Moving forward:from AIDS

advocacy planning to sustained action

Key elements

Priority setting Assess the political environment Making and recalibrating a plan Building sustaining momentum Crafting the message

Components of an advocacy campaign

Example: syringe purchasing campaign• AFC led a four-year campaign to change the state

syringe purchasing law• Legislation drafted with AFC’s input passed the

Illinois House and Senate and Governor Blagojevich signed it into law in 2003

• From 2003 to the present, AFC has focused on implementation

• IDU-related HIV infections in Illinois dropped by more than 60% between 2003 and 2008

(image of a homemade, reused syringe)

Priority setting• What’s most immediate and urgent?• What has community support and offer critical

community impact?• What is timely?• What is possible politically? • What is doable logistically?• What is winnable?• What/how much can you and your group “take

on”?• What is a “game changer”?

Assess the political environmentWhat are politicians talking about, concerned with, occupied on, and spending time thinking about?Must-monitor tools and methods:

• Local newspapers (especially those in your state capital)• StateHealthFacts.org (state’s government profile)• Your legislature’s website• Advocacy networks• Talk regularly with local lobbyists and lawmakers

• Political insider newsletters/websites: http://www.doseofchange.org/?page_id=78

Statehealthfacts.org

Track political news for your state

http://www.doseofchange.org/?page_id=78

Healthreform.kff.org

Personality FeudsExample: State Budget Stalled By Political

Stalemate • A bitter dispute between House Speaker and

Governor over powers to set regulations hampered hundreds of bills including the state budget

• By Speaker’s directive, House bills carried a rider mandating a joint House/Senate panel to approve regulations, a provision vehemently opposed by the Governor

• Substantive legislation—even where otherwise there was agreement—languished as a result of this impasse

• Lesson: even the best laid plans can be stalled by petty disputes. Senate-drafted bills had a better chance of sidestepping the feud (though not entirely)

It’s all about timing

• Build advocacy plans around the legislative calendar (You’re on their calendar, not your own)

• Know deadlines for bill introductions, committee consideration, budget issues

• Know who has power among lawmakers and who wields power among those who influence public policy

• If you miss a deadline, it’s likely over until next year (unless you find a creative way to get it amended to something moving)

Other strategy elements• Start in the House, Senate or both?

• How do you pick a sponsor?

• What groups do you engage beforehand, and which don’t you engage?

• What buzzwords should be in your bill or not in your bill?

• What knowledge/education is needed as a foundation for your effort?

Making & recalibrating a plan

Issues or Problem to be SolvedBe concrete and specific in

naming the problem in order to target a solution.

GoalsName clear goals for the

campaign. These will be your yardstick of success.

TargetsWho has power to deliver on your

goals? What influences or changes their decisions?

Core ConstituenciesWhat people/groups are most

affected by this issue? Who among them will be willing to participate in finding a solution?

AlliesIn addition to the core constituents,

who will be supportive and helpful on the organizing effort? How will you get their support?

OppositionWho stands on the other side of this

issue and will attempt to block/thwart or work against you? How do you deal with them?

Key MessagesIdentify 2 –5 key messages for your

campaign. Articulate them clearly and in a language that is accessible to the public.

Tactics/ActivitiesWhat tactics and activities will you use

to accomplish your goals and leverage community involvement?

www.wellstone.org/organizing-tools/action-planning-win-issues/action-planning-template

Infrastructure: Key Questions

Organizational Structure: How will you be organized to accomplish your goal? Who makes what level of decision? How can you communicate efficiently?

Budget: Determine the minimum amount of money you need to conduct a campaign and how you might secure that. Build budgets with varying levels of resources. (Consider personnel, office supplies, materials, etc)

Staff: Who’s available to staff the process? What’s their role and how do they engage and communicate with others? How do they maximize diversity and varying levels of experience and skills?

Volunteers: How many volunteers need to be mobilized and in what areas?

Timeline: Sketch out a timeline for the organizing project. How many months overall will be needed? What will be accomplished in each shorter segment?

Community Building Activities: Design activities to build community support and skills and regularly communicate with and involve individuals.

Evaluation: How will you evaluate your campaign? How will you know if you were successful? Besides reaching your major goals, what other outcomes are desirable?

