Barbara Belk (she/they), Pathwaves Fellow at Families of Color Seattle (FOCS), co-facilitated the Nancy Amidei Advocacy Camp in partnership with Children’s Alliance. The event was geared toward parents and providers interested in learning advocacy skills in order to participate in the Washington State legislative session. This was the first event in a series of three that Children’s Alliance is hosting.
FOCS joined Children’s Alliance’s Advocacy Day this year in Olympia, and the idea to co-host an Advocacy Camp was born. Barbara shares,” There is a lot of alignment in how we think and talk about advocacy work. As a team at FOCS, we were already considering how we could bring material of this kind to our community, so it was a natural fit for us to partner with Children’s Alliance to help build out and facilitate this event.”
The event consisted of four learning modules, one of which was hosted by Barbara and their supervisor, Abbie. Barbara explains, “A lot of the content I delivered was drawn directly from the Fellowship curriculum. We educated parents and providers on preparing themselves for advocating during legislative session, who the important actors are, and how to engage in lobbying.” FOCS’ module was focused on building grassroots movements. Barbara reflects, “This is FOCS’ story. We approached this topic through a storytelling lens and led people through a workshop on how they would navigate building their own movement for their preferred issue.”
One of the highlights of the event was getting to introduce members of the community to a visiting legislator, Senator T’wina Nobles. Barbara shares, “It was a great opportunity for our parents and providers. Many of them had never interacted directly with a legislator before. It was empowering.”
Barbara goes on to explain that another takeaway was how important it is for members of the community to know about work that is already being done in an issue area they care about. “I was able to introduce the idea of seeking out groups and organizations who are in alignment with their existing values and encouraging them to participate. It was really powerful.”
