advocacy

What does our advocacy work look like?

Legislative Advocacy

Legislative advocacy refers to efforts to influence legislation, or official laws. We do this through contacting our legislators – city councilors, state legislators, and federal legislators – to share our views on an issue and ask them to vote a specific way on a ordinance, resolution or a bill.

Policy Decisions & Implementation

Policies are rules that inform and regulate how an entity operates. When a law is passed, it is often up to the departments, offices, and organizations that are affected to come up with their own policies to implement the law. Influencing these policies can be just as important as influencing laws. In addition to carrying out laws, organizations also use policies to determine how to spend money, how to prioritize work, and how to address concerning issues. As a nonprofit, we can urge organizations to create policies that will promote equity in all of these areas

Community Coalitions

When several groups share a common goal, they can form a coalition to work together to have that goal met. An advocacy coalition may focus on addressing legal, political, or social issues.

We form coalitions to impact change throughout the Blue Water area.

Public Support & Mobilization

Mobilizing public support and action includes providing information to our network about legislation, policies, or social or political movements related to our mission, and then providing information about how people can take action. This may include asking people to contact their legislator, participate in a rally, or share information on social media about the importance of an issue.

We used mobilization of public support when inviting our networks to participate in the efforts to sway the vote on playground equipment for Knox Field.