1. LEADING YOUTH TO ADVOCACY
The HOW and WHY of working with youth to create
community change
For Wedgwood Christian Services of Grand Rapids
Mike Tobias, CPS
Ken Dail
Prevention Network Michigan
Wednesday, February 5, 2014

3. Today’s goals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define lobbying and advocating
Exploring why we should involve youth
Exploring who makes the rules/who to advocate to
Outlining how to engage youth
Identifying an issue
Creating a game plan
Using the media throughout the process

4. Lobbying vs.
Advocating
Issue
identification
& game plan
Engaging
Youth
Why
involve
youth?
Who are
Decision
Makers

5. Lobbying vs.
Advocating
Issue
identification
& game plan
Why
Media Advocacy &
involve
youth?
Relationship Building
Engaging
Youth
Who are
Decision
Makers

6. But first…
sponsors
…A word from our

7. But first…
sponsors
…A word from our
Environmental Prevention 101

8. 10 Volunteers

9. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?

10. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms

11. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans

12. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans
Access

13. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans
Access
How easy is it to get something?
Water in the desert vs. water in this room

14. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans
Access
How easy is it to get something?
Water in the desert vs. water in this room
Policy & Enforcement

15. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans
Access
How easy is it to get something?
Water in the desert vs. water in this room
Policy & Enforcement
What are the rules and what if I break them?

16. Environment
How does
policy
impact use
rates?
Norms
What are “they” doing?
Bellbottoms vs. Corduroys vs. Boot cut jeans
Access
How easy is it to get something?
Water in the dessert vs. water in this room
Policy & Enforcement
What are the rues and what if I break them?
What happens when these three are not in sync with one another?

17. Section 1
Defining lobbying and
advocating

18. What is Advocating?
Speaking up for something you
believe in.

19. What is Lobbying?
Advocating to someone who is in
a position to change a policy or
procedure to make it favorable
towards something you believe
in.

20. There are two essential questions that
need to be addressed:
1.Is it legal for our agency to Lobby?
2.How do we lobby and stay legal?

21. Is it legal for our agency to lobby?
Yes, it is legal for 501 (c)(3) agencies to lobby. There are no laws at
the state or federal level that prohibit 501 (c)(3) agencies from
lobbying.
You will need to keep track of your lobbying expenses, because there
are limits on the amount you are allowed to spend on lobbying.
There are also limitations set by some funding partners as to whether
or not you can use their money to lobby.

22. What is lobbying?
There are 4 entities responsible for defining lobbying in
the state of Michigan:

23. What is lobbying?
There are 4 entities responsible for defining lobbying in
the state of Michigan:
1.Internal Revenue Service

24. What is lobbying?
There are 4 entities responsible for defining lobbying in
the state of Michigan:
1.Internal Revenue Service
2.Michigan Law - Michigan Lobby Registration Act

25. What is lobbying?
There are 4 entities responsible for defining lobbying in
the state of Michigan:
1.Internal Revenue Service
2.Michigan Law - Michigan Lobby Registration Act
3.Your Supervisor/Board of Directors/Board of Trustees

26. What is lobbying?
There are 4 entities responsible for defining lobbying in the
state of Michigan:
1.Internal Revenue Service
2.Michigan Law - Michigan Lobby Registration Act
3.Your Supervisor/Board of Directors/Board of Trustees
4.Your funding partner(s)

27. Internal Revenue Service Definition of
Lobbying:
Lobbying is an attempt to influence
legislation through direct contact
with public officials at the local,
state, and federal levels or indirectly
by appealing to officials through the
general public.

28. Michigan Lobbying Act Definition of
Lobbying:
Lobbying is any direct contact with a lobbyable
pubic official, whether face to face, by
telephone, letter, electronic media or any
other means, the purpose of which is to
influence the officials legislative or
administrative actions. (By this definition, only
state-level officials are lobbyable officials.)

29. Lobbyable Public Officials
• Lobbyable public officials are essentially those
persons, defined under statute, who may use
personal discretion in deciding whether or not to
engage in some type of legislative or
administrative action.

