Four ways to act

Advocacy comes in four main forms. Pick the one that fits your audience.

• Write: op-eds, policy briefs, and public comments. Best for decision-makers and the public.
• Organize: clubs, petitions, and coalitions. Best when numbers matter.
• Build: tools that show a better way. Best when people need to see it working.
• Speak: testimony, talks, and meetings. Best when you can get in the room.

An op-ed (show definition) is an opinion article by someone outside a news outlet’s staff. A policy brief (show definition) goes straight to a decision-maker. A good brief has four parts:

1. The problem: one sentence, with one real example.
2. The stakes: who is harmed, and how much.
3. The evidence: two or three solid sources beat twenty weak ones.
4. The ask: a specific action, by a specific person, with a date.

the ask (show definition) is the part most people get wrong. “Someone should do something” is not an ask.

Recall the public comment rule from Module 2: it is not a vote. One well-reasoned comment with evidence can count for more than a hundred copies of the same message.