Mission-based Advocacy Toolkit from Alliance for Children & Families

Part III: Helpful Advocacy Techniques and Framework
Building a Grassroots Network
It helps to remember that every good organizing effort starts automatically with two goals:
Win the Victory Build the Movement.
You may be able to win something by having a powerful friend make a few phone calls,
or calling in chits from important people you know – but you won’t have done anything
to “build the movement,” empower others, or motivate anyone else to get involved. And
all three will be necessary for more than winning a “quick fix” or small victory. So be
sure to work toward any “victory” you choose, in ways that “build the movement.” This
model does both.
What follows is a variation on the “NACHRI Model”
The National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions -NACHRI -
worked with its member hospitals around the country to develop Grassroots Networks
on behalf of issues important to those hospitals and the children they serve. It revolves
around a 4-Step Plan that began with small “teams” of people, and built a remarkably
effective network in just 4 years. (Their model was designed for institutional settings,
like Hospitals; with their permission it is modified here for other use.)
Step 1. Establish a “Team,” or “Core Group” of about 6 committed activists drawn
from the key groups you hope to work with. (E.g., on health care for poor
children it might include: a pastor, a doctor, a nurse, a parent, a social service
provider.) That is because people respond more readily to those they regard as
their peers. This peer-to-peer notion is very simple: if you want to recruit
lawyers, you win over one lawyer and ask that person to recruit other lawyers.
Want low-income parents? win over one and ask that person to recruit
others.... It helps if Core Group members all have good ties to the groups they
represent - or the possibility, i.e., they belong to a union, or sit on the
Committee with the mailing lists, or have regular meetings, or they work (or
live) in a place with a lot of people who can be easily reached.
This Core Group will decide your priority issues, your strategy, your goals, and
your timetable: e.g., the number of people you hope to sign up for your
grassroots network to work on specific priority issues - within 3 months, 6
months, and one year.
Step 2. Over the course of a year enlist about a dozen “Grass Tops.”
Grass Roots = citizens, voters, constituents, ... all of us.
Grass Tops = people who have an established relationship with an elected
official.
Identify “Grass Tops” related to the level of government related to your
campaign - City Council, Mayor/County Executive, state legislator, Governor,
Member of Congress. There is a practical reason for this step. Elected officials
© January 2006 The Alliance for Children and Families 41