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Sending the Right Message: How ADA's Public Policy Workshop Can Work for You and Nutrition Policy in America
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PUBLIC POLICY NEWS
Sending the Right Message: How ADA’s Public Policy Workshop Can Work for You and Nutrition Policy in America
N
ine months from now some of the American Dietetic Association’s (ADA’s) best and brightest members will gather in the nation’s capitol to take on some business that nearly every member of ADA says is important: to communicate that nutrition matters for all Americans and that it should rise as a national priority. ADA’s Public Policy Workshop (PPW) is the catalyst for members to go to Washington. In a 21⁄2-day meeting, attendees will be asked to demonstrate knowledge about selected nutrition issues and to learn simple, doable steps for effective nutrition advocacy. They will hear and learn from policy and grassroots advocacy experts at the workshop, and organize themselves to speak compellingly about nutrition policies and programs. More important, they will make the commitment to act at the workshop and lead their colleagues back home to read, research, study, speak, and advocate on behalf of nutrition for all Americans. Few issues resonate among the membership of ADA as the need for food, nutrition, and health advocacy. The new ADA strategic plan identifies specific advocacy goals to realize the mission of empowering members to be the nation’s food and nutrition leaders. PPW is the most significant opportunity for members to gain insights into the importance of public policies to nutrition care and services. And with that knowledge comes the ability to work within the system, and to This article was written by M. Stephanie Patrick, vice president of Policy Initiatives and Advocacy in ADA’s Washington, DC office. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2008.03.029
776
shape national, state, and local policies for a better tomorrow. PPW provides information and practical training that ADA members can use to work effectively on legislation, regulation, and practice matters at local, state, and federal levels. In 2008, for example, PPW stressed a few basic concepts for effective advocacy. ●
●
●
For democracy to work well, it requires the participation of informed citizens to participate in decisionmaking processes. Governments at all levels have an interest in food, nutrition, and health. Each level performs specific, unique functions in our lives, and for the public. For example, local programs generally focus on services. State programs regulate health care and the profession with the key goal of protecting the public. National programs often set the agenda and the standards for food, nutrition, and health care and services. National programs also may identify a greater good—addressing hunger, funding research and sharing its findings, and promoting the public’s knowledge of nutrition and health. It is the job of ADA members to tailor messages consistent with the specific roles played by local, state, and federal governments. And most important, effective advocacy usually relies on established and ongoing relationships between members, staff, and public officials.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IS KEY Gaining a sense of perspective about the nature of the advocacy is often one the hardest aspects for grassroots advocates. However, at PPW 2008, Susan Moore, MS, RD, a member of ADA’s Legislative and Public Policy Committee, summarized what gener-
Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
ally works in public policy. Know your issue. Identify your target audience and tailor the message so it is right for their roles. Develop the message you can deliver credibly in a few moments to a decision maker in government, a business, or in your own workplace. And be realistic. “All who work in public policy experience both successful and not-so-successful meetings,” says Moore. “That’s OK. Advocacy is not a one-shot tactic. The conversation you have now will be followed by a follow-up thank you note that repeats what you wanted to say. That leads to another conversation.” Moore also says, “Successful advocates are those that keep going back, time and time again and their conversations build relationships over time.” RELATIONSHIPS AND REPEATED MESSAGES A truism in lobbying is that it takes repeated messages, from a variety of voices, before messages really get through. Sadly, the most repeated messages in nutrition are usually not the ones based on strong evidence and sound science. Policymakers and their staff, unless they know a registered dietitian (RD) or other ADA member, frequently are left with the same messages that often confuse the public because they are provided information without appropriate context or validation. When policymakers are approached only once or twice a year with sound, pronutrition messages, it is hard for them to develop a reasonable perspective on the importance of good nutriThe 2009 Public Policy Workshop is scheduled for Feb. 9-11 in Washington, DC.
