What Advocates Do
Every Citizen Advocacy Relationship is as unique as the two people in the relationship. The citizen advocate shares time and experiences with the protégé to get to know them well enough to represent the protégé’s interests as if they were the advocates’ own. An advocate and protégé then decide how to respond to the vulnerabilities in the protégé’s life.
A citizen advocate can positively impact a protégé’s life in many ways. Some common examples are:
Spokesperson — to vigorously represent a person’s best interests and to help them acquire necessary services and supports.
Friend — to begin an ongoing, hopefully life-long relationship that may develop into a true friendship over time.
Ally — to stand with a person during good times and bad times.
Monitor — to evaluate and hold human service organizations accountable for their actions.
Mentor — to offer guidance, affirmation, and direction through presence, personal example, and advice.
Opportunity Maker — to arrange for a person to take advantage of new or better opportunities in the community such as work, education, civic involvement, neighborhood involvement, or leisure.
Red Tape Cutter — to help cut through policies and procedures that can sometimes overwhelm.
Representative Payee — to assume responsibility of a person’s finances and to help with planning a monthly budget and saving for the future.
Adoptive Parent — to provide a forever family.
Legal Guardian — to assume court-sanctioned responsibility for a person’s major personal or financial decisions.
Crisis Advocate — to respond and be present to a protégé immediately on a short-term basis until a long-term advocate can be recruited, oriented and matched.
Advocate Associate — to offer skills, talents, expertise, and influence to a citizen advocate who is advocating for his or her protégé. Advocate associates are needed in the areas of networking, political savvy, law, journalism, financial planning, housing, employment, medical, and education.