Whoa! Before We Start:
Why Are We Really Doing This?As some of us find ourselves in a sudden fight to keep a local or state funded program alive, our first concern is to protect the program even as we lament the lack of time and resources to insure its survival. Many of us, especially those working in traditional service organizations, have been taught that the task of budget advocacy (among many things) is up to organization/program staff, “professionals who know.” Creating opportunities for community members to take leadership roles in advocacy can seem to take too much time and not appear worthy of the effort. This is particularly true when we are struggling with preconceptions about our constituents' communication and language skills, their capacity to learn fast enough, and their resources, interest and savvy to help direct the fight. We might also feel that we don’t have the skills, knowledge base or capacity to successfully take on this type of community-led, capacity building work.
While issue-based budget and policy advocacy done by “professionals” is important, the truth of the matter is that unless real people are up at the capitol representing their issues, those issues will be ignored. And since we are often not the ones writing hefty checks to state legislators, we need a base of passionate constituents to make the case to policymakers. And that's a good thing because the real change we seek will only come to be when those that are affected are in the driver’s seat.
REALITY CHECK 2:
Respect, Recognize, Use and Raise Your Community's Skills Knowledge and ExperienceWe should always ask ourselves the hard questions: Is this process building the skills and knowledge of my constituents? Is it really using the wealth of resources that my constituents have or is it promoting more typical, passive, back seat roles that grassroots communities are usually relegated to? (e.g. trip chaperones)? Is this process being led by constituents and are we supporting this process? How is my organization developing the capacity to support this work? The tools/links in Making It Relevant to Your Community below provides some context and ideas for actively engaging community members through the use of popular education and participatory learning and action.
It helps to remember that you are accountable to your constituents. Sharing the struggle with them—win or lose—gives them first-hand knowledge of your work and all the intricacies involved, which ultimately gives you allies that can support the work and build the credibility of the program.
Making It Relevant to Your Community:
Using Popular EducationPopular education is a process of using participant-based learning to uncover root causes of social, economic, and political problems and using this analysis to move a group into action for a more just world. Many groups around the world have developed popular education workshops that use people’s experience to create the necessary groundwork for change to occur. In the United States, popular education has strong roots in a variety of social movements, including the early labor movements of the 1930s and the Freedom and Citizenship Schools of the Civil Rights Movement.
When led by a skilled facilitator, popular education can help groups assess a situation by identifying needs and uncovering root causes of problems (through tools like community mapping and power analysis), develop an alternate vision for society, create plans for enacting change, and participate in the evaluation and further planning for long-term goals. Throughout this process, popular education reinforces the capacity building and development of people as leaders for change.
The links below lead you to organizations that specialize in providing popular education and action planning tools that involve community members as active participants and leaders in the process. Some of these tools are specifically designed around health and budget issues, others can be easily adapted.
Resources and Links
Popular Education:
- Highlander Center
- Project South
- Theatre of the Oppressed/Legislative Theater
- Grassroots Policy Project
- United For a Fair Economy
Advocacy & Grassroots Organizing:
Building Relationships With Allies
Who Else Cares About This Issue?Building relationships and coalitions is an absolute necessity for effective organizing and advocacy, especially around budget issues. Be strategic about choosing your partners. The following matrix is designed to help you evaluate potential allies as you move forward in your budget advocacy.
- Ally Matrix (MS Word, 32K)
