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American Heart
Association
You’re the Cure Advocate
Training Part 2
Diane Pickles, M+R Strategic Services
April 19,2010
What is ADVOCACY?
Advocacy is the application of pressure and
influence on the people and institutions
that have the power to give you what you
want.
What’s a campaign?
A set of activities conducted to achieve
a specific goal – something you want
• Can be large or small
• Can be formal or informal
(“Campaign” or “campaign”)
• Has a beginning, middle, and an end
• Has a clear end goal
How does the AHA choose its
campaign goals?
• Assessment of priority policy needs
related to heart disease and stroke
issues
• Assessment of the opportunities,
challenges, and political environment
related to priority policies
• Talking to AHA staff, advocates, and
champions
Our number one job as
advocates is to make it easy for
decision makers to give us what
we want (and hard to
ignore us!)
Key Considerations
• What do you want?
• Why do you want it?
• What person or institution has the POWER
to give it to you?
• How will you build credibility with and get
access to those POWER brokers in order
to influence their decision-making?
When should the Power Prism
be triggered?
• Whenever “something” happens –
– May be an internal or external campaign event
• Event should prompt advocates to ask
themselves: “Is this an opportunity to build
power for our mission by executing any or all
of the six advocacy power tools?”
Internal events are controlled by
the campaign – proactive
• Press events
• Enlistment of new coalition members,
endorsements
• Filing of legislation
• Conducting & releasing poll
• Launch of new campaign
External events are out of the
campaign’s control – reactive
• National data is released relative to issue
• Lawmakers propose good or bad
legislation
• Passage/failure of similar policy in another
state
• Positive or negative editorial
Keys to advocacy
• Focus on building POWER
• Work to increase our access to and
credibility with those who have the
power to give us what we want
• Use all 6 power tools
Case study
How the Power Prism® applies to
Oakland Hearts in Action:
Improving access to school grounds and
facilities to increase physical activity
What do you want?
To “unlock” Oakland public school grounds
and facilities outside of school hours,
increasing access for physical activity and
nutrition programs without cost
Why do you want it?
• School lockouts prevent
children from getting needed
physical activity
Overweight among children 6-11 years of age, 20012004 by sex, race and Hispanic origin
30.0
25.0
20.0
White only
15.0
Black or African-American only
Mexican
10.0
• Childhood overweight and
obesity causes immediate
problems and future
cardiovascular risk
5.0
0.0
All Boys age 6-11
All Girls age 6-11
Overweight among children 6-11 years of age, 20012004 by poverty level
20.5
20
19.5
• Low-income and minority
children are more likely to be
overweight or obese
19
18.5
18
17.5
17
16.5
16
All children age 6-11
Below 100% of poverty level
100%-less than 200%
National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2007.
Which individuals or institutions have
the power to give you what you want?
Oakland Unified School District Board of
Education
What potential barriers/
opponents will campaign face?
•
•
•
•
School security requirements
Challenges related to union contracts
Financial constraints
To some degree, liability issues
Research and Data Collection
– A policy model elsewhere in U.S.?
– Healthy People 2010 Goal: increase access
to school facilities after school hours
– RAND Corporation study: playground access
important tool in fighting obesity
– Who are the power brokers and what can we
learn about how to influence them?
(Complicated by the school district’s period of
state oversight)
Research and Data Collection
No data will be more compelling than day-today impact of school access on Oakland
children – REAL STORIES
Coalition Building &
Maintenance
Recruit individuals
and organizations
as allies and
partners
Coalition Building and
Maintenance
• Initially reached out to AHA volunteers and
supporters of cardiovascular health issues
• Narrowed focus, reaching out to
organizations invested in school facilities
access issue
Fundraising and Development
• No formal funding – in-kind donations
• Potential funders: Oakland based sports
teams and athletes with Oakland ties
– High-profile donors can become high-profile
advocates, garner media and public
attention
Grassroots and Key Contacts
• Coalition developed key contacts to
influence Oakland School Board
– Secured buy-in from two school board
members
– Facilities and athletics administrators to work
on solutions and gain support
• Key contacts in the community
– UC Berkley: provided UC facilities at reduced
cost for local youth track & field championship
meet
Grassroots and Key Contacts
• Key Contacts in legislature
– Assembly member Sandré Swanson’s field
rep involved in coalition work
– Swanson sponsored legislative resolution to
bring state-level attention to issue and help
rally supporters to cause
Media Advocacy
• Free media (“earned media”)
• Built relationship with editor of East Bay
Times
• Focused on controversial aspect to gain
media attention: “students locked out of
their own schools”
Decision Maker Advocacy and
Lobbying
• Framing for school board: physical activity
and better nutrition improve school
performance
• Real stories
• Data and emotion!
Decision Maker Advocacy and
Lobbying
“When we first started, we worked with one high school student-athlete
named Johnny Terrell. Although Johnny was a student at Oakland Tech,
the school grounds were locked after school, so he had to hop the fence
– essentially “breaking in” – to use the facilities for athletic training. After
working with Johnny, he was accepted to Humboldt State University, and
was the first in his family to go to college. Johnny just graduated early
with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.”
-Harold Pearson, coalition member, Co-Founder and Executive
Director of Student Program for Academic and Athletic
Transitioning (SPAAT)
Outcomes to Date
• One of AHA’s partners, Unity Council,
signed MOU with Oakland Unified
School District for use of soccer fields
and a gym for specified hours and cost
• Charging teams that use the space on
weekends to cover the weekday usage
fees (teams populated by the school’s
students can’t afford the fees)
• Each partner will request their own
agreements for the school facilities
they use most often
• Looking for mutual wins – sharing
equipment storage space; focusing on
how these groups benefit students
Acknowledgements
This case study was based on informative
interviews with Oakland Hearts in Action
advocates: Keisha Nzewi, Eric Batch,
Mark Alexander, Harold Pearson, and
Susan Kleinman Wallis. Thank you to
these advocates for sharing their time and
valuable experience.
Questions?
Questions?