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WPI team and allies who worked to repeal Maximum Family Grant law. Credit: Jonathan Iocco
Almost exactly two years ago, I started participating in a wonderful program run by the Women’s Foundation of California, the Women’s Policy Institute (WPI). I described some lessons from my first year as a WPI Fellow in a series of blog posts. Although WPI fellowships typically last just one year, my team of fellows was invited to stay together for a second year, since the policy we worked on seemed to be a good candidate for trying to implement through the budget process.
I’ll give away the ending up front: the terrible policy we were trying to repeal—an offensive California law, the “Maximum Family Grant,” that drives low-income families even deeper into poverty—is still on the books, despite our two years of advocacy (not to mention previous efforts to repeal this law). My WPI fellowship may have ended, but the effort to repeal this law continues. As always when it comes to a long-term policy effort, we have to celebrate our achievements and accomplishments along the way to our eventual success. For me personally, one of the main outcomes was that I learned so much about the messy and inspiring and frustrating and empowering nature of working in a team to make a big change.
The Budget Process is Different
As my WPI team began our second fellowship year, we were told by many people that the budget process is different than the regular legislative process, that it’s more opaque, and that it’s more political. All true, in my experience.
Budget advocates know that spending money on programs and services now will often save lots of money in the future. The California Endowment’s Do the Math campaign is a great example of that. But somehow that clear logic often doesn’t work to convince policymakers to invest now for a future that will be better for everyone. That’s why we need partners to help us make the case.
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Coalitions are Key
It’s hard to focus on your issue, your clients, and the mechanics and deadline of the budget process. That’s why partners are so important. There are organizations like the California Budget Project, which provide smart and reliable budget analysis that nonprofits can consult. Or, a nonprofit can enter into a coalition with others and share the work, as we did. Even better if your coalition partners were like the ones I was working with, who brought so many skills to this joint effort – the budget and insider Sacramento expertise of the Western Center on Law and Poverty and the County Welfare Directors Association of California; the policy expertise of the ACLU of California and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice; and the connection with clients and “real” people brought by ACCESS Women’s Health Justice and the East Bay Community Law Center.
We also created a statewide campaign, Invest in California Families. Bringing nonprofit allies from around the state into this loose campaign structure meant that they officially added their names to the campaign to repeal the Maximum Family Grant, and could be called on to generate letters and calls to policymakers. That, plus the impressive list of supporting organizations listed in the last two pages of this Senate analysis of the legislation, was intended to make clear to policymakers just how wide and deep support for our position is.
Persistence and Perseverance
To make good policy and budgetary decisions, we need the voices of the people actually affected to be part of the conversation. However, advocacy to influence the budget doesn’t always follow a convenient or predictable schedule. A budget committee hearing may drag on all day, and may or may not allow time for public comments on various agenda items. What if you brought a carload of community members to testify on how a proposed budget item would affect their lives, but they were told after waiting all day that they could only say their names and not tell their stories? That day in Sacramento may have cost some a day’s wages, or parents may have no childcare and have to juggle navigating the halls of Sacramento with young children.
There is no easy way to resolve this tension—we need the community to speak up, but the policy-making process doesn’t make it easy for them to be there—so we as nonprofit advocates need to help them show up, and rely on the willingness of people to come to Sacramento to tell their stories. The best outcome is that policymakers will be moved and convinced, and that community members see their power in shaping policy and creating a better California. The ideal policy or budgetary outcomes don’t always result on the first try, but we do this work because we believe in the power of the committed to make change.
If Not Us, Who?
As always, I am reminded of the irreplaceable role of nonprofit advocates—and the community affected by this policy—in keeping up the effort to repeal this terrible law. The work is often hard and thankless. It’s sometimes discouraging. But if we don’t use our resources and expertise to improve policies that affect the most vulnerable, who will?
For other budget-related resources, visit: