Engaging Communities Good Morning and welcome! My name is Mandla Moyo and I am the Community Engagement Director for AARP Indiana. AARP is a non-profit non-partisan membership organization geared to helping people 50+ live their best lives 830,000 members in Indiana. We advocate on a number of priorities both at the national, state and local level. One of advocacy priorities is to promote livable communities in Indiana – ties in with our members’ desire to be able to age in their homes and communities We’ve been involved in some key advocacy victories in Indiana: Indianapolis Complete Streets ordinance INDOT internal complete streets policy FT. Wayne Complete Streets Policy Indianapolis Transit Referendum Hope today to briefly share some resources that might be helpful for your work to make your communities more livable. One of the common themes that you have heard and will continue to hear throughout this workshop is the importance of advocacy. By raising your hand, how many of you already strongly advocate for or against different issues within your community? … Excellent. Now, does anyone want to try and explain what it means to be an advocate?

What does it mean to be an advocate? Dictionary Definition To speak or write in favor of a cause Recommend or support publicly by argument One who acts on behalf of another A champion, proponent, or backer

Advocate: Do you know one? How do you feel about being an advocate? Would you place your picture here? How AARPIN succeeds in advocating for our legislative priorities is through our AARPIN legislative team. A team of volunteers who play a crucial role in communicating AARP’s non-partisan positions on top state legislative issues by meeting regularly with legislators at the State House and in their home districts. This line of communication provides a direct volunteer connection that helps AARP achieve legislative victories to advance our legislative priorities. We all can make GREAT advocates/CHAMPIONS for our issues/priorities.

-James Grant, Former Ex. Dir. Of UNICEF Your Voice Matters “Each of the great social achievements of recent decades has come about not because of government proclamations, but because people organized, made demands, and made it good politics for governments to respond. It is the political will of the people that makes and sustains the political will of governments.” -James Grant, Former Ex. Dir. Of UNICEF All of you can be and have probably been advocates for something in your life. It might be something as simple as trying to convince a friend to eat at a specific restaurant instead of the one he or she picked. Have you ever signed a petition? That is advocacy in action. Voting. How many of you vote? All of these are examples of advocacy.

CALL TO ACTION Focus on a specific issue Livable Communities/Healthy Communities Local or Statewide? City of Gary/Lake County Determine Effective Strategies/Solutions Build Networks and Relationships Contact decision makers: City-County Council Members, Mayors, State Representatives, State Senators, Governor Be persistent Although we all represent a number of different interest be it the built environment, livable communities and/or healthy food access. It’s important for us to determine effective strategies and solutions that work here. Who are the main decision makers? Who should we focus on first? And, last but not least, don’t give up. Be persistent. Just because Plan A didn’t work out, doesn’t mean you failed. There is always a Plan B.

Steps to Getting What You Want Advocate Educate Legislate Litigate IF need be, these are the four steps to help you accomplish an advocacy goal. The first two go hand in hand. When you advocate, most often you have to inform and educate your audience about what you want, what they need to do, and what the next step is that they have to take in order to help successfully achieve your objective.

Effective Messaging Know Your Audience The Three C’s Clear Concise Compelling There are so many ways to be an effective advocate and ALL are important. Take your time, do what feels comfortable, and have fun! Each individual or group that you target will view your issue differently. You might have to change your talking points depending on your audience. Be flexible. Find a connection. Focus in on the passions of your audience. Be clear, concise, and compelling.

Personal Touch Make It Personal/Tell Your Story - How are you connected to the issue? Stay Focused Hook, Line and Sinker - Introduction - Talking Points - Request Remember: You don’t have to know all of the answers or statistics. There are resources to help you. As I mentioned before, making a connection is important when advocating for a cause. Make it personal. Explain why you believe this issue is so important. Hook, Line and Sinker. Identify yourself: provide your name, your address or general location of your residence, your organization, and/or your title. Are you a volunteer? Are you a parent? Are you a bicyclist? Enter into a conversation using your talking points. Then, make your request. How can they help you? What needs to be done to accomplish your goal?

AARP RESOURCES FOR LIVABLE COMMUNITIES ADVOCACY - Sidewalks and streets survey - Livability Index - Livable communities website Livability fact sheets Complete streets - Age friendly communities Finally, I want to mention the AARP resources for livable communities advocacy. These resources help with everything from policy development to Fact & Sheets to help with stating you case. All these resources are available at NO cost and many of our tool particularly the livability index can be community specific.

RESOURCES aarp.org/livable www.aarp.org/livable-communities/getting-around/info-2014/aarp-sidewallks-and-streets-survey livabilityindex.aarp.org aarp.org/livability-factsheets www.aarp.org/livable-communities/network-age-friendly-communities mmoyo@aarp.org and amarr@aarp.org