ADVOCACY

What is Advocacy?

Advocacy is the act of supporting, defending, or arguing for a specific cause or issue. The purpose of advocacy is to bring about change, whether that is accomplished through raising public awareness, increasing support, or influencing policy for a certain issue.

If you have ever tried to promote an issue you care about, you have engaged in advocacy!

Advocacy Agenda

Our Home Advocacy Agenda is informed by these principles:

Home

We believe that everyone deserves a safe, affordable, and quality place to live. We partner with and support other organizations, agencies, and service-providers who promote, provide, and advocate or assist individuals, families, and communities in obtaining safe and affordable housing options.

Community

NeighborWorks Green Bay is committed to supporting neighbor-led, asset-based approaches to building stronger communities in Northeastern Wisconsin. We support resident, neighborhood, and community leadership and development, and value diverse thoughts, ideas, and perspectives within communities.

Connection

NeighborWorks Green Bay prides itself on our relationships with other organizations and communities within Northeast Wisconsin. We aim to be a resource and connector for people, communities, and organizations.

Education

We are passionate about educating and empowering people and communities. We must continue to learn and educate ourselves about housing markets, challenges, and the experiences of our communities. Education is a powerful tool and we aspire to provide our community members with knowledge that fosters engagement.

Revitalization

NeighborWorks Green Bay works to sustainably leverage community resources and revitalize current structures, systems, or groups, whether that is a physical home or building, government regulation, neighborhood, or community.

Growth

As an organization, we are committed to growing our services and expanding our footprint in our community and beyond. Our priorities will remain flexible to change. Our organization will always be searching for innovative housing and community solutions.

Advocacy Priorities

Affordable Housing

Our region, state, and country need more affordable housing – specifically so that people are not spending more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities.

Landlord and Tenant Education

Landlords and tenants have specified regulations and responsibilities. Each party needs to be knowledgeable and aware of these in order to maintain fair housing standards and healthy communities.

More Resident Spaces

We need more physical housing for people, which requires building more housing, rezoning specific areas, and converting non-traditional spaces to residential.

Support for Families and BIPOC Residents

Housing has historically discriminated against BIPOC residents, which still impacts rates of BIPOC home ownership. Additionally, families have various challenges with successful home purchasing.

Advocacy in Action

Contacting Legislators

Contacting your representatives is a form of advocacy! You have the right to contact legislators about topics or legislation that impact your lives and communities. This is a great way to directly voice your opinions about legislation to the people who will vote and make decisions on your behalf.

For more in-depth information about contacting legislators, go to our Advocacy Database.

Writing and Sending an email

Our Home often sends out legislative action alerts via email to subscribers (click here to become a subscriber) that includes an automated email template for you to directly send to specified legislators. It is best to add a personalized message with these emails, usually an additional sentence or two, and then you can send the email directly to legislators!

When legislators receive hundreds of personalized messages about a certain issue, they are more likely to notice and take action.

If you do not receive our email subscriptions for action alerts and/or just want to send your own email to legislators, here are general guidelines to follow:

Find legislator emails through USA Gov, Wisconsin State Legislature, and your local government website (Green Bay, Appleton).

Use a clear subject line, such as “Please Support or Do Not Support [bill number]”

Begin email with “Dear [Senator/Represented elected official’s last name],”

Then write your position about the specific legislation and briefly explain why. For example, “I urge you to support/defeat (name the issue or bill). (Reason why you think it should be either passed or defeated or personal information about the legislation/issue). Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns.”

You can also encourage legislators to let you know their position on the legislation or issue.

Complete the email by writing “Sincerely,” and your name. It is also helpful to include the region you reside or write, “Constituent of Green Bay,” to emphasize your community and voting power.

Writing and Sending a letter

Sending letters to representatives is also a great way to voice your opinion or position about legislation! You can find the addresses for representatives’ offices through USA Gov, Wisconsin State Legislature, and your local government website (Green Bay, Appleton).

Similar to writing and sending emails to representatives:

Letters should begin with “Dear [Senator/Represented elected official’s last name],”

Write your position about the specific legislation, explain why, and/or include a personal story.

Conclude the letter by writing “Sincerely,” and your name. It is also helpful to include the region you reside or write, “Constituent of [Insert your city, town, village],” to emphasize your community and voting power.

Some people often write and mail postcards as a form of letter writing as well!

Calling Legislators

Calling legislators is another method for contacting representatives and can often be quicker than emailing or writing a letter. Calling also emphasizes tone of voice and emotion, which can be impactful for legislators and staff to hear! Often times you will be asked to leave a message with their legislative staff or on their voice mail.

You can find legislators’ phone numbers through USA Gov, Wisconsin State Legislature, and local government websites (Green Bay, Appleton).

When calling here are general tips:

Identify yourself, mention where you live, and share that you are calling about (legislation, issue). You can mention you are affiliated with NeighborWorks Green Bay or are a housing advocate.

Be brief in stating the purpose of your call and it can be helpful to prepare talking points ahead of the call.

If the representative is not available, make sure you leave a message!

A Simple Calling Script:

Hi, my name is [first and last name].

I live at [home street address or city/town/village].

I am calling [lawmaker’s title and name] about x-issue.

Add 1-2 sentences about why this is important to you and/or the community.

I hope to count on their support [for or against] this issue.

