5 Tips for Policy Advocacy

This week David Howard, State Policy Campaigns Director for the National Young Farmers Coalition and former Chief of Staff and Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture joined GFA for a session on policy advocacy. We often think of policy advocacy as strategies that external stakeholders use to influence public opinion and government policy. However, advocacy from within government can be just as impactful, especially when used as a tool to bring more diverse voices into policymaking and help people navigate government processes.

Here are 5 things we learned:

1. Empower yourself to talk to constituents. All lobbying is advocacy but not all advocacy is lobbying, which sometimes evokes images of backroom dealings or outsized influence by special interest groups. It’s important to do your research and make sure that you are in compliance with the law but don’t let a fear of lobbying be a reason to not talk to the people who best understand the problem.

2. Start with the process. Public facing processes like public meetings or public comment periods are an opportunity to bring more perspectives into your agency’s work and get valuable feedback from people who will be impacted by the policy. Think about the history of those processes, who they are convenient for, and who decides who is invited. If a proposed education policy will impact teachers and you schedule a stakeholder meeting at 10am will they be more or less likely to be able to participate? Matching the process up with the realities of impacted constituencies can offer insight into how people are currently interacting with your agency and how you can expand this network to include people who are being left out.

3. Look for flexibility. Policy is more than laws — it’s the regulations, guidance documents, requests for proposals, and day to day decisions that help government agencies make choices about what they can do. Often, there’s wiggle room to make a change in policy that doesn’t require an agency to go through a rule making process or legislation change. You can look at the language of existing policy to figure out how much discretion your agency has to adjust program language, change eligibility or interpret language in a new way that allows you to do something differently.

4. Find your allies. It’s important to understand what motivates leaders in your agency so you can appeal to their interests and find an angle that resonates with them. Career staffers may have different motivations and relationships than political appointees. People in legal and budget roles may have institutional knowledge that can help you understand what has been tried before and navigate around past roadblocks. Think about how to leverage and build alliances to make your argument more successful.

5. Express gratitude. People are busy. When you elicit feedback, show them that you value their experience and perspective and how you expect to incorporate their feedback. If you can’t take action on their feedback, communicate why. Communicating proactively can build trust and make people more likely to work with you in the future.

As a government employee, policy advocacy can be a powerful tool to build relationships that help you understand the challenges people are facing across our communities and find new ways to address those problems.