30. Lobbyable Public Officials
• This includes an individual who is elected or
appointed and has not yet taken office, or an
individual who is nominated for appointment to,
any of the offices or agencies enumerated in this
subsection

31. In Michigan there are a lot of people that fall in this category
• Governor and Lieutenant Governor
• Secretary of State
• Attorney General
• a classified director, chief deputy director, or deputy director of
a state department
• the legislature
• the auditor general, the deputy auditor general

32. In Michigan there are a lot of people that fall in this category
• an employee of the consumer's council
• the director of the legislative retirement system, or any other
employee of the legislature other than an individual employed
by the state in a clerical or non-policy-making capacity
• the director of the legislative retirement system
• any other employee of the legislature other than an individual
employed by the state in a clerical or non-policy-making
capacity

33. What are some examples of lobbying?
• Writing your State Representative asking them to raise the beer tax
(Michigan and IRS)
• Calling the Liquor Control Commission to encourage them to take a position
on an administrative action
(Michigan)
• Attending a Liquor Control Commission public hearing and asking them to
ban a certain brand or category of alcohol beverage
(Michigan and IRS)
• Attending a city council meeting to ask to have the curfew changed.
(IRS)

34. What are some examples of advocating?
• Posting on your personal Facebook page that
you think the legal drinking age should be 25.
• Asking your boss for a raise.
• Asking your parents to change the family
curfew.
• Recognizing an elected official for their service
or for supporting or opposing a law that has
already passed.

35. What are some examples of advocating?
• Contacting ANY elected official and letting them
know you or your agency are available as a resource
on your topic of expertise.
• Contacting a store manager or owner to discuss their
policies and procedures regarding alcohol or tobacco
sales.
• Contacting your local or state Chamber of Commerce
to discuss state-wide policies and procedures
regarding alcohol or tobacco sales.

36. What are some examples of advocating?
• Sending a letter to the editor regarding a recent
event and how alcohol played a role at the event.
• Seeing your State or Federal Representative at a local
community event and discussing with them how
proposed or passed legislation will impact your
community, family, the general public, or your
agency. (Whoops…this is really lobbying, but you
would be on your own time.)

37. How do we lobby and stay legal?
There are two ways to chose from to
track and potentially report your
lobbying expenses.

38. How do we measure and report
expenses?
• The Insubstantial Part Test –
• The Expenditure Test –

39. How do we measure and report
expenses?
• The Insubstantial Part Test – a public charity’s lobbying
activities cannot constitute a substantial part of the
organization’s total activities and expenditures. This is the
default standard that will be used, unless your organization
choose to use:
• The Expenditure Test – This choice clearly defines lobbying and
measures an organization’s lobbying activity based only on the
amount of money spent for lobbying. There are specific limits
to how much can be spent lobbying, depending on the size of
your organization’s budget. You must actively choose to use
this standard of measurement.

40. IS IT LOBBYING ?
worksheet

41. Opportunities to educate, advocate, or
lobby.
…your ideas here

42. TAKE A BREAK

43. Section 2
Why involve youth ?

44. Why Involve Youth in
Policy/Advocacy Work?
•
Less agenda driven; more candid and authentic
•
Sometimes more credible than adults and people
working in the field
•
Their passion, enthusiasm, and energy make them great
messengers
•
Because they want to make a difference in the lives of
their peers (i.e. PA125’12 Medical Amnesty)

45. Why Involve Youth continued…
• Possibly less restrictions on what they can do or say
• Policymakers like pictures of themselves with smiling
youth
• Because they know what’s going on!

47. What’s In It For Them?
• Builds resume - potential references and
demonstrates volunteerism
• Social rewards - meet other like minded teens
• Develop leadership, advocacy, and public
speaking skills that will last them a lifetime

48. What’s In It For Them continued…
• Better understanding of how the world works
• Affirmation that a drug free lifestyle is the way to go
• An opportunity to help create their own environment

49. Ways to Involve Youth
• Meeting with policymakers and key leaders in the
community.
• Have them help collect data through surveys and interviews.
• Assist with events - registration, welcoming attendees,
presenting information, master/mistress of ceremony

50. Ways to Involve Youth continued…
• Have them serve on your board, steering, or advisory committees
• Testifying before the school board, city council, Michigan Liquor
Control Commission, etc…

51. Examples Where Youth
Made A Difference
• Michigan’s efforts to ban alcohol energy drinks
• Perry youth lobbying the school board regarding their guest
policy and about having a freshman soccer team
• Dover Youth to Youth
• PA 125’12 – Medical Amnesty Law

