NWA Leadership Academy: Grassroots Advocacy and the WIC Client Audience .Part 2 of 4: Be a Voice for WIC Series Originally aired Thursday, October 11, 2012, Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET

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Housekeeping Items

Week 2 Objectives

• Role of grassroots advocacy in disseminating key messages.

• Choosing messages to convey WIC’s value proposition.

• Offering clients the opportunity to tell stories of how WIC helped them.

• Offering clients opportunities to register to vote or learn to contact their legislators.

• Examples of practical “hands-on” presentations and recommendations.

Learning Agenda for

the Webinar

Series

Packaging the story of WIC and establishing WIC’s value proposition and the difference that WIC makes in the lives of clients and communities.

Learning about the nature of advocacy, marketing and the activities that will serve to disseminate the WIC message.

Identifying specific action steps for effective advocacy and marketing.

Learning how to engage with WIC clients to obtain personal stories on the benefits of WIC.

What is Grassroots

Advocacy?

• Educating clients and other non-legislative constituencies about WIC and the WIC Program.

• Helping clients and other non-legislative constituencies learn how to vote, contact their legislators or participate in other civic activities.

Choosing The Messages That

Convey The Value Proposition

Of WIC

• Statistical findings to illustrate – How WIC services improve

health, reduce healthcare costs

– The efficiencies created by the program

• Facts differentiating WIC from entitlements such as SNAP

• Other messages that clearly communicate the value of the WIC Program

What is a Value

Proposition?

• An analysis or statement of the combination of goods and services offered by a company to its customers - BusinessDictionary.com

• A business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings - investopedia.com

• A Question to Consider: What are the most distinctive purpose-driven forms of value your organization creates/will create for its current/future stakeholder segments?

Establishing WIC’s Value Proposition

• Essential to clearly describe the services provided by WIC clinics

• Essential to describe how WIC services add value: – Achieves Medicaid savings; – Decreases infant mortality; – Improves birth outcomes and

reduces low and very-low birthweight infants;

– Improves overall health of women and children;

– Increases breastfeeding rates; – Contributes to the local

economy.

The Value of Client Stories

Come from individuals who have been helped by WIC

They’re unique

Illustrate the value proposition of WIC from many perspectives

Can highlight specific aspects of WIC such as breastfeeding, preventing childhood obesity or other important programmatic features

How to Obtain Client Stories

ASK: How has WIC made a difference in your

life and your children’s lives?

Would you be willing to share your stories? We will only use first names.

EXPLAIN: that their story would be used to show

WIC’s value. Tell them where the story would be shared – such as the WIC website.

PRIVACY/PERMISSION: Need to ensure client privacy – only use

first names.

Obtain written permission from client to use photos or videos. They may only want to tell their story. Ask if they would like to share photos/videos. Honor their requests.

Client/WIC Staff/Community Member Stories

What types of stories would you want to highlight?

Improvement in health status

Positive changes in health behaviors

The value of breastfeeding and overcoming challenges, and how peer counselors helped

Overcoming obesity, diabetes, or other reversible conditions

How WIC saved a child’s life

How a client provided a recommendation for improving the efficiency of the WIC office

How to Present Client Stories

Determine the client’s media choice – do they want their story: – Just in print? – On the WIC

website? – Videotaped? – Interview? – WIC office

newsletter or other publication?

– Shared with Legislators?

Voter Registration Congress enacted the

National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (also known by the acronym NVRA, or, alternatively, as the “Motor Voter Act”) to make it “easier for all Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration.”

Motor Voter Registration The NVRA requires states to provide

people with an opportunity to submit voter-registration applications for federal (i.e., House, Senate, and Presidential) elections by three principal means: 1. by registering to vote at the same

time that they apply for, or seek to renew, a driver's license;

2. by submitting their voter-registration applications by mail, using forms developed jointly by each state and the Election Assistance Commission;

3. by requiring states to offer voter-registration opportunities at all offices that provide public assistance of any kind. This means WIC!

Voter Registration

• Local League of Women Voters has a voter registration program. See their website: www.lwv.org

• League of Women Voters can also present information to WIC clients about the issues and individuals in a specific election.

• The LWV has a longstanding reputation for integrity and impartial presentation.

Hands-On Presentations Legislative breakfast WIC clinic tour Awareness events

(e.g. World Breastfeeding Week) Community events

(e.g. Health Fair) Speaking

opportunities with charitable, civic, or business groups

Grassroots Advocacy involves education on several levels:

Helping clients understand how to exercise their civic rights.

Helping clients, WIC employees, and community members understand how their stories can support the WIC Program.

Helping clients understand they have a legitimate voice in contacting their legislators.

Summary

In the Next Webinar… Shaping an Advocacy Communications Strategy for

Your WIC Office • Who are your target audiences? • When should campaigns be launched? • Where should the information be presented? • Crafting the message to engage specific

audiences • How a solid public relations plan is essential to

conveying the value proposition of WIC • Recommendations for framing and packaging

information

Resources to Help You

Develop a Value

Proposition for WIC

• Visit nwica.org “Advocacy Action Center” and “Position Papers” sections for more information on:

Advocacy vs. lobbying National WIC statistics How WIC plays a role in solving important public health problems, like improving breastfeeding rates

• Visit the “Local WIC” section on NWA’s website to find state profiles with WIC-related data for each state

Questions?

Thank You for Participating!