As 2023 gets underway and the new 118th Congress settles in, the Advocacy office wants to help divisions engage in key policy discussions that will soon begin. If you have not yet done so, now is a good time for division leaders to appoint a Division Advocacy Partner, a role inaugurated in July 2022. We are accepting nominations on a rolling basis for this role.
Once Congressional leadership finishes filling key committee positions, Congress will dive into the policy making process. There will be opportunities for the psychology community to share expertise, help shape legislation, and educate new policymakers, among other efforts. Recent cohort meetings with division presidential trio representatives and APA leaders highlighted the desire from many divisions for stronger engagement with APA Advocacy. We designed the Division Advocacy Partner role to facilitate this endeavor.
The intent of this role is to facilitate long-term, bidirectional communications between divisions and the Advocacy Office. A full description of the role (PDF, 49KB)opens in new window is available. In summary, the role’s responsibilities include:
- Responding to APA Advocacy’s requests for issue-specific feedback or helping identify division members who can respond.
- Sharing advocacy-related requests from division members with the APA Director of Grassroots Engagement.
- Disseminating advocacy content, including action alerts, from APA Advocacy to the division.
Currently, 13 divisions have selected Division Advocacy Partners. These are Divisions 12, 14, 17, 18, 31, 32, 34, 38, 40, 41, 46, 54 and 55 (see APA Divisions for division names). If you are interested in learning more about the Division Advocacy Partners program, please contact Doris Parfaite-Claude, Director of Grassroots Engagement.
We look forward to hearing from you.
