to a legislator

(click on one of eight steps to find out more about it below)

Step #1: Your own address

Step #2: Letters to any legislator can be addressed in the same way.

Step #3: Purpose of letter

Step #4: State your position

Step #5: Explain why you support this position

Step #6: Give an example of how the issue affects you personally

Step #7: Show you are aware of the status of the issue

Step #8: Ask the legislator to respond

(This sample letter and tips adapted from information developed by On the Capitol Doorstep)

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Doing "Social Math"

"Social math" makes comparisons that help people understand policy issues.

Sources: California Budget Project, California Tax Reform Association, Legislative Analyst's Office

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