Advocacy Day

Every year, Prevention Action Alliance hosts Advocacy Day to help prevention partners like you to advocate for prevention. Advocacy Day is a unique opportunity to meet and open a dialogue with your legislator about the importance of prevention and behavioral health to families and communities across our state. We don’t set the agenda or the platform at Advocacy Day, you do. We help you arrange meetings, give you statistics and information about prevention to help you make your case, and share strategies for communicating about the importance of prevention to lawmakers.

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.

Why Join Us for Advocacy Day?

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.”
Bonnie Shuman, Advocate

Substance misuse affects all of us, and we all have a role in prevention. Whatever you’re role is, please consider bringing your passion for prevention to Advocacy Week. Together, we can improve lawmakers’ understanding of and support for prevention and create better, healthier outcomes for all Ohioans.

Join Our Monthly Advocacy Webinar

Once per month, staff at Prevention Action Alliance and sometimes special guests talk in-depth about advocacy opportunities in Ohio, state and federal legislation of note, and more. These monthly webinars also provide up to 0.5 hours of Continuing Education in various domains for prevention specialists looking to earn or renew their credentials.

Advocate for Prevention

We send advocates like you regular updates on legislative goings-on at the state and federal level as well as our take on an issue of importance, resources for advocating for prevention, and more. Sign up for this newsletter to make sure you get the latest prevention advocacy news delivered straight to your inbox.