Advocacy During the COVID Era - EveryLibrary - MLA 2020 Virtual Annual Conf -
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The document provides guidance on advocating for library budgets during the COVID-19 era, highlighting expected declines in state and local revenue and the necessity for effective communication with stakeholders. It emphasizes the importance of demonstrating measurable impacts and outcomes to secure funding while addressing the unique challenges posed by the pandemic. Additionally, it suggests forming coalitions and partnerships to enhance advocacy efforts and engage potential allies in the community.
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Advocacy During the COVID Era - EveryLibrary - MLA 2020 Virtual Annual Conf -
- 1. Howto Advocatefor Your Budget in the COVIDEra Mississippi Library Association 2020 John Chrastka, Executive Director EveryLibrary
- 3. NASBO Projections • Projecting a 20% decline in state tax revenue during COVID. • States experienced an 11.6% decline during the Great Recession. “States rely on personal income taxes and sales taxes combined for roughly 75 percent of their general fund revenue. These revenue sources have been hit hard in light of stay-at-home orders, business closures, and rising unemployment claims.” National Association of State Budget Officials http://budgetblog.nasbo.org/budgetblogs/blogs/kathryn- white/2020/06/25/state-fiscal-outlook-pre-post-covid-19
- 4. NACO Survey • Counties expect about a $30 billion increase in expenditures from the pandemic through FY 2021. • Many counties have spent more than 50% of their budgets on COVID-19 costs. National Association of Counties https://www.usmayors.org/2020/04/14/the-economy-and-cities-what- americas-leaders-are-seeing/
- 5. U.S. Conference of Mayors / NLC • 9 out of 10 cities face budget shortfalls this year. • 43% of all cities reporting unanticipated spending increases this year on top of declining revenues. Projections of COVID Impact on Budgets https://www.naco.org/sites/default/files/documents/Impact%20on%20C ounty%20Finances-FINAL-v2.pdf
- 6. Impact on Your Library Budget • Local tax receipts matter for Mississippi public libraries. • Federal COVID aid to cities, counties, and states matters to all MS libraries. • What role does state aid play in your budget? • S&P Global is projecting that property taxes will be stable for the near term. Your library’s funding mix makes a difference
- 7. Austerity Budgets How to position yourself for the coming revenue crisis
- 8. Austerity Budget Framework • Austerity budgets are all about scarcity. • Austerity creates a framework where the solution to scarcity is cuts rather than efficiencies or new revenue. • In an austerity budget, there is not a lot of room to fund the number two or number three agency or program.
- 9. Who is Setting the Agenda? • City Councils and County Supervisors in Mississippi may use the COVID Crisis to downsize government. • School Admins may use the Crisis to permanently alter the approach to learning. • Colleges and Universities will focus on core services to retain students.
- 10. Inside the Disruption • Joint City-County or Regional: what is the status of your contract? • County or City: what is the status of the discretionary funds? • All Publics: what is your state aid equation? • Please Support the State Library.
- 11. P-21 Library Services • How is your school library program uniquely positioned to support parents, other teachers, and students during COVID disruptions? • What role does your campus (Higher Ed) library have in student retention and success?
- 12. Owning the Framework “In times of austerity, the advocacy that works is rooted in the measurement of your activities to demonstrate their impacts, not simply the stories of how people feel about your (public, school or academic) library - or the librarians.” - EveryLibrary
- 13. What This Isn’t Measuring activity and demonstrating outcomes
- 14. It’s Not About Your Pivot • Every other agency in town has a great story to tell about Pivoting during COVID. • Every other department on campus or at your school did too. • You don’t get any bonus points for showing up. • Your internal difficulties will be lost in the noise.
- 15. Disrupted Advcacy Frames for Public Libraries • Any “Third-place” narratives are very difficult during COVID. • Virtual, Digital, and Online measures of impact are needed. • There will be few if any ‘nice to have’ features or services for a while. • New revenue is needed.
