Advocacy is defined as the active promotion of a cause or principle through actions to achieve specific goals. It involves raising awareness and support for an issue and working to influence decisions. Advocacy differs from direct service work and does not necessarily involve confrontation, instead using strategies like education and partnership building to encourage others to take action. Examples show advocacy as developing plans and speaking to decision-makers, while service is hands-on help without seeking policy changes.

1. An Introduction to Advocacy

2. What is advocacy?
Advocacy is active promotion of a cause or principle
Advocacy involves actions that lead to a selected goal
Advocacy is one of many possible strategies, or ways to approach a
problem
Advocacy can be used as part of a school or community initiative,
nested in with other components.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

3. What ISN’T Advocacy?
Advocacy is not direct service
Advocacy does not necessarily involve confrontation or conflict
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

4. Examples of Advocacy vs. Service
 You join a group at school that helps collects books for needy students. That's a service.
 You develop a plan and speak to the school board to get a portion of the discarded books
from previous materials adoptions donated to local food banks to be given to families. That's
advocacy.
 You spend your Saturdays with students helping sort out goods at the recycling center. That's
a service.
 You discover that your school does not recycle paper. You speak to the administration and
district supervisors about a recycling plan. You get support from a local recycling company to
implement a recycling program for paper in your school. That's advocacy.
Based on http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/advocacy-principles/overview/main

5. Defining Advocacy
Advocacy is an on-going process of building partnerships
so that others will act for and with you, turning passive
support into educated action.
Based on the definition from the AASL