Advocacy is a broad term for active support of an idea, cause, or a person's or peoples' welfare. Key concepts in advocacy are: equality, inclusion, empowerment and rights. Advocacy normally aims to influence public policy and decisions about how resources will be used within political, economic, and social systems and institutions.

Advocacy is active; it includes speaking out, pleading or arguing for something or on someone's behalf. It may involve writing letters to politicians, raising issues of concern to organizations or services, supporting a person or people where they could be taken advantage of, or fighting for a person's or groups' right to live a more fulfilling life.

Advocacy can mean something as formal as sitting down and talking to your legislator, talking to your congregation about a change in practice you hope they will embrace, or as simple as telling your neighbor about the impact of a law and why it matters to you.

For people of faith, advocacy may be motivated by moral, ethical or religious principles, such as the conviction that everyone deserves access to adequate nutritious food and sufficient physical activity to be healthy. Think about how your faith calls you to work towards healthy environments for all of God's children.  

Where to begin? You could start by learning how to be an effective advocate, then developing an advocacy strategy based on the issue you most want to impact and what approaches have been shown to work.