-
What do we mean by developing a proposal for change?
-
Why develop a proposal for change?
-
Who should participate in developing a proposal for change?
-
When should you develop a proposal for change?
-
How do you develop a proposal for change?
What do we mean by developing a proposal for change?
A proposal for change is a specific, evidence-informed recommendation for addressing a community issue, changing a policy or practice, improving a service, preventing harm, or creating better conditions.
Advocacy is often stronger when it identifies not only what should change, but also what a workable alternative might look like.
A proposal might include:
- A new or revised policy
- An intervention or program
- Changes to an existing service
- A funding or budget proposal
- Legislation or regulatory language
- A long-term strategic plan
- A combination of several approaches
Developing a proposal does not mean that your organization must already know the answer.
In some situations, you may begin with a fairly clear idea of what needs to change. In others, research and community participation may substantially change your understanding of the problem or the solution.
The proposal should therefore be treated as something that develops from evidence, lived experience, professional knowledge, community priorities, legal requirements, and practical constraints.
Example: Addressing homelessness in Pratt City
Imagine that Pratt City is experiencing an economic downturn.
Businesses have closed, workers have lost jobs, and more residents are experiencing housing instability and homelessness.
With cold weather approaching, community organizations are concerned that people without safe housing may face serious health and safety risks.
Rather than proposing only an emergency response, a local coalition decides to develop a broader proposal.
The planning group includes:
- People currently or formerly experiencing homelessness
- Housing and homelessness-service organizations
- Health and behavioral-health professionals
- Local government representatives
- Affordable-housing organizations
- Community members
- Researchers or other people with relevant expertise
The group examines immediate safety needs as well as longer-term issues such as affordable housing, income, health care, transportation, eviction prevention, and access to supportive services.
Its goal is not simply to create a proposal for people experiencing homelessness, but to develop it with them.
Common forms of proposals for change
An intervention or series of interventions
A proposal may recommend one intervention or several coordinated actions.
For example, a community addressing housing instability might combine:
- Emergency shelter or other immediate safe housing options
- Eviction prevention
- Affordable housing development
- Rental assistance
- Health and behavioral-health services
- Employment or income supports
- Permanent supportive housing where appropriate
Legislation or regulation
Some changes require new or revised law, regulation, ordinance, or administrative policy.
Community organizations can contribute:
- Recommended policy language
- Draft legislative concepts
- Technical comments
- Evidence about implementation
- Testimony from people affected
- Cost or funding information
Drafting proposed language can help clarify what advocates want, but legislation should usually be developed with people who understand applicable law, legislative drafting, implementation, and enforcement.
Do not assume that community advocates automatically understand the legal or administrative details better than legislative or agency staff.
Different participants bring different kinds of expertise.
Expanding or improving existing services
Sometimes the necessary infrastructure already exists but does not have enough capacity, funding, accessibility, or reach.
A proposal might therefore recommend:
- Additional funding
- Expanded hours
- More locations
- Language access
- Disability access
- Revised eligibility rules
- Better coordination among providers
- Improved outreach
A long-term strategic plan
Complex issues may require action over many years.
A strategic proposal may include:
- Vision
- Goals
- Objectives
- Strategies
- Responsibilities
- Timelines
- Funding
- Evaluation
- Sustainability
Why develop a proposal for change?
To move from identifying a problem to considering solutions
Pointing out a problem can be necessary, especially when harm is being ignored.
A proposal adds another step by explaining what could be done differently.
This can help decision-makers and community members evaluate actual options rather than discussing the issue only in general terms.
To incorporate community knowledge
People directly affected by an issue often understand barriers, unintended consequences, and practical realities that are not visible in administrative data or professional research.
Organizations, practitioners, researchers, public officials, and others may contribute different forms of expertise.
Strong proposals combine these forms of knowledge rather than treating one group as the single authority.
