What are the benefits of attending Park Advocacy Day?
Park Advocacy Day is a full day of advocacy meetings between park advocates and members of the California Legislature and their staff. California State Parks Foundation will schedule advocacy meetings for all participants and provide talking points and advocacy tips — all you have to do is travel to Sacramento and spend the day at the Capitol.
Advocates are placed into teams of 4-5 with a Team Leader for each team. Your team will typically be advocates that live in your area, so each of you will be able to meet with your specific legislators and more. The team leader will have additional training before the event to help answer questions and facilitate your legislative meetings.
You will learn advocacy tips that you can take home and share with your team or community. Throughout the day, you will spend time with colleagues and park experts who understand the system and can help harness our collective voice to make the biggest difference.
What is expected of Advocates?
Park Advocacy Day is designed for people that want to be champions for their California state parks. Usually, an individual or organization is knowledgeable in some way about a specific park, activities in parks, an area of California, a challenge or success in parks — but Park Advocacy Day is also a time to learn, so you don’t need to be an expert!
We expect participants to use knowledge to help advocate for the collective agenda. For the messages to be received on Park Advocacy Day we must all have one voice to make change happen. This means sticking to the talking points, being respectful, and having a positive attitude to make the day great. Making your voice heard alongside others who share your interests and have the same goals makes advocacy much easier and more effective.
