10 Ways to Advocate for Kids with Cancer

Advocacy is a bit of a vague term that can mean something different to everyone: public policy, awareness, self-advocacy, or something else entirely. Our broad definition of advocacy is using your voice to influence public support for a cause - in this case, childhood cancer.

If cancer advocacy is something you're interested in, this post brings you 10 ways that you can advocate for childhood cancer this spring:

1. Share your story. The raw and real experiences of childhood cancer families and survivors are incredibly powerful. Your voice could be the one to inspire a family who is facing a new diagnosis or motivate a policymaker to take action.

2. Visit our Legislative Action Center to read about current issues pending before Congress that impact cancer research, treatment, and survivorship. Our action alerts make it quick and easy to send a message to your Members of Congress on the issues that resonate with you.

3. Reach out to your elected officials to introduce yourself as a constituent and childhood cancer survivor. Start by plugging in your zip code on our our action alert page (under Find Officials). You'll be able to select all the federal and state lawmakers that you'd like your one-click message to reach.

4. Participate in an upcoming awareness campaign. The first week of April is Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week, and we're seeking comments from survivors about what 'cured' looks like in your daily life. Learn about the campaign and how to join us.

5. Sign up on the websites of your elected officials to receive regular updates, invites to local events, and announcements. This is a great way to keep your ear to the ground on opportunities to engage with lawmakers.

6. Members will be back in their home districts and states for most of the first half of April for "district/state work periods." If you want to share your story in person, this work period is an ideal time to find your elected officials near you. You can request an in-person meeting or perhaps you can find them at a town hall event or other local function. Anytime you meet with a legislator or make a good connection, we'd love to hear about it. When you take a moment to fill out our Congressional Visit Evaluation Form you help us refine our own work with these offices.

7. Following your Members of Congress on social media is another way to get a good grasp of their priorities as a legislator. By commenting or replying to their posts on your preferred channels (identify yourself as a constituent), you can contribute to the dialogue and make yourself known as a point of contact for relevant issues.

8. Flip through our Childhood Cancer Advocacy Toolkit to learn about topics like writing a letter to the editor, effective virtual lobbying, and much more.

9. If you're able to get to DC in person, consider joining us next month for the Alliance for Childhood Cancer Action Days, a two-day event that gives advocates an opportunity to speak with Members of Congress and their staff about timely childhood cancer priorities. Registration for the April 24-25 Action Days closes on March 31st. 

10. Join our Kids Action Network to receive regular updates on legislative issues and opportunities to support our policy agenda (which you can read more about here).