To clarify what you are advocating for
A specific proposal can make it easier to explain:
- What needs to change
- Why the change is needed
- Who would be responsible
- What resources are required
- How implementation would occur
- How progress would be evaluated
To identify tradeoffs and unintended consequences
A concrete proposal can be examined more carefully than a general demand for change.
Ask:
- Who benefits?
- Who may experience costs or burdens?
- What might happen unintentionally?
- What implementation challenges are likely?
- What protections or adjustments may be needed?
To create a basis for public discussion
A proposal can help organize discussion, but its purpose should not be to set artificial boundaries around what counts as an acceptable solution.
Other groups may identify better alternatives or important concerns.
Treat public discussion as an opportunity to improve the proposal rather than simply gain support for a predetermined plan.
Who should participate in developing a proposal for change?
Whenever practical, use a participatory process.
The planning team should reflect the people, organizations, expertise, and institutions relevant to the issue.
People directly affected
Their involvement should be meaningful rather than symbolic.
They may help:
- Define the issue
- Identify barriers
- Evaluate possible solutions
- Identify unintended consequences
- Set priorities
- Decide what success should mean
Organizations and staff involved in implementation
Include organizations that may be responsible for carrying out part of the proposal.
Their practical knowledge can help determine:
- Staffing needs
- Costs
- Legal constraints
- Operational barriers
- Training needs
- Implementation timelines
Community organizations and advocates
People who have worked on the issue may contribute historical knowledge, relationships, organizing experience, or familiarity with prior attempts at change.
Public officials and agency staff
Their involvement may be useful when government has authority, funding responsibility, regulatory responsibility, or implementation duties.
Include them because of the knowledge or authority they bring, not simply because their participation might make the proposal easier to approve.
Researchers and subject-matter experts
Relevant expertise may be needed for:
- Research design
- Data analysis
- Legal questions
- Public health
- Finance
- Housing
- Environmental science
- Education
- Other technical areas
Other community members likely to be affected
Depending on the proposal, this might include:
- Residents
- Parents and caregivers
- Young people
- Older adults
- Workers
- Property owners or tenants
- Businesses
- Neighborhood organizations
Support meaningful participation
Some participants may be unfamiliar with planning meetings, technical documents, legislative processes, or professional terminology.
That does not mean they lack relevant expertise.
Participation can be strengthened by:
- Explaining unfamiliar terminology
- Providing materials in advance
- Using plain language
- Providing interpretation and translation
- Providing disability access
- Offering childcare or transportation support
- Compensating community members for substantial time or expertise when possible
- Using facilitation methods that prevent professional or institutional participants from dominating
- Giving everyone access to the same relevant information
Avoid labeling participants as “professional” and “nonprofessional” in ways that imply one group's knowledge is inherently more valuable.
When should you develop a proposal for change?
A proposal can be useful whenever a community needs to move from identifying a problem toward evaluating possible action.
In some urgent situations, however, immediate protective action may need to occur before a detailed proposal is complete.
Examples might include:
- Immediate threats to health or safety
- Imminent displacement
- An approaching legal deadline
- Emergency environmental harm
- An urgent rights violation
Immediate action and longer-term planning can occur at the same time.
At the beginning of an advocacy effort
A concrete proposal can clarify what your organization is seeking while remaining open to revision as new information emerges.
During a legislative or regulatory process
Proposed language, evidence, implementation analysis, and community testimony may help policymakers understand what a change would require.
During budget planning
Budget proposals should explain:
- What funding would support
- Who would be served or affected
- Expected costs
- Staffing or infrastructure needs
- How results would be assessed
When there is a clear problem but no clear solution
This is often when participatory planning is most valuable.
Avoid assuming that your organization must produce the solution before someone else does.
Collaborative problem-solving may produce stronger options than competition over whose proposal appears first.
When another proposal is being considered
If you believe another proposal has significant weaknesses, explain those concerns and offer evidence-informed alternatives when possible.
A proposal does not become better simply because it comes from your organization rather than a policymaker, funder, business, agency, or another advocacy group.
