Bring attention to your cause

An important part of advocacy is to bring public attention to your community in general, and a key way to do that is with public awareness resolutions.

Legislators represent many different people and often must prioritize who they’re going to help in a given legislative session. One way they decide which groups to help is to ask how active the community issue is.

Obviously, one key way to demonstrate your community members are active advocates is to regularly meet legislators, post to social media, and stay informed on the issues. Another important way to make your issues more of a priority is to ask your local, county, and or state legislature for an “awareness resolution”.

These resolutions are typically acts by a legislative body declaring a “recognition day” or an “awareness month”. The resolution doesn’t pass a new law or policy; instead, it offers a boost to all of your issues by shining a spotlight on your community. How well that spotlight helps you though depends on what you do with it.

A good example of this is New York State, where advocates have the Legislature declare every March “Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month”. During March the NYSBDC will post about issues to social media, work to get press interviews, and cap it off with a patient advocacy day in the state capitol of Albany where they meet with legislative offices and host a public display. These activities use the spotlight to build recognition for the community, which means more legislators will pay attention when community advocates want to talk with them about important issues.

Becuase legislators are busy people don’t assume that if they pass a resolution for you one year they will remember you the next year. Go back and ask the next year; there will be new issues and a new need for their attention. It can be a lot of work. The reward is developing a reputation as active advocates that legislators want to help.