No matter your age or level of experience supporting a cause, advocacy is for all. However, where do you start? How does one become an advocate?  How do you decide what to advocate for? All those questions can be daunting, but the foundation of a good advocate starts with understanding advocacy and increasing one’s knowledge about a cause. Below is a breakdown of beginner steps and important actions to take.

Advocacy is about doing something to support, recommend, or implement actions linked to an idea or cause that you care about. Also, advocacy has different forms of implementation.

A good example of an advocacy movement is the Say What! program, which includes thousands of Texas youth and adults who host educational and awareness projects to keep their community’s nicotine and vape-free. Here’s an example of a middle school Say What! group educating their county commissioner’s court:

All over the world people advocate for specific causes because they want to see change for the better. The most powerful tool an advocate has is their voice because it enables people to be heard and for people to better understand each other. Without advocacy, many voices would remain silent. Throughout history, we’ve seen advocates who have dedicated their lives to serving as the voice for others to help create change for the better:

As far as tobacco prevention, maybe you have too many vape shops within your community, or you know several who sell to those under 21 years of age. Maybe the reason why you advocate or want to advocate is because you know someone who suffers from tobacco-related health issues. Whatever your motivation, finding your voice and perfecting your advocacy skills can be the catalyst to create the change you are looking for.

Sometimes, advocacy can involve changing policies in your school, city, or state. When advocating for a change in a policy, it’s important to ask yourself if the current policies are working or if advocating for new policies would improve your community. Advocating for policy change, also known as policy advocacy, can occur at the local, state, and national levels.

To be an advocate there are certain skills that are important to build and should become natural with practice and effort.

1. Education

Advocacy requires educating yourself, so you know what you’re talking about. Advocates rely on reliable facts, current trends, and topics to support their cause. Tobacco awareness and prevention advocates should gather information that is research based or from a reliable source. For example, collecting published information, searching through journal articles, or visiting official websites.

There are so many opinions and storytellers on the internet, so how do you know which sites and publications are “good sources.” In this activity you will learn tips and what to look for, so you don’t accidentally share false information:

• True or False 1

  Websites ending in “.edu” are educational and usually safe resources.

• Answer

  Answer: True
  
  

  Websites ending with “.edu” are normally connected with educational institutions like universities and schools. These sites are reliable because they are backed by academic professionals and are research based.

• True or False 2

  Government websites ending in “.gov” are not reliable resources.

• Answer

  Answer: False
  
  

   Typically, sites ending in ".gov” are run by governmental agencies. These sites provide information about policies, statistics, and public services, because they are government-controlled they are reliable and trustworthy.

• True or False 3

  Library resources, including books and magazines, are reliable to use.

• Answer

  Answer: True
  
  

  Library resources like books and magazines must go through fact-checking before they are published. Libraries develop and provide reliable collections that are excellent sources for information.

• True or False 4

  Websites ending in “.org” are typically managed by nonprofit organizations and can serve as valuable resources.

• Answer

  Answer: False
  
  

  These sites typically focus on specific issues, causes, or community services. However, it's important to check the credibility of the organization to ensure the information is unbiased and accurate.

2. Communication

Using your voice is important as an advocate. How you choose to spread awareness varies. You can speak with community members, local businesses, or local governmental leaders. You can advocate on your own or you can join organizations. If you are interested in finding out more about using your voice, and getting connected on a larger scale, these programs can help.

3. Taking Action

Spreading awareness is an important step in advocacy work. Adults and youth can make change with the efforts they put in by sharing facts and words of encouragement to prevent use and empower those who do use to quit. This may look like participating in rallies, writing to local officials, or posting against Big Tobacco on your social media. We will cover more of these actions in our next module. For now, identifying how you would like to engage and take action is the first step.

Think about your qualities, strengths, growth areas, and what you feel comfortable doing. Your advocacy skills evolve as you grow and become more comfortable and confident speaking out.

You have the option to choose one, the other, or both when it comes to advocacy and influencing change. The approach you take is up to you. To be an effective advocate, whether actively or in a supporting role, it’s important to understand your personal qualities.

By completing the Strengths Exploration activity, you can gain insight into your personality and identify the strengths that will help you become a successful advocate and make a meaningful impact.

4. Motivating Others

As an advocate, you’re not only trying to empower your friends and peers to live tobacco, nicotine, and vape-free, but to motivate others. Advocacy can motivate others to quit using tobacco products, encourage elected officials to change policies, and inspire others to join your efforts. Here are a few resources created by Say What! that you can use to help motivate others.