52. Shortcut to bradjanettestifying.lnk

53. Section 3
Who makes the rules and
who do we advocate to?

54. Avenues for Advocacy and Lobbying
•Local
•State
•Federal
These can be formal or informal.

55. Who are the policymakers?
• At the Federal Level?
• President/Vice President
• U.S. Senator
• U.S. Representative
• Speaker of the House/Senate Majority Leader
• Committee Chair

56. State Level

57. State Level
• Governor Snyder
• Lieutenant Governor Calley
• Your Representative/Senator
• Speaker/Majority Leader
• Key committee chairs
• Michigan Liquor Control Commissioners

58. Local Level
• Mayor; City/village council
• City Council and School Board Committee Chairs
• School board; Principal; Superintendent
• County Commissioners and administrators
• Classroom teacher; lunch room monitor

59. Local level continued…
• Parents; other family members; babysitter; other care givers
• Business owners; Store managers; regional managers
• Prosecutor; Chief of police; Sheriff

60. Champions, stakeholders, messengers
• Regardless of level, assess the policymakers and find the champion(s).
• Identify stakeholders
• Supporters
• Opposers
• Identify the best messengers

61. ANYBODY READY FOR
LUNCH YET?

62. Section 4
How do we engage
youth?

63. Engaging Youth
• Recruit from existing youth groups
• Let them choose the topic (see above)
• EMPOWER them to make a difference
• Prepare them for an adult fight (how do they control the interview)

64. Engaging Youth continued…
• Give them the information they need
• How do they communicate with each other?
• Are they texting, tweeting, emailing?
• Using QR codes, facebook, instagram?
• Vining, Pinning, Tumbling, YouTubing, etc…?
• Once you get a core group, let them recruit

65. Existing Youth Groups
• Reach out to your coordinating agency
• SADD
• STAND
• National Honors Society
• Student Council
• Youth Advisory Councils
• Church Youth Groups
• The Kent County Youth Summit

66. Working with Youth 101
Everyone has strengths
and a role to play

67. Working with Youth 101
• Advisor Tips- Student Leadership Services
• How Strong Is Your Youth and Adult Partnership? –
Student Leadership Services
• Youth Development Model of Prevention – Student
Leadership Services
• Youth Engagement 101 - Youth Engagement & Action
in Hamilton (YEAH)

68. Section 5
Identifying an issue

69. Identifying An Issue
• Be clear with the youth if the issue is
Wedgwood’s, the coalition’s, or some other
group
OR
• If the youth group will be choosing the issue.
Clarifying this up front could avoid problems
later.

70. Identifying An Issue
• Understand that you are in it for the long haul.

71. Identifying An Issue
Do we know what works to address the issue?
• The Community Guide http://www.thecommunityguide.org
• Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. About $40 used on Amazon.
• WHO’s Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol
• The Institute of Medicine’s Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective
Responsibility
• The US Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce
Underage Drinking

73. Identifying An Issue
• What data is available to help us identify a problem?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth – MiPHY – Kent County Specific
Youth Risk Behavior Survey – YRBS – National, broken down by state
Monitoring The Future – National Data – OK for comparing local vs. nation
Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center – costs of UD by state
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids – costs of youth tobacco use
Health Department data
Emergency Room/ Ambulance run data
Treatment data
Law Enforcement data

74. Identifying An Issue
• Town Hall Meetings
• Surveys
• Key informant surveys
• Brain storming sessions

75. Identifying An Issue
• Do youth care about it?
• Is there political will to change this?
• Will enforcement be fought in the media?
• Is it enforceable / who will enforce it?
• Can it lend itself to sound bites?
• Can a youth defend this if you are not in the room?

76. Identifying An Issue
• Can this be described easily to a person outside your group?
• Do we all agree on this issue?
• How much of our reputation/future goodwill/political capital
are we willing to sacrifice for this issue?
• Do we have the support of our administration/ board /
funding partner?

77. Identifying An Issue
• 1st Step is to understand the difference
between an issue and a problem
• A problem is a broad area of concern.
• An issue is a solution or partial solution to
the problem.
• Source: Midwest Academy

78. Identifying An Issue
• One issue will not solve the problem completely; you will
need to target one specific facet of the problem.
• So, how do you choose that issue?
• Source: Midwest Academy

79. Checklist For Identifying An Issue
Source: Midwest Academy
A good issue is one that matches most of these criteria.
The issue should:
1. Result in Real Improvement in People’s Lives
If you can see and feel the improvement, then you can be sure that it has
actually been won.
2. Give people a sense of their own power.
This builds both the confidence to take on larger issues and loyalty to the
organization.

