A rainy morning didn’t dampen spirits at the New Hampshire Hospital Association in Concord on October 3. In a room filled with nearly 40 people, New Futures Director of Leadership Development Linda King and Director of Advocacy Tricia Lucas shared an informative session, “Public Policy and Advocacy: A Smart Way to Effect Change.”
From the start of the presentation hosted by the New Hampshire Comprehensive Cancer Collaboration (NHCCC), Linda made it clear that “advocacy” is a word to embrace, not run from. She dissected public policy—What is it? How does it work? How do you influence it?
Tricia then took the reins, making the connection between public policy and advocacy and explained different types of activities that make up advocacy: speaking up as an individual, public education and outreach, media outreach, relationship building, research and policy analysis, and lobbying. Advocacy and lobbying are mistakenly treated as synonyms. Lobbying is a form of advocacy, but advocacy is made up of several activities, which include lobbying.
There was further exploration about the difference between direct and grassroots lobbying, limitations on lobbying by non-profits, and the difference between individual action and nonprofit action, and then a pop quiz on state, county and local government.
The journey of a bill becoming law involved special guest, Bobblehead Bill. You may remember him from his rise to fame on the program “Schoolhouse Rock!” (Don’t act like you don’t remember the song: “I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill. And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.”) Tricia used SB 120, a bill that repealed restrictions on “Happy Hour” advertising, as the case study.
The presentation, with a lot of information packed into three hours, was clearly well-received by those who attended. And, with NHCCC’s enthusiastic participation, New Futures couldn’t have asked for more.
