Advocacy
Part of the Network in Aging's mission is to provide our members with opportunities for resource exchange and professional development. While we do not advocate for or against any particular legislation, we do encourage our members to become active participants in the legislative process. This section is devoted to helping you learn how to become and remain an effective advocate for older adults.
Each spring, the Network in Aging sponsors a Town Hall Meeting where our members are invited to share their concerns with the leaders of New York State's Aging Committees in the State Senate and Assembly. This is another opportunity to present your organization's point of view on legislation and on budgetary issues.
Why advocate?
Advocacy is you telling your legislators how an issue or condition has affected you or someone you know. Whether you are a caregiver, a professional, or a person with needs related to aging, a specific condition or disability, YOUR STORY COUNTS! If legislators don't hear from their constituents that there is a problem, they don't know it is a problem. The more legislators understand how your needs (and your community's needs) affect people's lives, the more they will do to fight for policies and funding to help the families living in the districts they serve.
Many times legislators reach out to us for input on public policy issues and our specific community concerns. For example, each year the Network in Aging of WNY holds a Town Meeting to facilitate communication between legislative leaders and citizens of the region. Public office holders are chosen and maintained by the people they serve - and as your "public servants,"they appreciate your involvement and concern. Remember, they're working on our tax-funded payroll!
The job of protecting and enhancing our community's well being through public policy belongs to all of us, whether private citizen or professional service provider.
Stay informed and involved to ensure that public funding, legislation, and policies will benefit you and your neighbors, and the constituency of persons you serve as a professional. It may be that others are too frail, ill, or uninformed to take an active role in protecting their rights and entitlements through the legislative process, so it becomes part of our role as professional providers to speak up for (and with!) them.