Use the action planning template

www.wellstone.org/organizing-tools/action-planning-win-issues/action-planning-template

Building & sustaining momentum

A clear structure and good planning does a number of things:

1. It provides direction and focus to the work. It allows all participants to know where the campaign is going and the steps along the way;

2. It provides a framework to analyze strengths and weaknesses of supporters, allies and opponents, thereby suggesting the most powerful strategy to win.

3. It allows the campaign to wisely use the precious resources of time, money and people;

4. It provides an accountability mechanism and let's everyone know how their work contributes to the whole;

5. It helps those who are participating to understand how decisions are made and their role in the structure, and

6. It gives the organizers the ability to say "no" to requests that might be wonderful, but do not fit the plan.

http://www.wellstone.org/organizing-tools/action-planning-win-issues

Planning And Community Engagement Informs

Who

What

When

Where

Why

Howof your advocacy campaign

Crafting the argumentApply journalistic and framing principles

Journalism

Framing

Anatomy of a campaign

Make it Newsworthy

Characteristics of news:

Timeliness

Significance

Proximity

Eminence/Prominence

Consequence/Impact

Human Interest/Novelty

ConflictNews is relevant, useful and interesting

Inverted pyramid

News articles lead with the most important information at the beginning (typically who, what, when, where, why)

Less important material follows in order of importance, not chronological order

The structure quickly tells the reader what he/she needs to know

The structure also cues the reader about what is most important

Put the facts in order

1. General Grant and his wife were advertised to be at the theatre

2. The assassin leaped on stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre

3. The pistol ball entered the back of the President’s head and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound was mortal.

4. This evening at about 9:30 p.m. at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Harris and Major Rathburn, was shot by an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President.

Writing a good lead sentence

Think of the lead as a baited hook that lures the reader into the story. Think economy. Imagine you are writing the lead while seated on a hot stove, or carving it into a block of oak. Make each word count and include no extra words. One writer said she writes a lead as if each word cost her $10.

Typically …

25 words or less

One sentence

Contains: Who, What, When, Where, Why

It’s all about action verbsverbsWhat verbs best describe the change you hope to make?

Use active voiceIn sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts.

PASSIVE VOICE ACTIVE VOICE

Action on the bill is being considered by the committee

The committee is considering action on the bill

By then, the application will have been submitted by the administrator.

By then, the administrator will have submitted the waiver application.

Results will be published in the next issue of the journal

The researchers will publish the results in the next issue of the journal.

Mistakes were made. We made mistakes.

I am reminded of the tremendous need for more services by touring the agency.

Touring the agency reminds me of the tremendous need for more services.

In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the . . ." phrase or may be omitted. (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html)

Tap the human elementEmphasize the human element/impact of your issue

Underscore who is affected and how/why

Talk about people not cases

News writing is

Concrete and specific

Front-loaded, top-heavy

Plain

Free of clutter

Writing: Hone your craft

Practice Read your work aloud Review, edit, and ask for help Keep sentences short and crisp Check your writing for clutter Check for subject-verb-object

constructions Avoid long dependent clauses Be precise

How would you edit this call to action?

“My name is _____________ and I’m calling to request that Speaker Pelosi [Majority Leader Reid] work with the Appropriations Committee to improve President Obama’s budget and secure sufficient funding for AIDS programs in the US and around the world. One person is infected with HIV every 9 and a half minutes in the US, and 45 more are infected around the world. It’s time to act, and we need Speaker Pelosi’s [Majority Leader Reid’s] support for an end to the federal ban on funding syringe exchange, $2.7 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, at least a $1 billion increase in funding for PEPFAR, and $360 million for AIDS housing programs. HIV is not in recession, and these programs need Speaker Pelosi’s [Majority Leader Reid’s] support.”

How would you edit this call to action?

“I’m calling to urge the leader to increase the AIDS housing budget and allow federal funds for syringe exchange. Congress should also appropriate $2.7 billion for the Global AIDS Fund and $1 billion increase for PEPFAR.”

