-: Hi everyone,
and welcome to our second lecture here in module six.
This is also our last lecture in this course.
Today is going to be a recap in chapter 12
in our course text, which was titled,
Advocacy, Sustainability,
Personal Principles, and Procuring Funding.
As we've learned in this text,
as well as in previous modules,
budget advocacy and getting funding for our campaigns
is not at all easy and requires a lot of determination,
planning, skills and expertise.
Our course text talks a lot about 501(c)(3)s
and how that type of organization
is critical to budget advocacy.
So, a 501(c)(3) is a non,
is an organization that has been found
tax exempt by the IRS.
They can provide funding sources
but under a lot of strict parameters.
For example, 501(c)(3)s have a lot of strict restrictions
on providing funding to organizations
for actions such as lobbying or,
you know, political items such as ballot initiatives
and electoral politics.
However, our text outlines that that does not mean
that 501(c)(3)s cannot support your cause.
For example, funding through
a General Operating Service Grant
may be another outlet that you could go down
to receive funding for your campaign,
but essentially not for projects such as lobbying
or something that has a valid initiative.
A really great example of the intricacy
of budget advocacy and procuring funding
was found in the course text example,
all about Measure D and getting that on the ballot.
If you don't, aren't familiar or have not read the text yet,
Measure D is all about the Soda Tax Campaign.
This image was from the funding sources for Measure D,
and really highlights the intricacy of budget advocacy.
A lot of times when we're looking at campaigns
or we're starting to map out a campaign
we are quick to jump to the problem
and quick to dissolve some sort of solution,
but we don't always think about
how we're gonna get there on train from A to B,
and a lot of that lies on budget advocacy
and making sure we have the money to keep going.
We have to think of money as our fuel,
especially in a campaign,
and we have to have sources of money and income
to allow for our campaign and our goals
to actually come to fruition.
Going quickly back to a discussion about 501(c)(3)s,
we can't always just discredit them because they don't cover
some of what we need for funding sources,
we have to recognize that there's different grant fundings
that we can utilize for different aspects of our campaign,
such as for health education initiatives
or general operating expenses.
We also, as Public Health advocates and on a campaign,
have to look at different types of grant funding.
For example, there is restricted grants
and unrestricted grants.
When you're looking at restricted grants
these are a little bit more restrictive,
so you may have to provide an outline
of what you are going to use the money for,
who are you going to pay?
What are you doing?
And what activity is your funding going to fall under?
Whereas you can also apply for unrestricted grants,
which, you guessed it, are a little bit more unrestrictive
in the sense that you have more flexibility
on what you're going to be spending the money for
and more autonomy and discretion
on where your funding will be going.
Again, these are both very important considerations
when it comes to budget advocacy
and ensuring that you have the money
and fuel to propel your campaign
to the solutions you've outlined.
Our text does a really great job of outlining
some essentials when it comes to procuring funding.
They highlighted that there's a few different ways
that you have the best chance to get your funding
and make your dreams come true.
That includes that, who is the front of your campaign
must have a good standing reputation.
In addition, don't let clout
or anything cloud your judgment.
Continue to have that ultimate goal of health equity
and continue to allow for the principles
and core of your Public Health campaign
or pursuit of positive Public Health outcomes to not falter.
Be transparent about your campaign goal,
the capacities and capabilities
and timeline of your campaign.
As always, have that problem,
your Public Health problem, clearly defined
and have goals and interim goals set up
and shared with your funding sources.
Lastly, know your stuff.
Know what your topic is,
do your research and continue to keep yourself
apprised of current events and anything relevant
to your Public Health topic of interest.
Switching gears now, I wanted to highlight
some of what the text says,
as well as what I believe are positive attributes
of successful advocates in Public Health.
As we are learning through our Yellowdig discussion,
as well as through our required readings and assignments,
advocacy comes in many different shapes and forms.
We could be, you know, advocating for cleaner air
outside of hospitals, to reproductive rights,
to moving pipelines off indigenous lands.
We all have different things we're passionate about
that require advocacy work.
However, the fundamentals of achieving
effective advocacy work do not falter.
That includes having integrity,
having the capacity to grow and have cultural humility,
resiliency, adaptability,
being collaborative thinking.
I would argue that any effective public health person
must have collaborative thinking skills.
Networking capabilities,
determination,
perseverance in time of failure.
And lastly, they must be able to view the world
and their campaign and all of the research they read,
and news and articles with a Public Health equity lens.
Lastly, I wanna highlight that
Public Health is not just one dimensional.
In fact, there are 10 different
essential Public Health services
that were created in a framework by the CDC.
And the 10 essential Public Health services
are really broken down into three categories,
Assessment, Policy, Development, and Assurance.
I wanted to highlight this for a moment
because as Public Health advocates
we can work in any of these fields to ensure health equity.
I'm gonna quickly pause my screen
so I can make the wheelhouse a little bit bigger.
We can advocate for health equity
as we assess and monitor population health.
We can advocate for equity when we communicate
effectively to inform others,
or use legal and regulatory actions
to create policies that surround initiatives
to promote health equity.
We can also promote health equity through advocacy work
to create equitable access to resources
to thrive and survive.
And we can also use advocacy campaigns
and Public Health initiatives to improve and innovate
through evaluation, research and quality improvement.
This really highlights that you do not have to be
an MPH to make changes and be a Public Health advocate.
You can work in any of these sectors
and still make a positive change through advocacy work
to ultimately reach your goals of health equity.
And lastly, we've reached our reference page,
which means we are officially done with lecturers
in Public Health Advocacy.
I did want to take a moment to create a video
of just my personal thoughts and reflections on this course,
as well as some wonderful interactions
I have seen on Yellowdig,
and interacting with all of you via email and meetings.
So I have created a final thoughts video.
As a first-time instructor,
I am so grateful to have all of you as students.
This is definitely going to be something
I will not forget and I am so grateful to all of you
for broadening my horizons on so many
important Public Health topics.
Thank you so much, bye-bye.