Advocacy Tools & Techniques Working Session Highlights
June 9, 2009

The MetroFuture goals are ambitious, and we cannot achieve them unless we talk to and convince people other than ourselves.  Doing so will take organizing and advocacy: helping our colleagues and neighbors appreciate the benefit of advancing our goals, bringing them into the effort.  The Advocacy Tools and Techniques working session at MetroFuture: From Plan to Action on June 9th was a discussion considering different strategies for effective advocacy.  We hope that expanding and sharing our toolkit in this regard will boost our ability to achieve the change, and the vision, that we want for Greater Boston.

The Advocacy Tools and Techniques working session featured three panelists: Representative William Brownsberger, of the 24th Middlesex District, which includes Belmont and parts of Arlington and Cambridge; Christian Scorzoni, Senior Adviser and Counsel for Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles; and Kathleen O’Connor Ives, Public Participation Coordinator for MAPC.  This one-hour session was an opportunity for panelists and participants to share their experiences, different perspectives, and suggested strategies related to advocacy. 

Participants shared challenges in effecting the change they want to see and discussed suggestions to address those challenges.  Questions included inquiries on current policy and projects, such as the MBTA Green Line expansion and how to advocate for pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.. The strongest theme among the questions concerned how to get your message across to elected officials.

Panelists stressed that effective advocacy should be clear and concise, as elected officials are inundated with information and have many issues before them.  All agreed that persistence, creativity, and brevity are all important components.  Participants suggested that it may be helpful for advocates to determine which officials care about the same issues, at both the municipal and state level.  Then, one can be a resource to those representatives and help them speak informatively about the issue.  Panelists also suggested that building or strengthening relationships with officials’ staff members will prove helpful.  In terms of which mode of legislative outreach is considered most effective, panelists agreed that email is by far the most convenient method, but a call, handwritten letter or meeting with legislators is likely more effective than e-mail alone.

Click here to download the working session background paper as a pdf.

For more information, visit the Advocacy portion of our website.