Why Administrative Advocacy?
At Rachel Cahill Consulting (RCC), my team and I support and train state-level anti-hunger advocates to make the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) the most accessible and equitable program it can be in every community. While we support both legislative and administrative advocacy campaigns, for most of the year our focus is administrative advocacy. Here’s why:
First, some definitions. Administrative advocacy is any effort to improve government policies or practices by directly or indirectly engaging with agency decision-makers outside of the legislative process. The core goal of administrative advocacy is to improve the implementation of existing policies and programs. Because what’s the point of great policy if it doesn’t get implemented well - or at all - in the real world?
Administrative advocacy is essential work for any organization who knows that federal nutrition programs are critically important in the fight against hunger. Furthermore, administrative advocacy to strengthen SNAP can succeed, even in political environments that are publicly hostile to SNAP and other anti-poverty programs.
What are some examples of administrative advocacy?
Making the case to SNAP agency leaders to opt into federal waivers, demonstration projects, and/or state options that improve the speed and efficiency of application and renewal processes.
Advocating for the overhaul of outdated SNAP computer systems and notices that make any change to SNAP policy extraordinarily difficult to implement.
Working to make local offices more open, available, and accessible, especially for individuals with disabilities and/or limited English proficiency.
At its core, successful administrative advocacy requires strategic thinking, relationship building, and a lot of patience. I have seen SNAP advocates in all different political environments, including deeply conservative ones, make monumental progress by committing to administrative advocacy, and not getting discouraged when short-term goals aren’t met.
Of course, elections have consequences. For SNAP, executive branch elections are especially important, as agency leaders - at the local, state and federal levels - set the tone for how safety net programs like SNAP will operate under their leadership. But most of the state and local administrators that make crucial decisions every day that impact how SNAP operates – like what time to close down the phone lines each day, what verification documents to require, and whether caseworker overtime will be approved - are not political appointees. These administrators usually just want to run a good program that serves eligible people well. These are the people advocates can and should invest in building relationships with for the long run.
Administrative advocacy is advocacy that everyone can do.
Non-profit organizations - even those with tight restrictions on lobbying - can engage in administrative advocacy to improve SNAP operations at the local level. Small businesses (like ours), corporations, and individual residents (aka “taxpayers”) can also participate in administrative advocacy by building relationships with local leaders and encouraging them to make our public assistance programs, like SNAP, work better. Administrative advocacy is fundamentally about using one’s unique voice, power, and privilege to make changes - both big and small - to biased and broken systems. That’s something every one of us can do.