A Scholar’s Reflection: Everybody is an Advocate
Washington Week 2020 sessions helped me, a Holmes Scholar and second-year doctoral student in special education, gain an understanding of how to advocate for equitable educational opportunities for marginalized students including students with disabilities by participating in interactive policy discussions and briefings with prominent speakers and participants. I mainly learned that everybody could advocate for promoting educational improvement and success in different ways. This advocacy work becomes a crucial duty especially in this unprecedented time where COVID-19 has exacerbated educational inequities and hit students of color disproportionally.
The amazing Jane West presented and discussed the 4 Ps of Policy Advocacy (People, Policy, Process, and Politics) and their use in planning an advocacy strategy. As an international doctoral student who is not familiar with the American legal system, I found that the session equipped me with the knowledge about the legislative and executive policy cycle with all its players as well as the process and skills needed for effective policy change advocacy.