Advocacy, a legal and essential element of your nonprofit, gives your organization a voice, solves and avoids problems, and cultivates deeper bonds with people who share your dreams for a better world. Legislative outcomes require sustained engagement, robust fundraising and personal connections.

The UNA Credential in Advocacy and Civic Engagement provides a course of action for you to follow to understand—and then apply—up-to-date best practices that support engaging stakeholders and advocating for your mission. You’ll receive exactly what you need, consultations, templates, and coaching, to create sustainable policies and practices.

Course Description and Learning Objectives:

Advocacy and Civic Engagement is more than politics. Whether you are engaging parents of the youth you serve or working with community members about street design in their neighborhoods, advocacy should be a priority for any community organization. Civic engagement empowers organizations to affect change at the individual, community, and societal levels.

Nonprofits provide an important vehicle through which individuals and organizations and work together to improve their communities. Nonprofits should represent the interests of the people they serve through public education and public policy advocacy, as well as by encouraging board members, staff, volunteers, and constituents to participate in the public affairs of the community. Knowing how to accomplish this is essential for any nonprofit. Today’s legislative policy changes can empower organizations or mean drastic cut-backs. How does your organization engage in the political process and create the change you need to see in the world? 

Completion of this course  will deliver a strategy to for you to follow to engage the community and impact legislation. This training course covers these topics and skills:
• Develop an advocacy plan for your organization.
• Create a public narrative as a call to action.
• Identify potential intersections of your organizations’ mission with key policies, departments, committees and elected officials.

Note: The UNA Credential program is for nonprofit organizations only. 

Learn more about Badge Requirements for the UNA Credential in  Advocacy and Civic Engagement.

Cost
UNA Members: $180 for the first person/$40 for each additional participant
Not-Yet Members: $360 for the first person/$80 for each additional participant

Course Dates
Online Training Sessions
Day 1: October 25, 2023 | 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM 
Day 2:  October 26,  2023 | 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM

Organizational Consultation 
40-minute consult on November 28 or 29, 2023

Location
Online via Zoom

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT: JENNIFER SEELIG

Jennifer Seelig has been involved in politics and public service for three decades at a policy-making and leadership level in both the private and public sectors for such entities as the City of Salt Lake, the Utah League of Cities and Towns, 1-800 CONTACTS, and for Utah State University. Jennifer was elected by District 23 residents in November of 2006 to the Utah House of Representatives. In 2012, her caucus colleagues elected her House Minority Leader - the first female in Utah’s history to serve in this role. She retired from elected office in 2015 in order to finish her PhD in Political Science -which was completed in the fall of 2018 from the University of Utah. Jennifer's research area of interest is in community based organizations and their capacity to empower people politically. She has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Utah and a BA in English from the University of Louisville.