Unsurprisingly, Google Maps has been one of my phone’s most used applications these past 7 weeks. It would have been impossible to explore D.C. without it, much less arrive anywhere on time. Even with such an all-knowing tool on hand I strayed off-course more times than I would like to admit. Similarly, this summer I learned that when you stray off-course on a social advocacy route it is possible to get back on track by asking two questions–who are we doing this for and why does it matter?
These were the two questions that I focused on while writing a health care policy blog for my internship. At first, I was preoccupied with including all of the relevant data points and analysis results in the blog. I focused on the technical details, specifics about what regulatory changes were made to improve health affordability and lower prescription drug prices. However, my first draft drifted off course–I concentrated so much on describing “what” the policy was that I mistakenly neglected to explain why all these changes mattered and who was being affected.
It was easy enough to get lost in the numbers, but I lost track of how these policies elevate the interests of health care consumers. Going back into revising the draft, I included more language that clarified the impact of these policies on a patient’s daily life. Strategically thinking through how to best frame this message placed me back on track to infusing the blog with empowerment and purpose.
In this way, communications plays a pivotal role in pushing advocacy movements from Point A to Point B–it helps us find direction on how we plan to arrive at an end goal and consider the proper channels of doing so. Would it be more appropriate to release fact sheets on a policy or host a webinar? Which news outlets would most successfully cover an issue? Communications is not just about execution, but about strategy as well.
One discussion with a few communications professionals stands out to me. When they spoke about the role of communications in organizational work, they described how in some cases it is treated purely as a process that begins after the fact. A comms team may be looped in at the end of a project or asked solely to publish materials rather than contribute to their development. However, time with my host organization has taught me that communications should not be treated as an afterthought, but ought to instead be intentionally imbued in every step of advocacy work.
I shared in a space where the policy analysis and communications teams worked closely on dozens of fronts, meticulously weaving communication strategies right at the very beginnings of a project. This is true for website blogs, which may be written by communication team members but must also be fact checked by the policy team. It is also true for formal comments on regulations, which require technical policy knowledge that evaluates and appropriately responds to the regulation’s content. It also requires communication strategy to effectively shape the wording of that comment.
Communications is the compass for driving forward social change and helps ensure that policy analysis can be harnessed for social justice. It allows us to recenter our intentions and think “what is the best way of getting this information out while doing good?” There is a science behind how to disseminate information to key audiences. Before this summer, I held a narrow perception of how communications and policy analysis could interact, however I now realize that there are infinite possibilities for creative collaborations between the two. As I continue to develop in public interest communications, I hope to continue venturing into these possibilities.