Advocacy Day
Watch this page for announcements regarding Advocacy Day 2024! Join us and youth leaders, coalitions and other prevention advocates from across Ohio in sharing the importance of investing in prevention.
Many people are nervous about going to the Ohio Statehouse, meeting their representatives, and advocating for prevention. We do our best to make it easy by providing logistical support, such as bussing advocates downtown from our office and arranging your meetings for you. We also strive to give you the information you need to make your case for prevention, whether that’s current statistics about drug misuse, a fact sheet on the cost savings of prevention you can give to your legislator, or a quick primer on how to advocate for prevention.
At the end of it all, however, Advocacy Day is about standing up for the health and wellness of all Ohioans, particularly young people who have enough to deal with without adding substances into the mix. Every year, dozens of advocates join together to make this case to legislators, and those efforts bear fruit. Take, for example, Bonnie Shuman’s quest to raise awareness about the risks of alcohol use by pregnant women. Bonnie spent years advocating for a bill to raise awareness about Fetal Alcohol Spectrums Disorder, but it was Advocacy Day that helped her get an appointment with her representative—a conversation that eventually led to Senate Bill 340, which would create signs about the risks of FASDs.
“Advocacy Day gave me momentum. It created an easy opportunity for me to speak with and relate to my legislator. Without it, I wouldn’t have gotten to square one.”
Advocate for Prevention