Advocacy

Advocacy focuses on supporting or speaking in favor of a cause, movement, or proposal on behalf of others. While lobbying is often seen as a common form of advocacy, there are many other ways that people can get involved and support people who use drugs, including those in recovery. You can organize meetings or rallies, educate your state legislators and people in your community, vote in local, state, and national elections, and attend educational conferences, for example.

At Recovery Iowa, we work to connect with local advocacy groups to reduce the harms of substance use, change laws to support recovery, develop new, effective substance use prevention strategies, and get more recovery resources to local communities.

https://mffh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AFJ_what-is-advocacy.pdf

What is a local advocacy group?

Local advocacy groups are the people in your community that have organized around common goals and are working to make local change. With their strong relationships in the community, local advocacy groups unite people who have similar experiences or interests to spread information through education initiatives, work toward local changes on issues of concern, and petition for more resources to marginalized or vulnerable groups in the community. Getting involved with a local advocacy group is a great way to stay connected to your community and to use your own experiences to help others. Pay it forward with local advocacy!