State Reps. Jennifer Mandelbaum, left, and Kimberly Moser, discuss policymaking at the event. They encouraged public health advocates to reach out to their representatives.
Photo courtesy Gayatri D. Malhotra
Public health advocates who cultivate relationships with decisionmakers and understand their motivations are more likely to be successful turning science into policy.
That was one of many pearls of advice provided by speakers during APHA’s sixth annual Policy Action Institute in June.
Speakers at the sold-out Washington, D.C., event stressed the importance of building coalitions, forming stakeholder relationships and telling compelling stories to advance public health policy.
Elected leaders rarely know all the subtleties of public health issues. It is up to health professionals to translate science, provide advice and propose recommendations on public health, Shelley Hearne, DrPH, MPH, director of the Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy and professor of public health practice at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told participants.
“Understand who are key to your policy position and what matters to them,” said Hearne, an APHA member and co-author of a recently published APHA Press book on policy engagement. “Get into the head of the policymaker. You want them to hear the case you are making.”
Even with today’s divisive political climate, it is possible to find common ground. In their conversation at the institute, Rep. Jennifer Mandelbaum, PhD, MPH, a Democrat serving in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and Rep. Kimberly Moser, RN, a Republican in the Kentucky House of Representatives, agreed on the need for health advocates to be confident in reaching out to their state representatives.
“You don’t need a snazzy policy brief,” Mandelbaum said. “Just get to the gist of it. Let’s have a conversation. We can work together on a policy solution.”
While some advocates can be apprehensive about approaching lawmakers, they should not be, said meeting speaker John Kasich, a former governor of Ohio, who addressed the relationship between health advocates and policymakers.
“Politicians are just like us,” Kasich said. “They just happen to be elected. Don’t be intimidated. One minute they are in office, the next minute they are out. Treat them like normal folks, but with respect.”
About 100 institute participants used the information they learned during the first two days of the institute on Capitol Hill. On June 18, participants met with elected members of Congress and staff to discuss topics such as public health funding, climate change, access to care and more.
Even if elected leaders may disagree with advocates on an issue, it is important not to stay silent, advised Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, on the second day of the institute.
Jones gained national attention in 2023 when he and colleagues spoke out on the statehouse floor against gun violence in the wake of a school shooting in Nashville. The Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel him for “disrupting decorum,” but Jones was later reelected.
He called for community organizations to continue to fight injustice in the wake of the Trump administration’s attack on diversity and equity and dismantling of health and social services.
“When we organize, we win,” he said. “When we show up, we win.”
For more information on the Policy Action Institute, visit www.apha.org/pai.
A participant at APHA’s June Policy Action Institute speaks with presenters. Attendees learned how to be better advocates and speak for health at the Washington, D.C., event.
Photo courtesy Gayatri D. Malhotra
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