The Continued Need for Advocacy

Emerging Civil War welcomes Andrew C.M. Mizsak

In December, I wrote about the advocacy of Civil War Round Tables by reaching out to local schools and school districts and offering services to augment curriculums by providing living history, historical resources, or presentations. Participation in the educational framework of a community is the first pillar of a grassroots advocacy initiative from which Round Tables can benefit.

I encouraged Round Table leaders to make the effort to know their local education leaders, school superintendents or school board members. As a former school board member, I can advise that I valued the relationships I established with local community groups and how we parlayed those relationships to benefit students.

In this post, we are going to feature advocacy in a moderately different direction.

Focusing on the second pillar of the advocacy initiative, we are going to highlight how Round Tables (or historical groups in general), in many cases are or have become community anchors. As a community anchor, your organization is viewed as an important piece of the fabric of a community and a place where the local citizens look for expertise or resources.

But does your community truly know you?

When I was a school board member, my school district had an amazing administrator by the name of Paul G. Ward Jr. Mr. Ward was an assistant principal, and later an elementary school principal. His son is Denzel Ward, the cornerback for the Cleveland Browns. I share this with you because Mr. Ward would tell his students, and his sons – Paul G. Ward III and Denzel – “make them know your name.”

“Them” is the community at-large. “Them” are the people your Round Table has the opportunity to serve.

So, I urge you to make them know your name.

But how?

Every August, the American Alliance of Museums encourages leaders in brick-and-mortar institutions to invite their members of Congress to their site to learn about what goes on there, as well as hear about the issues important to the museum community. My Round Table has also adopted that practice, and we invite public officials to our August meeting each year for many of the same reasons.

We do not focus solely on Congress. We invite public officials at every level… and it is an opportunity for those members of the Ohio Legislature, county officials, mayors, council members, and school board members to spend some time, have a light meal with us, and to learn about our mission as a historical organization, so we can learn how we may serve as a resource to them.

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill had an adage that also ended up as the title of his book, “All Politics Are Local,” and I submit to you that, truly, all history is local. If we Round Table members can bring the history of our communities to those who lead our communities, those public officials will begin to view the Round Table as a resource to them.

The namesake of the Round Table to which I belong is James A. Garfield. President Garfield was not just the 20th president of the United States, but he was also a nine-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a two-term Ohio state senator, and in between those two periods of elected service, an officer in the Union Army. When he received his commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Ohio Volunteer Militia, as the Commanding Officer of the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, he had to recruit his troops from throughout Northeast Ohio. In his recruiting journeys, Garfield set foot in nearly every community in five Northeast Ohio counties. When we send out our invitations for our August Meeting, we invite public officials from those same five counties.

We do this in order to share the story of this great Ohioan, and also to provide a linkage to the history of their local communities and to serve as a resource to those public officials. In our offer of sharing history and providing a resource to local officials, we have, in turn, received support for issues that have arisen before the Ohio General Assembly, as well as offers of support for other initiatives we have undertaken.

I shall close with this… It is now baseball season, and one of my favorite movies for this time of year is “Field of Dreams.” Everyone knows that the most famous line in “Field of Dreams” is “If you build it, they will come.” That advice is the same here… If you build it… in this case, it is relationships… they (meaning local public officials) will come.

Advocacy does not always have to be a hard sell on an issue important to your organization or a difficult request or issue that will benefit your organization. Advocacy, in this sense, is about building bridges – oftentimes to people we already know – for reasons that they may not be familiar with or fully know.

If you do this right, those local officials and administrators will appreciate your offer as a resource because they will recognize the greater benefit to the citizens that they serve. Your organization will also open a communications channel with them and their offices, which will benefit the people that you serve.

And it’s because you have made them know your name.

Andrew C.M. Mizsak is the commander of the James A. Garfield CWRT and a member of the CWRT Board of Directors