This blog post was cross-posted from Cynthia Changyit Levin's blog, Anti-Poverty Mom: Raising my voice & my kids. Join us at the 2015 RESULTS Conference to learn new skills, hear from experts, and raise your voice on Capitol Hill.
To all my readers raising tiny children and learning to advocate, I'm going to say something to you that may sound a little crazy. I think it's time you go to an advocacy conference in Washington D.C. Many advocacy organizations with a national presence that have been around for a good number of years have conferences in D.C. where you can learn from experts about your issue, hear inspirational speakers, and lobby your members of Congress. If you can rustle up the child care, I think you should find one you like and go to it!
“What? Take three days away from my baby? You've got to be kidding me! I don't have that kind of time for myself!” That was exactly my reaction when someone suggested that I learn more about hunger and advocacy by going to the Bread for the World Gathering. I was a new activist, full of excitement about my very first letter to the editor recently published in the local paper. The Bread organizer at my church recognized potential in me to be a powerful activist and thought the best way for me to get involved would be to jump right in and go to a conference and lobby day event. It was so flattering to me that she thought so, but…what about the baby?
RESULTS activists there who encouraged me to go to their conference the following year. Much later, my participation at those conferences led to invitations to the [email protected] Summit and the ONE #AYASummit. Each conference has brought me new connections, new skills, and new confidence in myself.
You might be thinking, “Great for her, but not for me. I'm too busy to add a work conference in the middle of my life.” Fair point. That's what I thought, too. Yet I want to share six things a conference can allow you to do that are much harder at home in your regular routine…
2013 [email protected] Summit with my BFF's Jen DeFranco
and Myrdin Thompson
Can't afford a plane ticket to Washington D.C.? Scholarship or financial assistance is often available for first-time or low-income attendees. If I didn't have one for my first conference, I wouldn't have gone. Some organizations are willing to bet that if they invest in you by assisting you to attend once, you'll have a great experience and want to come back again. If you are a low-income parent and want to talk to your members of Congress about poverty, then you are a valuable voice that needs to be added to the chorus.
If you're still not sure it's the right thing to leave your child for three days to go to a conference, just remind yourself why you are doing it. Is it to create a better world for your child? Is it to improve the lives of parents and children who are facing much more difficult situations than the travel dilemma you are facing now? Will this be a step in making you a more empowered, more satisfied mommy? These are very good reasons.
It's true that if you go, there will be times you miss your children. There will likely be tears when you leave and when you get home. But I encourage you to take the leap for yourself and all the people in the world you want to help. You won't be sorry!
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