Advocacy Over and For the Long Term

 

Advocacy Over and For the Long Term



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  1. LOOKING AT THE LONG TERM

Let's say that you've engaged in a successful advocacy effort to gain recognition and funding for the homelessness issue in your community. Local and state officials have pledged to open a 15-bed family shelter, and to hire an outreach worker to bring homeless people into a support network. Does that mean your advocacy work is over?
Not by a long shot. Fifteen beds are hardly adequate for all the homeless families in the community, for one thing. For another, what about the vastly greater number of homeless individuals, who have no family or other ties of any kind? And what about the issue of homelessness itself? Is there a plan to address that, through financing affordable housing, seeking help and community support for the homeless mentally ill, and dealing with the other issues that created a homeless population in the first place? Furthermore, what will happen if money gets tight - will the shelter be threatened with closing, the outreach worker laid off?
The reality is that your successful campaign has only started the process of addressing homelessness.





2. VISION: SEEING THE WHOLE.

Looking at the long term means having an ultimate goal, and a series of lesser goals along the way, the achievement of each of which will bring you closer to your destination. Reaching that ultimate goal is a journey that's as important as the destination. The long view is the view of that whole journey - of the length of it, the twists and turns, and the steps you have to take to reach the end.

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