What is Advocacy?

  • A combination of functions designed to change the political, social and medical environments.
  • A strategy of supporting or opposing factors that impact public health.
  • Persuading an empowered audience to change policy either through regulation or legislation.
     

What You Should Know About Advocacy?

  • Advocacy assists in creating an environment that enables and motivates the American public to act on an issue.
  • Advocacy mobilizes public support to generate affirmative actions to significantly influence leaders in the public and private sectors.
  • Advocacy involves lobbying, community organization, networking, coalition building and partnership, and activism.
  • Advocacy builds and broadens constituency. 
     

The Regulatory Process

  • Influencing state agencies on a general rules governing people's rights or conduct that is promulgated by a state agency and has the force of law. Agencies promulgate regulations in order to administer and enforce specific state laws and to implement general agency objectives.
  • AHA’s involvement includes agency meetings, participation in committees/task forces, written comments, etc.
     

Tips for Being an Effective Advocate to Your Lawmakers

  • The most important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you personalize the issue and tell your story. It makes the issue real.
  • Let your lawmakers know where you live (city, state) so they understand you are a constituent. Remember they work for you.
  • Ask your member for his/her position on the issues.
  • Let them know they have the power to save lives.
  • Ask your member for his/her support on MATCH issues.

Legislators are farmers, banker, businessmen and women who rely on us to inform them about what their communities need so that they can make smart decisions.  Who better to do this than a friend of MATCH?  Elected officials prioritize comments they receive from constituents like you.

Click here to find out who represents you in the Connecticut General Assembly

Click here to learn about testifying at a public hearing.

Remember to let your MATCH representative Jill Barry know when you have heard from or spoken to your legislators.