© 2008 by the American Dietetic Association
PUBLIC POLICY NEWS tion and appropriate public policies. If ADA’s sound-science messages conflict with what they most recently heard about the latest fad diet or widely disseminated study, how confident do lawmakers feel about investing increasingly scarce resources in nutrition solutions? In omnibus measures like the Farm Bill and Medicare, it’s sometimes difficult for them to see nutrition except as another costly option, and so it can slip—rather than rise—as a national priority. In order to reverse that situation, ADA must be able to reframe the issue. At the 2008 PPW, another member of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee, Mary Lee Watts, MS, RD, called for a shift in perspective. “Nutrition should not be an afterthought. No one who considers himself or herself a public servant should consider food assistance or nutrition incentives as an add-on to the Farm
Bill just to get enough votes to pass a bill. This isn’t a matter of money. It’s about the infrastructure to make— and keep—Americans healthy,” says Watts. “Putting nutrition services in Medicare and Medicaid are not steps you take to create jobs for dietitians. As near as I can tell, RDs have many professional opportunities, and more than enough work. Giving patients access to MNT [medical nutrition therapy], however, does mean we as registered dietitians can help them manage their disease and stay healthier. If Congress is astute enough to broaden MNT to cover prediabetes, for example, they’ve chosen both good social and fiscal policy,” says Watts. “These are not hard concepts. But many members of Congress and their staff members have never met a dietitian before,” Watts says. “Most of the messages on Capitol Hill, in state
capitals, and local agencies do not communicate that nutrition matters for all Americans and that the priorities at all levels need to include one or more nutrition components.” The agenda taking shape in the next several years will require ADA and its member advocates to be highly effective to ensure that nutrition is written into health care reform measures, funding for research is provided, and that nutrition experts such as RDs are positioned to work directly with people and in institutions to provide MNT as well as other food and nutrition care and services. PPW is a venue for ADA members to develop pronutrition messages and learn how to disseminate them across the country. Members who learn simple, doable advocacy and then act will be the leaders who take nutrition to a higher priority for all Americans.
May 2008 ● Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
777
PUBLIC POLICY NEWS
Sending the Right Message: How ADA’s Public Policy Workshop Can Work for You and Nutrition Policy in America
N
ine months from now some of the American Dietetic Association’s (ADA’s) best and brightest members will gather in the nation’s capitol to take on some business that nearly every member of ADA says is important: to communicate that nutrition matters for all Americans and that it should rise as a national priority. ADA’s Public Policy Workshop (PPW) is the catalyst for members to go to Washington. In a 21⁄2-day meeting, attendees will be asked to demonstrate knowledge about selected nutrition issues and to learn simple, doable steps for effective nutrition advocacy. They will hear and learn from policy and grassroots advocacy experts at the workshop, and organize themselves to speak compellingly about nutrition policies and programs. More important, they will make the commitment to act at the workshop and lead their colleagues back home to read, research, study, speak, and advocate on behalf of nutrition for all Americans. Few issues resonate among the membership of ADA as the need for food, nutrition, and health advocacy. The new ADA strategic plan identifies specific advocacy goals to realize the mission of empowering members to be the nation’s food and nutrition leaders. PPW is the most significant opportunity for members to gain insights into the importance of public policies to nutrition care and services. And with that knowledge comes the ability to work within the system, and to This article was written by M. Stephanie Patrick, vice president of Policy Initiatives and Advocacy in ADA’s Washington, DC office. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2008.03.029
776
shape national, state, and local policies for a better tomorrow. PPW provides information and practical training that ADA members can use to work effectively on legislation, regulation, and practice matters at local, state, and federal levels. In 2008, for example, PPW stressed a few basic concepts for effective advocacy. ●
●
●
