What Do We Do?

I was thinking that maybe people don't really understand what it is that we do or how we do it, and so I thought it might make for a good topic. It's not really rocket science, but knowing the process and understanding timing on the Hill is important. For instance, if your goal is to affect an appropriation (Congressional discretionary funding), early in the calendar year is an important (and very busy) time of year. Authorizing legislation or resolutions may or may not be on different timing, but knowing what your are asking for and at what point in the process the something that you're asking for is at is the first point.

Another important piece of being effective is building relationships. There are a lot of variables here, but the most important ones to me are being genuine and being prepared. You may or may not be able to answer all questions you are asked about your topic - whether its prostate cancer research funding, specific facts about prostate cancer, programs for prostate cancer screening or treatment, or whatever it might be. However, you cannot be afraid to say "I don't know". It's probably best though if that is not your answer to every question asked, though.

The third point to being an effective advocate is ASK FOR SOMETHING. There is a purpose to every visit and even if you are just "stopping by to say 'Hi'", you have to leave every office with a request. So many people enter a meeting with a staffer or Congressional member and don't actually ask them for anything. Keep in mind that what makes us 'advocates' as opposed to 'lobbyists' is that we are educating and the requests that we make are towards programs (as opposed to earmark projects that would directly benefit us - in other words, we ask for increased funding for research funding, but we are not going to profit from those increased funds - at least monitarily). I hope that we do profit from the research funding in finding betting tools for early detection, treatment and eventually a cure.

Unfortunately, the terms 'lobbying' and 'lobbyist' are bad words, and thus we use words like 'advocating' and 'advocates'. It's scandals like the never-ending Abramoff saga that ultimately hurt the organizations like ours who try to bring important issues like prostate cancer to the people that we elect to set forth our government services to fight these devastating diseases.

So we use our skills, abilities and knowledge to forge relationships on Capitol Hill with Members of Congress and the people that work for them to educate them about the different aspects of prostate cancer issues, inform them of the many ways they can help, and ask for their support.

What are the issues? The issues are increasing research funding (for early detection, treatment, causes and so much more), creating programs to educate about, and screen and treat for prostate cancer, and using their influence as public figures to help educate men about the dangers of prostate cancer. These three broad topics contain a lot of detail that cover a number of bills and resolutions, but it's a relatively simple process.

The truly important thing to walk away from your computer with is NOT that you need to know how to do all of this or that there's too much to learn for you to get involved - the important thing to know is that we can handle most of the details of the content and the process, but WE NEED YOU. We need you, the advocate, the voter, the constituent to add volume to our voice. I can talk and talk and talk (can't you tell from my long posts?), and I will have mixed results - some Members and staff I know from my days as a staffer or through other connections, some Members or staff are simpathetic because of their own personal story - but to be truly consistent and to create broad-based support, we need people from around the country to make sure the people you elect to represent you are paying attention.