Advocates Retreat

The second building block of the California Working Families Policy Project - the Advocates Retreat - offers opportunities to break down silos and begin work to identify one or two common priorities for collaboration.

We held our first retreat in December 2006, in conjunction with the 2007 Summit. Our second Advocates Retreat was held on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, prior to the 2009 Summit.

Twenty-four leaders were invited to participate, representing 16 organizations.  The morning featured case studies to promote discussion about strategies and approaches needed to champion major legislative goals.  The afternoon focused on the politics and logistics of taking on a common priority among the advocates.  Budget reform was clearly the top priority of the group, with health care reform also a concern.

Subsequently, the Working Families Policy Summit offered a plenary session on budget reform, and the Working Families Web Forum was launched with a series of columns and informational resources on the May 19 budget propositions.