For democracy to work well, it requires the participation of informed citizens to participate in decisionmaking processes. Governments at all levels have an interest in food, nutrition, and health. Each level performs specific, unique functions in our lives, and for the public. For example, local programs generally focus on services. State programs regulate health care and the profession with the key goal of protecting the public. National programs often set the agenda and the standards for food, nutrition, and health care and services. National programs also may identify a greater good—addressing hunger, funding research and sharing its findings, and promoting the public’s knowledge of nutrition and health. It is the job of ADA members to tailor messages consistent with the specific roles played by local, state, and federal governments. And most important, effective advocacy usually relies on established and ongoing relationships between members, staff, and public officials.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IS KEY Gaining a sense of perspective about the nature of the advocacy is often one the hardest aspects for grassroots advocates. However, at PPW 2008, Susan Moore, MS, RD, a member of ADA’s Legislative and Public Policy Committee, summarized what gener-
Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
ally works in public policy. Know your issue. Identify your target audience and tailor the message so it is right for their roles. Develop the message you can deliver credibly in a few moments to a decision maker in government, a business, or in your own workplace. And be realistic. “All who work in public policy experience both successful and not-so-successful meetings,” says Moore. “That’s OK. Advocacy is not a one-shot tactic. The conversation you have now will be followed by a follow-up thank you note that repeats what you wanted to say. That leads to another conversation.” Moore also says, “Successful advocates are those that keep going back, time and time again and their conversations build relationships over time.” RELATIONSHIPS AND REPEATED MESSAGES A truism in lobbying is that it takes repeated messages, from a variety of voices, before messages really get through. Sadly, the most repeated messages in nutrition are usually not the ones based on strong evidence and sound science. Policymakers and their staff, unless they know a registered dietitian (RD) or other ADA member, frequently are left with the same messages that often confuse the public because they are provided information without appropriate context or validation. When policymakers are approached only once or twice a year with sound, pronutrition messages, it is hard for them to develop a reasonable perspective on the importance of good nutriThe 2009 Public Policy Workshop is scheduled for Feb. 9-11 in Washington, DC.
© 2008 by the American Dietetic Association
PUBLIC POLICY NEWS tion and appropriate public policies. If ADA’s sound-science messages conflict with what they most recently heard about the latest fad diet or widely disseminated study, how confident do lawmakers feel about investing increasingly scarce resources in nutrition solutions? In omnibus measures like the Farm Bill and Medicare, it’s sometimes difficult for them to see nutrition except as another costly option, and so it can slip—rather than rise—as a national priority. In order to reverse that situation, ADA must be able to reframe the issue. At the 2008 PPW, another member of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee, Mary Lee Watts, MS, RD, called for a shift in perspective. “Nutrition should not be an afterthought. No one who considers himself or herself a public servant should consider food assistance or nutrition incentives as an add-on to the Farm
Bill just to get enough votes to pass a bill. This isn’t a matter of money. It’s about the infrastructure to make— and keep—Americans healthy,” says Watts. “Putting nutrition services in Medicare and Medicaid are not steps you take to create jobs for dietitians. As near as I can tell, RDs have many professional opportunities, and more than enough work. Giving patients access to MNT [medical nutrition therapy], however, does mean we as registered dietitians can help them manage their disease and stay healthier. If Congress is astute enough to broaden MNT to cover prediabetes, for example, they’ve chosen both good social and fiscal policy,” says Watts. “These are not hard concepts. But many members of Congress and their staff members have never met a dietitian before,” Watts says. “Most of the messages on Capitol Hill, in state
capitals, and local agencies do not communicate that nutrition matters for all Americans and that the priorities at all levels need to include one or more nutrition components.” The agenda taking shape in the next several years will require ADA and its member advocates to be highly effective to ensure that nutrition is written into health care reform measures, funding for research is provided, and that nutrition experts such as RDs are positioned to work directly with people and in institutions to provide MNT as well as other food and nutrition care and services. PPW is a venue for ADA members to develop pronutrition messages and learn how to disseminate them across the country. Members who learn simple, doable advocacy and then act will be the leaders who take nutrition to a higher priority for all Americans.
May 2008 ● Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION
777