Advocacy and Policy

Five Good Ideas on building the base for effective public policy

Deena Ladd

Published on April 25, 2014

Many of us working on the front lines want to tackle the issues we see impacting our communities and develop effective public policy solutions. But how do we make sure that the solutions have been developed with and have the support of the people they are supposed to help? How do we ensure that our public policy solutions have a chance of moving forward and getting on the legislative agenda? How can we use public policy ideas to increase public awareness and debate, as well as inspire others to join us in our work? This session addressed these and other questions as Deena Ladd shared her experience and ideas on building the base for effective public policy work with the issues you are working on.

Five Good Ideas

Long-term planning and good research is critical
Building the base of support and real participation is vital for suceess
Ensure a pathway of smaller victories that will move your work towards the bigger change that communities want
Building community leadership creativity, and constant evaluation into your work will keep work moving forward and people engaged
Ensure you are analyzing power in determining your strategy, tactics and overall goals

Five Good Resources

Need help getting started and wanting to get some more basics? Read Promoting Community Change: Making It Happen in the Real World by Henry Parada, Lisa Barnoff, Ken Moffat and Mark S. Homan, Nelson Education Ltd. 2011
Ensuring we are building the base and reaching out to our communities means critical reflection on our organizations and how we develop public policy solutions. This is a must read: Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations by Tina Lopes and Barb Thomas, Between the Lines 2006
Understanding what policies are needed and why is important. This is a good critical backgrounder on current social issues in Canada. Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues by Les Samualsen and Wayne Antony, Fernwood Publishing 2012
This is a great primer on how you can represent your base and work with communities to organize, campaigns, understand power and what strategies to use. Organizing for Social Change by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max, Third Edition 2001
A quick little video and a very good reminder about what leadership means. Marshall Ganz: When did you start thinking of yourself as a leader?

Deena Ladd

Workers' Action Centre

Deena Ladd has been working to improve wages and working conditions in sectors of work that are dominated with low-wages, violations of rights, and precarious and temp work for the past 30 years. She has worked to support and develop grassroots training, education, and organizing with groups such as the Fight for $15 and Fairness Campaign, Decent Work and Health Network, Migrant Rights Network as well as the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. Deena is one of the founders and Executive Director of the Toronto Workers’ Action Centre. The Workers’ Action Centre organizes to improve wages and working conditions with low-waged workers, women, and racialized and immigrant workers in precarious jobs that face discrimination, violations of rights, and no benefits in the workplace.