- 16. Disrupted Advocacy Frames in Education • In K-12 Parents are extremely involved right now and do not want to be. What can you do to help them navigate, understand, and succeed? • In Higher Ed, the push to full-digital will be detrimental to your budgets and staffing.
- 17. What a Successful Advocacy Frame Looks Like A narrative for the austerity era
- 18. How people listen • Compassionately Engaged • Populations and people • Pride of Place • Interesting, thriving, and prosperous • Data-Driven • Data as gateway into impacts • Concerned or Fearful • Focused on filling gaps Understanding your audiences
- 19. Two Possible Frames for Any Audience • Stories of Success that demonstrate your competencies. • Stories of Failure that demonstrate your integrity. Honestly representing your successes or your failures
- 20. Success Stories Stories of Success that demonstrate your competencies. • Show that you are a good candidate for funding that scales or replicates a project, program, service, or approach. • Measures of activity and impact that show a potential return on funding invested. Scalable or Replicable
- 21. Fixing Failure Stories of Failure that demonstrate your integrity. • You are the only expert in libraries in your community. What are the “library-shaped solutions” to problems that partners and policymakers need to hear? • What will new funding inputs do to measurably address the gaps? New inputs that avert or address a crisis or gap
- 22. This is the Plan… Talk about Plan B and Plan A • Plan A = what happens if you are properly funded • Plan B = what happens if you are under-funded Then please stick to it. As the only expert in town about libraries, they are inclined to believe you.
- 23. It’s the Same at School or on Campus • What is your argument for a school librarian instead of a reading specialist or a tech teacher or any other position? • What is your argument for putting an effective school library’s budgetary needs in front of other district or school priorities? • What does a “plan based” budget that creates or sustains an effective library program look like? As the only expert about libraries and they are inclined to believe you.
- 24. Whichever Story is True • During austerity, stories of competency and measures of success are budget justifications that should make your library eligible for funding. • During austerity, it is very important to root a true story of failure in your mission, vision, and values because folks who share those values want to see failures corrected. Who else cares that you are effective?
- 25. Spend Some Money • Marketing tomorrow to encourage use and uptake • Marketing yesterday to tell the story of your impact • Spend a few dollars and a few minutes every day to do it Outreach, Advertising, Marketing, Awareness-Building.
- 26. Who Else in Town Cares? • Health and Safety • Economic Development • Workforce and Re-tooling • Early Childhood • Grade Level Reading • COVID-Slide • Housing and Food Security • Safety and Violence A lot of other orgs, agencies, groups, businesses, and stakeholders care about your budget – if they only knew about it.
- 27. Who Else Cares on Campus? 1. Who else is concerned with the whole life of the child? 2. Who cares about career readiness? 3. Who cares about college readiness? 4. Who cares about citizenship and community life? 5. Who cares about small populations of students? 6. Who else cares about before and after school? 7. Who cares about school readiness? 8. Who else does a similar job? 9. Who else cares about equity? Internal and External potential partners and allies need to be engaged actively now.
- 28. Join the Coalition; Build a Partnership • Coalitions put you at the table. • Coalitions are not about service. Coalitions are about strategy. • Coalition partners agree to disagree on certain matters while working to amplify the shared vision. • Coalition partners validate the work and mission of other partners. If you are not involved as a coalition partner already, now is the time.
- 29. What Funders and Donors Want • During the ongoing COVID crisis, policymakers, elected officials, administrators, voters, and funders want to see their money go to effective programs and competent staffing in ways that deliver results. • They want to support programs and projects that can be measured and justified through data as well as stories. • They are looking for the right way to apply limited funding resources - whether taxes or philanthropy or grants - to solve problems. If you are not involved as a coalition partner already, now is the time.
- 31. Howto Advocatefor Your Budget in the COVIDEra Mississippi Library Association 2020 John Chrastka, Executive Director EveryLibrary