7.4 Next Steps

Crafting your message^[1]

Many of our key audiences often have very little time to discuss complex issues. Given these time constraints, it is imperative to develop a succinct message about early childhood issues that will capture the audience’s interest. Advocates must also be capable of communicating a clear and concise message in a number of different formats: letters, e-mails, speeches, and meetings with public officials.

The message needs to:

• Engage the Audience
• State the Problem
• Inform Others about Potential Solutions
• Call to Action

The EPIC format, trademarked by the grassroots advocacy organization RESULTS (www.results.org), is a useful way to create a concise but powerful statement.

Engage the Audience
Identify the audience you are trying to influence. Choose information and language that will resonate with the audience and help it understand the issues.

State the Problem
Clearly and concisely define the problem. Choose the most compelling component of the issue for each audience.

Think about:

• What is the problem?
• Who is affected by the issue?
• Why does the issue need to be addressed at this time?
• Where is the problem greatest?
• When is intervention needed before there are negative consequences?
• How are children, families, and the community affected?
• What local data can you provide to emphasize how the problem is affecting the community?

Inform Others about Potential Solutions

Be prepared to suggest and discuss practical solutions. Consider your specific recommendations, the evidence you have to support them, and how these solutions might be funded.

Call to Action

The call to action required will vary according to the audience and the problem at hand, but make sure to clearly define the “ask.” The action requested should be specific and give your audience an immediate way to get involved.

Moving the Work You are Already Doing and Taking it Further.

“Anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me.” – Fred Rogers

Most of us want to see, and be a part of, positive change in our programs and communities for a variety of reasons. Taking the first steps can be intimidating, it may be difficult to know where to start. You may be wondering:

• How do I know what is important to me?
• What if I don’t know enough?
• What if people think I am a trouble-maker?
• What if I offend someone?
• What if I make it worse than it already is?

These worries are common and worthy of addressing. When you take the first steps from little a advocacy to Big A advocacy it can be helpful to identify one or two people you can rely on to help you address your concerns. This can be anyone: a co-worker, supervisor, colleague, partner, teacher, classmate, etc.

There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed in the field of ECE and it can be hard to narrow down where to hone your focus. Remember you are not alone! Many associations focused on early childhood have wonderful links and resources in which you can connect and explore different levels and types of advocacy.

Let’s get started!

“To take a first step forward, you have to lose your balance a little.”
—3-year-old child in Reggio Emilia, Italy

There are also some wonderful tools to help you get started on your advocacy journey. For this module, we are going to use the You Have What It Takes! Zero to Three Advocacy tool. This tool was designed by ZERO TO THREE to help early childhood care & education professionals use their abilities, skills, knowledge and experience towards advocacy.

Let’s walk through this tool together.

1. The first thing you will need to do is print the Advocacy Tool. You can use the link above or you can copy the pages out of this module.

Once you have copied or printed the Advocacy Tool pages, list out the ECE issues that you are interested in working as an advocate.

Take 10-15 minutes to free write about your thoughts around issues in ECE. If you have never done a free write, this is a good place to start. Simply place your pen or pencil on a piece of paper and write whatever comes to mind about this subject. Here are a couple of ideas to consider:

Think about the little a advocacy you do. What are the bigger issues connected to this work? Are you aware of any state or federal policies that are related to this in your classroom?

How would you imagine early childhood education and care at it’s very best? What are the aspects you would see in classrooms, programs, or in your community? What are the barriers that might get in your way of achieving this image?

Once you have finished your free write, reread it and highlight three areas that mean the most to you, Write them down in the space provided on the Advocacy Tool Form.

1. For the next step, identify the skills that you already possess that make you a strong advocate. Consider each carefully, and rate yourself honestly. Remember that this form is to help you see where your advocacy skills can be put to use. Be honest, there are no wrong answers.
2. Now, use the Matching Skills chart to illustrate how your skills connect to different advocacy strategies. Fill in your scores on the Matching Skills to Advocacy Skills Chart.

