Promoting your program up and down the
communication ladder
Candance Gabel, MS, RD, LD
FNEP State Coordinator
Education vs. Lobbying
Educating - All employees and volunteers should
educate and inform decision makers about University
of Missouri Extension.
We can communicate:
 What we do
 Why we do it
 How we do it
 What difference it makes
Education vs. Lobbying
Lobbying
 Involves communication and interaction to influence a
legislator or decision maker to make a particular
decision on specific legislation.
Who is important in advocacy
 To you – everyone –
 Your staff
 Your boss
 Your council
 Your commissioner/county board member
 Other agencies with whom you work
 All local and federal legislators
Manage Up and Manage Down
 Politics is about relationships
 It really is about who you know
 All politics are local
 Always be thankful
 Build Social Capital
“Make friends when you don’t need them”
Lyndon Johnson
Stakeholder Advocacy
 A stakeholder is someone who is involved with an
organization and therefore has responsibilities toward it
and an interest in its success. Extension stakeholders are
decision makers who have ownership for supporting
extension programs and who – along with their
constituents – benefit from those programs. They have
the capacity to generate goodwill and obtain resources to
support the University of Missouri Extension mission.
Stakeholder Advocacy
 Stakeholders include, but are not limited to, state and
federal legislators; county commissioners and other
county office holders; city office holders; local, state
and national program partners; and community
leaders.
Two most important Questions in
Politics
1. How many of you know your legislators, policy
makers, and/or influencers?
2.How many of your legislators, policy makers, and/or
influencers know you?
It is equally important for you to know them and them to
know you.
Who are your stakeholders?
Who are your stakeholders
Stakeholders and Concerns
Stakeholders
Concerns
Stakeholder Advocacy
 Have clarity in your message
 Use common language
 Be concise
 Have your stump speech – 3 points – 7-10 minutes
 Have your elevator speech – 30 seconds
 Protect those above you
 Connect your priorities to their priorities
 Make your agenda their agenda
Know what is important to them
 Know their interests
 Do you homework
 This is not about you – it is about them
 Find something or someone that you have in common
 Use volunteer advocates from the area that they
represent
 Training and preparation is the key
 Be careful what names you drop –
 Figure out where real POWER is

Could be a staffer or a friend or a family member
Public Value Approach
 The work of Dr. Laura Kalambokidis, University of
Minnesota Extension, has been key in the development of
public values statements in Missouri.
 Public value is the value of a program to those who do not
directly benefit from that program.
 The public values approach is a tool to secure $upport for
activities with strong public value.
Public Value Statements & MU
Extension
 Threat of 50% budget cut for fy10
 Governor’s impression that MU Extension wasn’t
considered a part of the University of Missouri
 Involved Stakeholders
 Learned how to share our successes focusing on
outcomes.
Public Value Statements and MU
Extension
 In-service training
 System in place to develop and share statements
 Legislative Day
 Continued work
Public Value Statements
“ Financial Education program, participants spend and borrow
responsibly, save more and gain control over their financial
health. These behaviors benefit other community members by
reducing predatory lending, reliance on public assistance
programs and crime.”
Public Value Statement
“Stay Strong, Stay Healthy program, participants increase their physical
activity. This behavior leads to reduced risk of falls, heart disease and
osteoporosis; decreased stress; and improved weight control and overall
quality of life. These health benefits decrease the likelihood of a
participant entering a nursing home, which costs on average $24,455 per
year in Missouri.”
Public Value Statement
“Relationship Education program, participants learn to strengthen
their relationship. Consequently, this decreases the likelihood of
divorce by 50%. For every couple that remains married, Missouri
saves $30,000.”
How does an Extension program
create public value?





Does it narrow an information gap?
Does it address a crucial concern about fairness?
Does one person’s participation benefit people who
do not participate in the program?
Does one person’s participation reduce costs for
others?
Does the program improve upon the market
outcome?
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Demonstrating Extension’s public
Program
value
participants…
have been shown to change their
behavior in specific ways…
that have been shown to lead to
specific outcomes…
that directly benefit
the participants.
that generate public
value.
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Participants in a nutrition education program…
have been shown to increase their
consumption of fruits and vegetables,…
which has been shown to reduce the
incidence of diabetes,…
which directly improves
quality of life for
participants.
which reduces public
health costs for all
community members.
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Participants
Changes
Outcome
Private benefits
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Public value
Participants
Learn
Changes
Outcome
Private benefits
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Public value
Demonstrating public value
 Choose a program to work on.
 Choose a stakeholder.
 Worksheet:
 Identify some changes program participants make.
 Identify some outcomes that result from those
changes.
 How do those outcomes benefit the participants?
 How do those outcomes benefit others (create
public value)?
 Which public value will be most important to
this stakeholder?
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
A public value message:
When you support ______________program,
participants will ____________________,
(changes)
which leads to ______________________,
(outcomes)
which will benefit other community members by
__________________________________.
(public value)
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Generally, a public value message:











is directed to a specific stakeholder
focuses on the outcome that matters to the stakeholder
uses the stakeholder’s language
is free of jargon and empty words
is believable
is short
is about a specific program
doesn’t focus on the learning step
doesn’t focus on the program’s private benefit
does focus on the program’s public value
tells us how non-participants—the greater community,
state, world—benefit from the program
 makes the case for public funding
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
The public value approach is not just
about the message; it’s about doing
the work that justifies the message.
Building Extension's Public Value: U. of MN
Extension
Next Steps
Teach the public value approach to your colleagues.
Refine your public value message.
 Specific stakeholder?
 Matters to the stakeholder?
 Stakeholder’s language?
 Free of jargon and empty words?
 Believable?
Building Extension's
Value:
Building Extension's
Public Value:Public
U. of MN
U. of MN Extension
Extension
Next Steps
Refine your public value message continued:
 Short?
 Specific program?
 earning step? No.
 Private benefits? No.
 Public value? Yes!
 How do non-participants benefit?
 Makes the case for public funding?
Next Steps
Apply your public value message.
Communication strategy
Use in marketing materials, grant
proposals, legislative visits
Implement your research agenda.
Contact people who can help
Program evaluation
Collect indicators
Cost-benefit analysis
Economic impact analysis
Use public value concepts to prioritize your
organization’s work.
References
 MU Extension
http://extension.missouri.edu/staff/publicvalue
 Dr. Laura Kalambokidis, University of Minnesota
Extension
 Dr. Robin Orr, University of Illinois
 Marshall Stewart, NCSU