Mission-Based Advocacy

In its simplest form, advocacy is an education and motivation process: identifying issues of need, getting information about those issues to decision-makers, motivating them to create public policy that truly serves people's needs.

The Family Foundation seeks to strengthen the leadership capacity of nonprofit organizations to engage in effective advocacy based on their missions, thereby creating a healthier, more responsive society. We believe that by equipping nonprofits boards, executives and staffs with the knowledge, skills and vehicles required to effect positive change, we can improve the quality of life in our communities.

The Children & Families Action Network grew out of this initiative. Nonprofit leaders came together to form one voice for children and families in Southwest Louisiana.

Building nonprofit leadership capacity to advocate on behalf of the clients they serve

• helps mobilize and give voice to disenfranchised constituencies so often overlooked in the policy debate.

• can lead to organizing clients served by the agencies to implement grassroots advocacy on their own behalf.

• strengthens agencies' capacity to develop local funding strategies to support their mission-base advocacy work.

The Family Foundation's efforts to better communities include promoting civic engagement and facilitating public policy development on behalf of Southwest Louisiana's children and families.

In Partnership With