When you have completed this chart, see where your strongest skills align with the Advocacy Strategies. You may be surprised at what you see, but don’t let that intimidate you, you might have advocacy skills you haven’t even considered yet!

You are now ready for  your next step.

1. Build your Advocacy Plan and identify some achievable goals! Use the Advocacy Strategies that you checked off on the Matching Skills sheet. In the first column, list three of the Advocacy Strategies in which you had a high rating.
2. Next, visit the ZERO TO THREE Policy & Advocacy page. Also take a look at the NAEYC Advocacy page. Browse through the different topics and tools. What do you see that align with the three issues you identified at the beginning of this assignment available on this page that align with those issues? Do not get worried if you have to dig around a bit. You want to make sure that both the issue and plan align with what you feel is valuable and you are passionate about. In the second column, write down the first step you will take to work towards your advocacy strategy.
3. Identify your resources. You do not have to do this work alone! This section of the Advocacy Tool helps you to identify who you can collaborate with, how you can get connected, and how it will help you grow in your Big A advocacy work. Let’s break this section down to the three columns.

• Individual or Organization—Who do you know is already involved in this work? Who do you know is passionate about this issue? Consider different professional development sessions you have had around the issue, who led those sessions? Think about your break room or playground conversations: who has expressed similar hopes or frustrations? What organizations are leading this work?
• Connecting to Resources—How are you going to connect with the individuals and/or organizations that you have identified? For individuals, an email or phone call is a great place to start, followed by an invitation to meet either in person or virtually. Organizations often have a plethora of resources on their websites and connecting to organizations can be as simple as visiting the website and becoming a member or joining the email list.
• How this resource can support your advocacy plan—It is very easy to get lost in a conversation or go down the rabbit hole of information on a website and lose your focus on your original intent. Be sure to complete this third and final column of the Advocacy Tool and consider it as the beginning of your road map on your advocacy journey.

CONGRATULATIONS! You now have an Advocacy Plan!

Even with your plan, you may be still feeling a little nervous or not quite sure where to start. To learn how to begin your advocacy journey, watch the Tedx talk by Joseph R. Campbell as he describes five steps you can take to become an advocate. 

Five Steps to becoming an Advocate

As you listen to his talk, write down how you might see yourself following these steps to support your own advocacy plan.

• Lock down your motivation—what is your sense of purpose?

• Establish role models or become one yourself—who else has done similar work?

• Understand your historical context and the histories of people around you—how do your intentions align with these contexts?

• Focus all those benefits, beliefs, and observations to push a way forward—are you looking at all the different perspectives? Who else do you need to connect with to learn more?

• Find a way forward—how can you take a step in, take a few steps back, and then step up?

Conclusion

As an early childhood care and education professional, you are in a unique and powerful position in influencing the lives of children and families. The work you do each day supports children in becoming healthy and happy adults. The way you speak to and speak about children can change the way families understand and support their children.

You are also in a unique and powerful position in understanding the issues that affect many families and children. You see the day-to-day struggles that families face, the barriers that keep children for succeeding to their full potential, and the missteps of policy creation that hold families back. You are an expert on these issues.

Embracing your role as both a “little a” advocate and a “Big A” advocate is an important part of the work you do with children and families. Hopefully, this module has provided you with tools, support, and motivation to continue and expand on this work. You do not have to do this alone. Partner with other ECE professionals in your program or center, connect with associations that support children and families, and find ways in which you can listen to the perspectives of the children and families in your care and invite them to get involved.

Most importantly, remember that your thoughts, experiences, and ideas are valuable, and your voice needs to be heard.

Adaptation Credit

Adapted from Chapter 6 in Leadership in Early Care and Education by Dr. Tammy Marino; Dr. Maidie Rosengarden; Dr. Sally Gunyon; and Taya Noland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Crafting Your Message up to and including Call to Action paragraph added from pages 9-10 in the Early Childhood Advocacy Toolkit (2009) by The Ounce of Prevention Fund. The content was modified to reflect the Canadian context.