Hi P.L,
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we’re very glad you chose to visit us and for your excellent idea. We also want to thank you for the work you are doing on behalf of your community and for wanting to improve the lives of everyone who lives there, hopefully I can find you some resources that will help you create an advocacy program that will engage your students, in turn creating in them a spark for on-going community work!
Before we get down to business, let me explain how Ask an Advisor works. The advisor, in this case me, finds resources within the CTB in the form of chapters rich with information, toolkits with nuts and bolts, how to get stuff done information with examples, and community stories from people just like you who have done what you want to do, while drawing upon my own community building work to help you come up with the answers you're looking for. In short, the advisor provides links to information in the CTB or from elsewhere if necessary, it is then up to you to sort through and determine the information likely to be the most relevant and helpful. If the advisor thinks her/his own experience might be helpful too then that's added into the mix. Make sense?
So, what do you need to develop an advocacy campaign? Well, I think the very first thing you need is a model that will get you thinking about how you want to go about planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining the campaign. The CTB model provided through the link below is to get you to really focus your thoughts about what you both want to do and how to go about doing it in terms of: assessing what needs to be done and what’s already available in your community in terms of resources; planning how to get from where you are now (an idea and some excellent volunteers) to where you want to go (a community that values equality); acting by mobilizing other people (you really can’t go this alone, all the best community projects have a diversity of partners working together, even if you have enthusiastic teenagers at your disposal, to solve community problems); evaluating whether the advocacy campaign is working as intended; and in sustaining the campaign in perpetuity. So, all that said, I suggest taking a look at A Model for Getting Started: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/get-started. I know, there’s a lot to unpack in this model, what with all the toolkits and other resources, but for my money this is absolutely the best place to start, taking it one step at a time. The good news is that you already took a giant step in the right direction by having students to work with; you’re off to a great start.
After working your way through that section we’re going to look at CTB resources found in the section entitled: Organizing for Effective Advocacy which contains five chapters and one toolkit. The chapters and toolkit in this section I suggest you to look at specifically (just click on the link) are: Chapter 30 (Chapter 30. Principles of Advocacy) which will provide you with information on advocacy principles, Chapter 33 (Chapter 33. Conducting a Direct Action Campaign) which will teach you how to use direct action tactics including providing personal testimony, educating decision makers, and registering voters among other things. These are actions you and your students can take to actually make a difference! I also suggest, highly in fact, that you go through Toolkit 10 (10. Advocating for Change) – the main section AND the examples because if you want to see how to develop an advocacy campaign, you know the nuts and bolts, and see how other people have advocated for change then this is the toolkit for you. The two chapters I provided you will give you the background information you need to develop and effective advocacy campaign, but if you’re short on time then Toolkit 10 is the way to go.
Now, I want to offer you the Justice Action Toolkit (https://ctb.ku.edu/en/justice-action-toolkit) which provides resources which will support you and your students as you work toward justice and equity in their many forms. There is a bit of overlap between Toolkit 10, the following direct actions, and the direct actions in Chapter 33, but if you want to just get into the actions well here they are, click on the link for the direct action you and your students want to take. This might not be an exhaustive list, but it will at least get you thinking about what kinds of actions could make up your advocacy campaign. Advocacy and other actions you can take include:
- Developing a Plan for Advocacy
- Registering Voters
- Encouraging Census Participation
- Writing Letters to Elected Officials
- Writing Letters to the Editor
- Seeking Enforcement of Existing Laws or Policies
- Lobbying Decision-makers
- Conducting a Petition Drive
- General Rules for Organizing for Legislative Advocacy
- Developing and Maintaining Ongoing Relationships with Legislators and their Aides
- Organizing Public Demonstrations
- Initiating Legal Action
- Organizing a Boycott
- Using Social Media for Digital Advocacy
- Advocacy Over and For the Long Term
- Building Relationships with People from Different Cultures
- Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism
- Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds
- Creating Opportunities for Members of Groups to Identify Their Similarities, Differences, and Assets
- Multicultural Collaboration
- Building Inclusive Communities
Phew, that’s a lot to get through P. L., but the resources provided will give you a good start. Just remember, you don’t have to do everything all at once, one step at a time. I suggest reading through the CTB model first, then Chapter 30, Chapter 33, and Toolkit 10 pretty much in that order. If the resources provided don’t give you everything you need then do visit the CTB again and I will try and find you more of what you need; as I said, you have enough at the moment to get you moving in the right direction. With that, on behalf of the CTB thank you so very much for presenting me with an interesting and challenging question, and for what you are attempting to do in your community. We wish you the very best of success in all your endeavors.
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