Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

Posted: December 5th, 2022

Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

Enactment of the Proposed Policy through Modification of an Existing Law

The Student Nutrition and Healthy Act of 2005 is a bill that mandates local agencies of education with grants to either lease or purchases vending machines to ensure healthy beverages and foods are served in schools. According to Karnik & Kanekar (2015), this law further dictates the specific products and maximum portions that promote healthy nutrition that should be served. As a result, the removal of vending machines that do not promote nutritious drinks and foods in schools will be guaranteed. This bill is well aligned with the goals of my proposed policy and is relevant to the choices regarding the selection of beverages and foods to promote healthy nutrition. Therefore, I wouldn’t make any alterations to it.Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

The Stop Obesity in Schools Act of 2015 is a bill which discusses the need for routine physical exercises and improving the nutritional value of meals served in schools through the expansion of various activities (Lobstein, et al., 2015).  This bill would be a good starting point since it has goals similar to my proposed policy. However, it fails to be more specific. There is essence in specifying the time that should be spent on physical exercises to ensure uniformity across all learning institutions. In this case, having a physical activity each lasting sixty minutes between school activities in two school days of choice is a preferable option.Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

The Supermarket Tax Credit for Underserved Areas Act of 2015 is legislation that purposes to provide a tax credit on vegetables and fruits for supermarkets located in underserved communities. Despite the fact that it does not aim to directly reduce childhood obesity, I am certain that this policy provides room for increasing supermarkets in communities that are underserved (Hawkes, et al., 2015). This is attributed to the fact that it was not intended to solely safeguard currently existing supermarkets from tax credits. With this bill as a foundation, new legislation that relates directly to childhood obesity should be created. This will need the identification of underserved communities and submission of relevant demographics to the federal government so that, communities and business willing to put up supermarkets in underserved areas are availed with tax credits and grants (Hawkes, et al., 2015). As a result, schools in such communities can readily access fruits and vegetables that promote healthy nutrition to be incorporated in school diets.Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

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How Existing Laws Could Affect Advocacy Efforts

Organizations and individuals who are authorized or not authorized to register for lobbying at the legislature and executive levels are well explained by the Lobbying Act of 1946.  Apart from reducing the influence of lobbyists, this law ensures that the members of Congress get the relevant information on those who lobby them (Downes, Supa & Austin, 2017). For organizations and individuals who fail to comply with this act, it strengthens the possible penalties with fines of up to $5,000 (Downes, Supa & Austin, 2017).  Alternatively, they might be barred from lobbying to a maximum of 3 years. Therefore, the advocacy efforts for the proposed policy are likely to be affected by this law. Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

Methods Used To Influence Legislators and Other Policymakers to Support This Policy

The three legs approach would be a commendable strategy to support this policy.  This would require that advocacy efforts begin at the community level to engage community leaders, in healthcare settings to engage health practitioners and school settings where Parent-Teacher Associations and school employees would be engaged. As supported by Peralta, Dudley & Cotton (2016), it will be essential to discuss the clarity and purpose of the bill when engaging the aforementioned stakeholders. The proposed policy seeks to ensure that nutritional food options are availed in schools and that children routinely participate in physical exercise. These stakeholders will be required to do further research on the proposed policy and share with their legislators and representatives on the need to support this bill and reduce the incidences of childhood obesity.Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

Shirley et al., (2015) emphasize the importance of maximizing on the benefits of today’s digitization as an advocacy channel since it facilitates easier information sharing and targets a huge audience. Therefore, social media would be an essential tool to engage the public. Combined efforts from educators, health practitioners, farmers, parents, and local community farmers will ensure that similar updates on the proposed policy are shared on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. As a result, local politicians would also be informed on some of the highlighted issues and the amount of support gained from affected communities/populations.

There are a number of Non-Governmental Organizations which are actively involved in the advocacy, creation, and research of policies that aim to prevent childhood obesity. As supported by Downes, Supa & Austin (2017), America on the Move is a good example as a potential lobby for this proposed policy. Collaboration between committees of political action and lobby organizations will facilitate the ability to obtain the support of governors through; providing statistical evidence on the incidence and prevalence of childhood obesity as a public health concern and research evidence on the impact of childhood obesity at individual, community and national level.Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay

References

Downes, E. J., Supa, D. W., & Austin, E. (2017). Political Communications and Lobbying in the United States. In North American Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations (pp. 97-111). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Hawkes, C., Smith, T. G., Jewell, J., Wardle, J., Hammond, R. A., Friel, S., & Kain, J. (2015). Smart food policies for obesity prevention. The Lancet, 385(9985), 2410-2421.

Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A. (2014). A review of public health policies for childhood obesity prevention in the United States. Journal of Local and Global Health Sciences, 4, 1-7.

Lobstein, T., Jackson-Leach, R., Moodie, M. L., Hall, K. D., Gortmaker, S. L., Swinburn, B. A., … & McPherson, K. (2015). Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. The Lancet, 385(9986), 2510-2520.

Peralta, L. R., Dudley, D. A., & Cotton, W. G. (2016). Teaching healthy eating to elementary school students: a scoping review of nutrition education resources. Journal of School Health, 86(5), 334-345.

Shirley, K., Rutfield, R., Hall, N., Fedor, N., McCaughey, V. K., & Zajac, K. (2015). Combinations of obesity prevention strategies in US elementary schools: a critical review. The journal of primary prevention, 36(1), 1-20. Developing an Advocacy Campaign Essay