Good Writing Check List

Use strong nouns and verbs

Tell a story Use simple, concise sentences

Use adjectives and adverbs

sparingMake it about

peopleEnsure accuracy

Transition between ideas

Make comparisons to something

familiar

Use active voice

Keep the subject close to the verb

Rely on examples/quotes

Avoid jargon And $10 words

Want to practice? Blog for www.doseofchange.org!

Issue framing

Also called “spin”Underlying values of your

cause or message

How others relate (or don’t relate) to your issue

Issue framing

“What words can I use that are most likely to affect an audience and gain their approval?” and “When and in what context should I approach certain issues?”Understanding policymaking as a struggle over values and ideas, we can see that a rational step-by-step method for policy formulation based on objectivity, facts and reason is not necessarily successful. Humans use models, metaphors and other techniques to impose structure on the world and to reduce considerations. We use stories and exclude stories as we seek order.

Policy formulation as a part of policy making is, once again, nothing more than reasoning by analogy, category and metaphor where those involved, based on their values and views, strategically select the data, facts and information that will be most persuasive in getting others to see a situation as one thing rather than another.

http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF/FramingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf

The Battle over ValuesEXAMPLE: failed effort to repeal principal notification law

• Challenge: Principals oppose repeal of law requiring health depts to notify schools of HIV+ students

• Parents and public health experts testified on heightened stigma caused by the law, lack of public health evidence supporting it, and concern universal precautions might not be followed, as required

• Despite compelling evidence, lawmakers rejected the law’s repeal

The Battle Over Values:EXAMPLE: failed effort to repeal principal notification

law

What did we learn?

– Powerful interests (in this case, principals) can sway the debate no matter the evidence

– Next approach must find a way to work with principal and/or generate sufficient pressure from a constituency equally or more powerful than this block

What frames are invoked?

Build the context• Link to long-term trends

• Connect the dots, both verbally and visually

• Connect the episodes of your community’s issues to root causes, conditions, and trends with which people are familiar

• Assign responsibility

• Present a solution

http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF/FramingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf

Use numbers judiciously

Interpret the data: Tell the public what is at stake and what it means to neglect this problem

Most people cannot judge the size or meaning of numbers; they need cues

Numbers alone often fail to create “pictures in our heads”

If the facts don’t fit the frame, it’s the facts that are rejected, not the frame

The ratio of numbers to narrative should be low

Once a frame is established, it will “trump” numbers

The messenger matters • The message is reinforced or

undermined by the choice of messenger

• Knowledge and trustworthiness are critical to public acceptance

• Some messengers are not credible on certain issues because we assume they are biased toward a perspective

• Unlikely allies can prompt public reconsideration of an issue

http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF/FramingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf

Don’t think of an elephant

What frame isevoked in each

quote?"I did not initiate nor authorize anyone, at any time, to promise anything to Gov. Blagojevich on my behalf. I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer or to propose a deal about the U.S. Senate seat." — U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in a news conference about his role in the replacement for President-elect Barack Obama's senate seat.

"As a responsible company, we are always willing to listen to societal partners and consider changes to our business to reinforce our commitment to alcohol responsibility," MillerCoors President Tom Long said with regard to an agreement by the company to stop making beverages that combine beer with caffeine and other stimulants.

What frames did we invoke?

Framing Check List

Articulate virtues and values

Identify cause of problem and assign

responsibility

Identify solutions tailored to the

problem

Define who should fix the

problem

Include credible and unlikely messengers

Strike a reasonable tone

Define consequences of

doing nothing

Give evidence that the problem can

improve

Use visuals/metaphors

Use numbers sparingly and explain them

Inspire optimismTailor to your

audience; tell how they can help

How is the Obama Administration framing

response to the oil spill?Virtues

and valuesCause of problem and responsibility

Solutions tailored to the problem

Who should fix the problem

Credible and unlikely messengers

Reasonable tone

Define consequences

of doing nothing

Evidence that the problem can

improve

Use visuals/metaphors

Use numbers sparingly and explain them

Inspire optimismTailored to

audience; How can they help?

Go forth and advocate!David Ernesto Munardmunar@aidschicago.org312-334-0933

Jessica TerlikowskiJterlikowski@aidschicago.org312-334-0931

Jim Merrelljmerrell@aidschicago.org 312-784-9048doseofchange.org