Providing Public Comment

When state legislatures hold public committee hearings and during local government city or common council meetings, there is usually an opportunity to provide public comment or testimony. Public hearings or city council meetings are open for the public to attend and participate in legislative action. Providing comment or testimony is important, especially at the state legislature since public hearings are meant for constituents, organizations, and groups to voice their opinion on specific legislation or issue and it helps legislators make amendments, move forward, or halt the legislation. It’s also important to remember that you don’t have to ONLY provide public comment or testimony for legislation or issues that you may be against, you can also do it for issues you support!

Testifying at state hearings

To see the hearing schedule for a committee, go to this link. You can also search for the committee on the Wisconsin State Legislature website or use the ‘Committees’ tab in the top menu of the website to browse committees. Hearing notices are listed near the top of the page, immediately below the list of members.

When you arrive, fill out a hearing slip and wait to be called by the committee. If you cannot stay for the entire hearing, notify the messenger or ‘page’, near the door, and ask to be called early.

They ask that you keep your testimony to five minutes or less, and bring a copy of your testimony for each committee member. In particularly long hearings, the length of testimony may be limited, usually to about three minutes.

You can also express your support or opposition to a bill without testifying. When you arrive, check the box on your hearing slip indicating that you support or oppose the bill but do not want to testify. This will be noted in the committee’s report to the Senate or Assembly.

Local Legislatures

For Local Legislatures the process may be similar-check your local government’s website for more information!

Providing Comment for the City of Green Bay’s Common Council Meetings

Go to the City of Green Bay website and navigate to the government section, where you will find sections and information about commissions and committees; meetings, agendas, minutes; and providing public comment.

To provide public comment, fill out the Comment Form ahead of time. Submitting the form does not obligate you to speak. If you decide to speak, they ask that you keep your comments relevant to the topic being deliberated, and compose your comments to last around 3 minutes.

For more information about testifying and providing comment at state and local legislatures, check out our Advocacy Database or go to the state or local legislature websites.

Media Advocacy

There are various ways to engage in media advocacy and it often involves sharing information with the public to gain support and attention for a given issue!

Social Media

Follow and engage with Our Home and NeighborWorks Green Bay advocacy posts on Instagram and Facebook! We often have posts about advocacy and calls to action about specific housing legislation or issues! Our Instagram is @nwgreenbay and Facebook is NeighborWorks Green Bay.

Your legislators and representatives are also on social media! You can contact them through their social media accounts as well and follow their legislative actions. You can find most legislators by searching their name on social media platforms and through USA Gov.

Writing Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor (LTE) are short letters for publication about an issue of concern and are often written in response to a published story. LTE can agree with or oppose a published story or could add to the article by offering a different or missed point of view. You can write letters to LTEs of a local or national newspaper, magazine, or online blog. LTE can be centered on a personal story or statistical information and data.

Most newspapers, magazines, or blogs have sections titled “Contact us” or “Stay Connected” where you can find information about how to write a letter to the editor and where to specifically send it. For example, The New York Times, USA Today, and Green Bay Press-Gazette have such information.

Writing letters to the editor can be similar to writing letters to legislators and representatives, but more information and steps about how to write letters can be found on our Advocacy Database.

Calling radio shows

Share your thoughts about housing issues or policies! Help spread information or share housing advocacy stories by calling into radio shows.

Wisconsin Public Radio

Call 800-642-1234 during the program or email ideas@wpr.org.
Please be sure to follow their call-in guidelines.

UWGB-Radio GBX

Fill out their contact form to connect with the radio station.

Electoral Advocacy

Use your voice at the voting polls!

Voter Eligibility

You are a U.S. citizen;
Will be 18 years of age on or before Election Day;
Have resided in Wisconsin for at least 28 consecutive days before Election Day;
AND are not currently serving a felony sentence, including probation/parole.

Voter Registration

Check and confirm that you are registered to vote!
You can check if you are registered through MyVote Wisconsin. If you are not, you can go through the process right there. This is also where to go to update your registration information, such as if you have moved.
MyVote Wisconsin also has information on what is on the ballot for your region or district, polling places, voting absentee by mail, and tracking your ballot.
Keep in mind the deadlines for voter registration (which vary every election), but current information can be found through MyVote Wisconsin. You can also register to vote at your polling place on the same day as an election.
A similar resource is Voter Information from The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Voter Identification

Acceptable forms of identification for voting include:

A valid Wisconsin driver license or Wisconsin state ID
U.S. passport
U.S. Uniformed Services card
Veterans Affairs ID
Tribal ID
Certificate of naturalization

Ways to Get Involved

LEARN more about advocacy and housing issues at nwgreenbay.org and through our advocacy resource database.
JOIN the Our Home advocacy network by going to nwgreenbay.org and signing up for our advocacy email notifications.
READ about our priority policy issues at nwgreenbay.org.
RESPOND right away to our email and social media action alerts!
RECRUIT friends, colleagues, family to join our advocacy network and efforts.
CONTACT your legislators or other key stakeholders through emails, letters, phone calls, social media, or a meeting.
WRITE a letter to the editor of your local newspaper on a particular housing issue.
ATTEND Our Home events – watch for emails and social media posts.
TESTIFY at a public hearing about the importance of an Our Home issue or other housing issue.
VOLUNTEER to be an advocacy spokesperson to raise awareness about housing policy issues and generate support.
HOST or volunteer at a local Our Home meeting or event.
SPEAK to other groups about your experiences with Our Home or other housing issues.
INFORM yourself about electoral information and housing ballot initiatives.