When public attention creates an opportunity for change
Public attention may increase during:
- Legislative sessions
- Budget processes
- Elections
- Regulatory reviews
- Community crises
- Major reports or investigations
These moments can create opportunities to present proposals, but proposals should not be designed primarily around electoral advantage.
How do you develop a proposal for change?
Assemble the planning team
Include the people and organizations whose knowledge, experience, authority, or responsibilities are relevant.
Ask:
- Who is directly affected?
- Who understands the issue?
- Who would implement the proposal?
- Who has relevant authority?
- Who may experience unintended effects?
- Whose perspective is currently missing?
Do the necessary research
Relevant research may include:
- Community history
- Current law and policy
- Funding
- Existing services
- Community experiences
- Administrative data
- Research literature
- Approaches used elsewhere
- Cost and resource information
- Possible implementation barriers
Evaluate approaches used elsewhere rather than assuming that something labeled a “best practice” will automatically work in your community.
Differences in population, funding, laws, institutions, geography, and implementation can affect results.
Include lived experience in the research
Interviews, listening sessions, surveys, or other methods can help identify needs that formal data do not capture.
People experiencing the issue should not be asked only to provide personal stories while professionals conduct the “real” analysis.
Whenever possible, involve them in:
- Designing the research
- Interpreting findings
- Setting priorities
- Developing recommendations
Analyze the issue
Ask whether the problem being discussed is:
- The primary issue
- A symptom of a broader issue
- The result of several interacting causes
Avoid assuming there is always one “root cause.”
Complex community problems often have multiple contributing factors.
Examine existing resources
Before creating a new program or system, ask:
- What already exists?
- Is it effective?
- Is it accessible?
- Is it adequately funded?
- Could coordination or expansion address the problem?
- Is an entirely new approach actually necessary?
Develop several options when possible
Avoid moving directly from identifying a problem to a single preferred solution.
Compare possible approaches according to:
- Evidence of effectiveness
- Cost
- Accessibility
- Equity
- Feasibility
- Community priorities
- Legal requirements
- Sustainability
- Possible unintended consequences
Choose the strongest feasible approach
The simplest solution is not always the best, and the most comprehensive solution is not always feasible.
Choose an approach that is sufficient to address the problem while avoiding unnecessary complexity, cost, or burden.
Define the desired outcome
Describe what success would look like.
The desired outcome should be ambitious enough to matter while remaining grounded in available evidence, authority, resources, and time.
Some goals may require incremental progress rather than one final endpoint.
Work backward from the desired outcome
One useful planning method is to start with the desired result and identify the conditions and actions required to reach it.
This can help identify:
- Dependencies
- Missing resources
- Decision points
- Implementation barriers
- Needed partnerships
Examine barriers and unintended consequences
Consider effects on:
- People directly affected
- Organizations responsible for implementation
- Workers
- Community members
- Public agencies
- Funders
- Other groups likely to experience benefits or burdens
Define action steps
For each major component, identify:
- What will happen
- Who is responsible
- When it will happen
- What resources are required
- How progress will be measured
Define responsibilities and accountability
Be explicit about:
- Who funds the work
- Who implements it
- Who oversees it
- Who evaluates it
- Who receives reports
- How community members can raise concerns
- What happens if commitments are not met
Create a realistic timeline
Include:
- Start dates
- Major milestones
- Implementation periods
- Evaluation points
- Review dates
Some proposals may not have a final endpoint because the service or responsibility must continue.
In those cases, distinguish between:
- The point at which implementation is complete
- The ongoing work required to maintain the change
Revisiting the Pratt City example
After reviewing research, local data, available resources, and the experiences of people affected, the Pratt City planning group develops a proposal that addresses both immediate safety and longer-term housing stability.
Immediate safety
The community might consider:
- Expanding emergency shelter capacity
- Providing safe temporary indoor spaces during severe weather
- Conducting outreach to people sleeping outside
- Providing food, transportation, clothing, and other immediate necessities
- Coordinating with health and emergency-response organizations
Avoid encouraging people to construct informal shelters as a substitute for safe, lawful emergency housing.
