Advocacy Tips

Advocating for the Parents as Teachers Program and for issues that affect families is part of the job of every parent educator. Parent educators see first hand the issues that face families and children. With the current budget crisis in North Carolina, advocacy becomes more crucial than ever as more and more cuts are made.

The experts tell us that the most effective advocacy occurs on the local level. Building relationships with key local school board members, Partnership for Children (SmartStart) board members, commissioners, and legislators in your community is a crucial first step. Learn who they are, their committee assignment, and their program or legislative interests. Help them see how your program is related to their interests. Let elected officials hear from your families as well. Elected officials need and want to hear from their constituents. Most elected officials have regular district office hours.

You can advocate by using some of the following suggestions:

Letters - Personal letters are the most effective. Each constituent's letter is read and tabulated.

Phone - Let your legislators know your opinions on bills pending. (The North Carolina General Assembly legislation is online at www.ncleg.net)

Personal Contact - Have your families share their stories with your officials either with a letter or personal contact.

Program Invitation - Seeing Parents as Teachers in action is a tremendous selling point. Invite your official on a home visit and/or to a group meeting.

Media - Write (or have families write) a letter to the editor of your local newspaper stressing the importance of your program. Some programs have had feature articles in their local paper.

Presentations - Take any opportunity to share what you are doing. In one county a PAT program director invited a family to share their story at a Partnership for Children board orientation. It was very effective, and the new board got a very real feeling for what they are funding.

Continue to stress that PAT is a family literacy program and to cite the research that shows that PAT children score higher on tests than their peers who did not participate in PAT. Both your program Administration Guide and Born to Learn™ Curriculum have information to help with advocacy.

Visit the following websites for more advocacy information:

www.parentsasteachers.org - Parents as Teachers National Center has information on federal legislation. Look for and download the PAT Advocacy guide.

www.ncchild.org - NC Child Advocacy Institute, click on Covenant page link for information on "cyberlobbying."

www.cpdmi.org - Find who your local members to the General Assembly are, click on "Capital Advantage" link and type in your nine-digit zip code.