80. 3. Alter the Relations of Power.
• Building a strong, ongoing organization creates a new center of power that
changes the way the other side makes decisions.
4. Be Worthwhile
• Members should feel that they are fighting for something about which they
feel good, and which merits the effort.
5. Be Eventually Winnable
• The problem must not be so large or the solution so remote that the
organization is overwhelmed. People must be able to see from the start that
there is a good chance of winning, or that there is a good strategy for
winning.

81. 6. Be Widely Felt
• Many people must feel that this is a real problem and must agree with the
solution. It is not enough that few people feel strongly about it.
7. Be Deeply Felt
• People must no only agree, but feel strongly enough to do something about
it.
8.Be Easy to Understand
• It is preferable that you don’t have to convince people that the problem
exists, that your solution is good, and that they want to help to solve it. In
general, a good issue should not require a lengthy and difficult explanation.

82. 9. Have Clear Advocacy Targets
• The target is generally the person who can give you what you want. A more
difficult priority issue usually requires several clear targets.
10. Have a Clear Time Frame that Works for You
• A priority issue should have a beginning, middle, and end.
11. Be Non-Divisive
• Avoid issues that divide. Don’t pit different constituencies against each other.
12.Build Accountable Leadership

83. 13. Set Your Organization Up for Future Advocacy Work
14. Have a Pocketbook Angle
• Issues that get people money or save people money are usually widely and
deeply felt.
15. Be consistent with Your Values and Vision
• The issues we choose to work on must reflect our values and our vision for an
improved society.
Source: Midwest Academy

84. Identifying An Issue
• Check list of Choosing An Issue work sheet
• http://www.geaction.org/chapter2a.pdf

85. Section 6
Creating a game plan

86. Creating an Effective Game Plan
Taken from Nonprofit Advocacy: A Michigan Primer.
Written by Erin Skene, Director of Michigan Public Policy Initiative (MPPI), 2005
1. What do we want? (Goals)
2. Who can give it to us? (Audience)
3. What do they need to hear? (Message)***

87. Creating a game plan
continued…
Taken from Nonprofit Advocacy: A Michigan Primer.
Written by Erin Skene, Director of Michigan Public Policy Initiative (MPPI), 200
4.
Who do they need to hear it from? (Messengers)
5.
How can we get them to hear it? (Delivery)***
6.
What have we got? (Resources)

88. Creating a game plan continued…
Taken from Nonprofit Advocacy: A Michigan Primer.
Written by Erin Skene, Director of Michigan Public Policy Initiative (MPPI), 200
7. What do we need to develop? (Gaps)
8. How do we begin? (First steps)
9. How do we tell if it’s working? (Evaluation)

89. Preparing the Soil
• Community presentations to raise awareness
• Letters to the editor
• Meetings with key community leaders
• Articles in newsletters
• Email blasts
• Posts and tweets

90. Know the Process

91. • Building relationships
• Use science and data to make your case
• Anecdotal stories

92. Section 7
Using the media to
advocate throughout
the process

93. “If you don’t exist in the media,
for all practical purposes,
you don’t exist.”
-Daniel Shore
National Public Radio

94. “He who controls the media
controls what the public
believes to be the truth.”
- Ken Dail
Prevention Network

95. How do we create our message
• What data did you use to identify your problem?
• How did you decide on what solution to go after?
• Who exactly does this problem impact? (Any examples of this
impact?)
• How will this solution address the problem you identified?
• Why should I care?

96. How do we engage the media?
• The same way you engage the person you want to ask to the prom.

97. How do we deliver our message to them?
• How do we control the message?
• What is a PRESS KIT and do we need one in this age of digital media?
• How do we get interviewed?
• Do I HAVE TO get interviewed?

98. Today’s goals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define lobbying and advocating
Exploring why we should involve youth
Exploring who makes the rules/who to advocate to
Outlining how to engage youth
Identifying an issue
Creating a game plan
Using the media throughout the process

99. Mike Tobias, CPS - 517-393-6890
miket@preventionnetwork.org
Ken Dail – 517-393-6890
kend@preventionnetwork.org