Long-term housing stability
Longer-term strategies might include:
- Increasing affordable housing
- Permanent supportive housing
- Rental assistance
- Eviction prevention
- Housing navigation
- Employment and income supports
- Health and behavioral-health care
- Transportation
- Legal assistance
Housing support should not assume that people experiencing homelessness primarily need to develop better “personal skills” in order to remain housed.
Housing stability can also depend on rent levels, income, disability, discrimination, health, available housing, domestic violence, transportation, legal barriers, and other structural conditions.
Community connection and voluntary support
Some participants may value peer support, community navigation, mentoring, or other relationship-based programs.
These should be voluntary and designed with people experiencing homelessness rather than automatically assigning each person or family a volunteer who is expected to guide their lives.
Plan for implementation and sustainability
A proposal should explain how successful changes will continue.
Sustainability may involve:
- Ongoing funding
- Permanent staff responsibilities
- Integration into public systems
- Continued community participation
- Policy or legislative support
- Monitoring and evaluation
Sustainability does not mean that the original committee or advocacy campaign must remain active indefinitely.
A healthier goal is to build durable systems, responsibilities, and oversight so that change does not depend permanently on the same volunteers.
Present the proposal
Present the proposal early enough that it can contribute meaningfully to public and institutional decision-making.
Possible channels include:
- Public meetings
- Legislative or agency briefings
- Community forums
- Reports
- Websites
- Social media
- News organizations
- Public-comment processes
Personal networks can help obtain attention, but they should not be the only route into decision-making.
Make materials accessible to people who do not already have relationships with officials, journalists, funders, or institutional leaders.
Explain the evidence and limitations
A proposal should clearly identify:
- The problem
- The evidence
- The proposed response
- Costs
- Expected benefits
- Important uncertainties
- Possible unintended consequences
- Implementation responsibilities
- Evaluation plans
Revise the proposal when necessary
A proposal should not become fixed simply because advocates have already promoted it publicly.
Revise it when:
- New evidence emerges
- People directly affected identify important problems
- Implementation costs change
- Legal requirements change
- Early implementation reveals unintended consequences
- A better alternative becomes available
Changing the proposal in response to evidence is part of responsible planning, not a sign that the original advocacy failed.
Continue advocacy and monitoring as needed
Some proposals may be adopted quickly. Others may require sustained advocacy.
Persistence can matter, but organizations should periodically ask:
- Is this still the right proposal?
- Has the problem changed?
- What progress has occurred?
- Are people directly affected still supporting the approach?
- Are there better options?
- Is continued advocacy the best use of available resources?
The goal is not simply to keep advocating until the original proposal is adopted exactly as written.
The goal is to help create an effective, equitable, sustainable response to the community issue.
In Summary
A proposal for change turns a general concern into a specific set of possible actions.
Strong proposals are developed through research, community participation, practical expertise, and careful analysis.
Include people directly affected by the issue as meaningful planning partners.
Combine lived experience with professional, technical, legal, administrative, and research knowledge rather than treating one group as the sole authority.
Examine existing programs and resources before creating something new.
Consider several possible approaches and compare their effectiveness, cost, accessibility, equity, feasibility, sustainability, and potential unintended consequences.
Define a desired outcome and identify the actions, responsibilities, resources, timelines, and accountability mechanisms needed to reach it.
Develop plans for implementation, evaluation, and sustainability.
Present the proposal clearly and through channels that allow meaningful public and institutional participation.
Do not assume your proposal is automatically better because it was created by advocates rather than policymakers, funders, agencies, or other organizations.
Stay open to criticism, competing approaches, and new evidence.
Revise the proposal when circumstances or evidence change.
Finally, remember that the purpose of a proposal is not to control the debate or establish your organization as the authority.
It is to give communities and decision-makers a well-supported, practical option for creating meaningful change.