Advocacy and You: A Lesson plan
This lesson plan was developed from the work of Episcopal Appalachian Ministries, and a resource entitled, “The Advocacy Process in Episcopal Appalachian Ministries” was heavily used.

As in all lesson plans, “Sessions” are relative, and lessons may be lengthened or shortened as time allows. Also, please edit and add to this document as you see fit, sending copies of change or altered information to EAM for inclusion into our own outline.

You may download the whole lesson as a word document Here.

Contents:
1. What is advocacy and why are we called to do it?
2. Handout: Ways to get Involved
3. Choosing a focus
4. Handout: Doing the Research
5. Creating a plan
6. Implementation
7. Respectful Communication Guidelines
8. Guidelines for Writing a Resolution

Some ways to get involved:

• The Episcopal Public Policy network: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn/
  Become a member of this network to become active in the National Church’s advocacy network. You will gain summaries of positions adopted by the church, and alerts on where and how to act on national legislation. Most dioceses also have a public policy network.
• Episcopal Appalachian Ministries: http://www.visit-eam/org
  become a member of this network to become active in advocacy and public policy work in the Appalachian Mountain region. You will gain summaries of issues that are specific to Appalachia (mountaintop removal), and alerts on where an dhow to act on local and state legislation.
• Episcopal Network for Economic Justice: http://www.enej.org
  ENEJ serves to strengthen and support those engaged in economic justice ministries and advocate for initiatives within the Episcopal Church. ENEJ offers a publication that is helpful to congregations wishing to use their investments to promote social justice.
• The ____ Council of Churches (Ohio as an Example): http://www.ohcouncilchs.org/
  The Ohio Council of Churches (OCC) is a partnership of 27 Christian faith bodies working together in service to God. Join this network to receive public policy brief on state and local issues, particularly focusing on Social Justice issues, Headlines and public news, Faith Based issues, and General Public Polocy. Primary mechanism by which churches lobby legislators.
• The National Issues Forum institute: http://www.nifi.org/
  Online resource of issue-related articles, forums to debate issues, and notifications.
• Find-law: http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/
  Topical and searchable database of state laws, listed by state.
• Your Diocesan Staff: (in Southern Ohio) http://www.episcopal-dso.org
• Others as the instructor recalls