December 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 8

EDITOR'S LETTER

BY PHIL HAY WARD

PRESIDENT AND CEO

The Power of Advocacy

VICE PRESIDENT,
OPERATIONS

Lauren Yost
EDITOR

OT ALL ELECTIONS ARE EQUAL-some count more than
others. While only history will tell for sure, the 2012 national
elections could well be the most important to come along
in a long time. The range of possible outcomes was wider than ever-
from a Republican sweep of the White House and both chambers of
Congress to Democrats keeping the White House and strengthening
their numbers in the House and Senate. As late as Tuesday evening on
November 6, a Republican surge seemed quite doable.
Regardless of how you felt about the outcome on Wednesday morning, the political landscape has changed in ways that even weeks later
seem surprising. The collective voice of those who supported President Obama for a second term made it clear that government does
have an important role in securing and improving the lives of 100
percent of Americans. Telling Americans in this populous, complex,
diverse, and rapidly changing society that it's every man, woman, and
child for themselves in an oddly perceived trickle-up economy fell resoundedly short.
While the ﬁeld of parks, recreation, and conservation can take comfort in the prospect of continued national support for our mission, no
one should get comfortable, either. Just because the country voted
for a more supportive form of government doesn't make the prospect of the ﬁscal cliff and all its economic ramiﬁcations any less likely. Even in the best of
outcomes in Washington over the coming months, two things are certain: federal monies will be scarce and the competition for them will be ﬁerce. In fact, there may never have
been a more important time for the ﬁeld of parks and recreation to advocate at every level.
Every year about this time, I reminder readers of Parks & Recreation of their best opportunity to learn about the political landscape and then do something about it: NRPA's annual Legislative Forum to be held March 19-21 in Washington, D.C.
I'll leave you with this information on the power of such conferences. According to a report from the Congressional Management Foundation which surveyed staff in Congressional offices, the most inﬂuential advocacy strategies for swaying an undecided member
of Congress depend on personal communications from constituents. Whether individuals
make contact face-to-face, by phone, or through personalized email or postal mail, senators and representatives are inﬂuenced by their constituents' own views about the public
policy issues before them. Most of the staff surveyed said constituent visits to the Washington office (97 percent) and to the district/state office (94 percent) have some or a lot of
inﬂuence on an undecided member.
That's the power of advocacy.

PHILIP HAY WARD
Editor
6

Barbara Tulipane, CAE

Parks & Recreation

| DECEMBER 2012 | WWW.NRPA.ORG

Philip Hayward
phayward@nrpa.org
MANAGING EDITOR

Elizabeth Beard
ebeard@nrpa.org
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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dtaylor@nrpa.org
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December 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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