Here Comes Our Next Advocacy Evaluation Breakfast, on Sept 25th at 8:15AM
And this time, our friend Sue Hoechstetter will be following up on her presentation from last year with a review of results from the first 100 organizations that have used Alliance for Justice’s Advocacy Capacity Tool. She will discuss general findings on how these groups have assessed and built on their existing advocacy capacities. Joining her is Katherine Hohman, Manager of Evaluation and Systems at YMCA of the USA, who will share her group’s experience using the tool for the YMCA’s State Alliances. As usual, breakfast goodies are included. Please RSVP here by September 23rd.
We Can’t Walk THIS Back…
We just had to giggle (yes, we do that from time to time…) this past Sunday while reading Ben Schott and Mark Leibovich’s spot-on primer for understanding the language of the Beltway, “Washington Words.” This embarrassingly accurate (and hilarious) glossary can help advocates from outside Washington decode how “this town” works. Now let’s all follow our “principals” to the next “full & frank exchange” on policy matters—or at the very least, a “spirited” debate.
Stopping Stop and Frisk
This opinion piece by executive director of the North Star Fund, Hugh Hogan, is pretty darn inspiring: he describes the beginnings of “stop and frisk” in New York City and how, ultimately, community groups (receiving funds and support from organizations like his own) built a grassroots movement to challenge and defeat the practice. Though Hogan makes the kind of off-hand assertions of “attribution” that make us pause, we do wish there were more funders out there with the patience—and, dare we say, cojones—to support an effort long-term, through the ups and the downs. What’s in vogue for philanthropy may change from one year to the next, but our major social issues require the kind of multi-year commitment Hogan calls for in his editorial.
