From Learning to Action: Advocacy in Motion

Fairfield County is stronger when community members and local organizations actively shape the policies that affect our communities.

For years, community-led change has been central to the Community Foundation’s efforts to promote civic engagement and support local advocacy to advance policies that create a fairer, more just Fairfield County and state.

As part of that work, the Community Foundation has provided financial support—more than $600,000 over the last three years—to nonprofits championing local and state efforts to expand educational, health, economic, and housing opportunities and increase voter participation. The Community Foundation has also built strong connections with local leaders, lawmakers, businesses, and organizations to engage in dialogue and express support for policies promoting fairness and opportunity.

Last fall, the Community Foundation launched an effort to give members of its Allies for Equity community year-round opportunities to connect at social and learning events, and explore how they can effectively share their perspectives with state and local lawmakers.

Participants didn’t just listen and learn. They took action!

More than 20 members of the group used their voice on issues related to the Community Foundation’s strategic impact areas—contacting state officials and delivering testimony to support measures to establish a permanent child tax credit, provide free school meals, support transit-oriented development, prohibit evictions without just cause, and prohibit scholarship displacement.

To keep The Allies informed, the Community Foundation added two follow-up sessions this spring to provide status updates on key pieces of state legislation.

“I’ve lobbied in Hartford before, but now I understand how the budget is created and the steps for ideas becoming laws so much better,” said Jacqueline Paige, a member of the Racial Justice Pathway at Fairfield’s First Church Congregational, of her participation in The Allies program. “I feel that I was more effective with my outreach with elected leaders during the last legislative session.”

Explore more at: FCCFoundation.org/Allies

Join The Allies!

The Community Foundation plans to continue and grow its training and coordinated advocacy work with The Allies community. If you would like to get involved, reach out to:

Ryan Deal
Director of Community Philanthropy
RDeal@FCCFoundation.org