Advocacy for schools

1. An Introduction to Advocacy

2. What is advocacy?
Advocacy is active promotion of a cause or principle
Advocacy involves actions that lead to a selected goal
Advocacy is one of many possible strategies, or ways to approach a
problem
Advocacy can be used as part of a school or community initiative,
nested in with other components.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

3. What ISN’T Advocacy?
Advocacy is not direct service
Advocacy does not necessarily involve confrontation or conflict
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

4. Examples of Advocacy vs. Service
 You join a group at school that helps collects books for needy students. That's a service.
 You develop a plan and speak to the school board to get a portion of the discarded books
from previous materials adoptions donated to local food banks to be given to families. That's
advocacy.
 You spend your Saturdays with students helping sort out goods at the recycling center. That's
a service.
 You discover that your school does not recycle paper. You speak to the administration and
district supervisors about a recycling plan. You get support from a local recycling company to
implement a recycling program for paper in your school. That's advocacy.
Based on http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

5. Defining Advocacy
Advocacy is an on-going process of building partnerships
so that others will act for and with you, turning passive
support into educated action.
Based on the definition from the AASL