Making the Case:

1. Making the Case: Marshaling Evidence for Persuasive Advocacy Presentation for the National Assembly of Health and Human Service Organizations September 9, 2004

2. To Persuade Policy Makers, demonstrate one or more: • The service is effective in meeting need. • There is unmet need. • There is a cost for failing to provide the service: • People and/or communities are hurt; • Officials get publicly embarrassed and/or lose support.

3. The Service Meets a Need – aka, it Works • “Self-evident” usefulness: • Food and nutrition providers (emergency food, Food Stamps, WIC, school meals, etc.): because preventing hunger and poor nutrition is a generally shared goal, just showing who and how many the program serves (children, families, working people, elderly) is persuasive. Know the unit costs! • Other example: child care so parents can work

4. First and Second Lines of Evidence • Example: WIC • Provides nutrition supplements to 7.8 million low-income infants, young children, and pregnant women. (Needy: below 185% of FPL, certified at nutritional risk.) • Good health outcomes: more prenatal care, reduces low birthweight, fetal mortality, anemia. Does not lead to overweight children. • Cost effective: for every $1 spent, $1.77 - $3.13 in Medicaid savings.

5. Not So Self-Evident • Example: Job Training • Not enough to show how many low-income people get job training. Need to show how many get jobs as a result of the program. Helpful to show earningsand job retention, advancement. • CA Community College training for women receiving TANF: before enrollment, median annual earnings of $4,000-$6,000. Afterwards, $16,000-$20,000.

6. More Persuasive Job Training Evidence • Project QUEST, San Antonio, TX: • Links with business – good hiring record, employer satisfaction. • Wages – $10/hour after 17 months of training. • Access to supports – child care, transportation, housing.

7. Other Examples of Tougher “Sells” • Rent vouchers: not enough to say they help low-income families maintain rents at 30% of income. • Cite evidence that children in subsidized housing do better in school; that welfare-to-work programs succeed best for families in subsidized housing. • Youth programs:not enough to say how many served. Do they help youths stay in school? Get a better job later? Stay out of trouble?

8. Gold Standards in Outcome Measures;Okay Alternatives • Random Assignment: comparable program group and control group (see MDRC evaluations, http://www.mdrc.org). But if no controls, still cite good outcomes like job placements, earnings, and benefits. • Cost Effectiveness: see WIC example. But even without specific cost/benefit ratios, can cite good outcomes like more prenatal care, and contrast with high cost of caring for preemies.

9. The Importance of Unit Costs • Section 8 Housing Vouchers: President’s FY05 budget proposed cut of more than $1b from previous year’s level of $14.23b. So? • If cut made by eliminating vouchers: 250,000 families would lose vouchers (out of 2.1m families). If cut made by raising rents, each family would pay $800 more in FY05.-Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

10. Unmet Need • How many eligible people/families do not receive the service? • Waiting lists? (child care, housing authorities) • Use Census data (decennial Census, American Community Survey, Current Population Survey) for state and sub-state breakdowns: poor and near-poor, uninsured, families with children under 6, education levels of parents, single moms, use of public benefits, etc.

11. Using the Evidence Effectively • Tell Policy Makers: • Create brief, clearly-worded fact sheets that make the case for your program by describing • What it does, who it helps, and how they and the broader community benefit; • How many are served, and how many more need the service; • How the number served or the quality of the service would change under budget/appropriations proposals – translate dollars into human needs! • What level of funding or program rules are needed

12. Deliver the Message • Use your strengths! Create a network of agencies in states with spokespeople who meet with members of Congress and their staffs at home and in DC • Work with others who can amplify your message: national and local business, religious leaders, etc. Don’t forget the Coalition on Human Needs and other coalitions!

13. Effective Messengers • You! • Local agency heads • Your agency’s direct service providers • Other community service providers (physicians, teachers, police, who cope with unmet need or see the good your program does) • People who use or want to use the service • Community leaders (business, religious, etc.) who understand the need for the service

14. Make Your Case to the Public • Use your networks to talk to the press: • Meet with editorial boards • Connect reporters to your messengers to demonstrate the need for your program and the impact of proposals • Recruit letters-to-the-editor writers who write their own letters in response to articles, opinion pieces

15. See the Big Picture • Tax and budget cuts threaten your program and many others – be part of coalitions that educate about such choices and oppose inequitable and excessive tax and budget cuts. • Join theOpportunity for All Campaign: Coalition on Human Needs, www.chn.org