Advocacy and Lobbying on Capitol Hill

For the second year in a row, I got the opportunity to attend Population Connection Action Fund’s Capitol Hill Days in Washington, D.C. This three-day conference culminates in a lobbying day with our Congress members. The educational sessions and lobbying focus on American global public health policies, especially women’s health policies. Because I am originally from Pennsylvania but go to school in Ohio, I ended up with five lobbying meetings. These meetings ranged in size from eighty people to just myself meeting with a representative of my PA U.S. Representative.

Additionally, because I was a returning participant, I was chosen to lead the eighty constituent meeting with representatives from Senator Sherrod Brown’s office. This meant that I began and ended the meeting in addition to helping run our planning session. I put on the spot, but I really enjoyed this small leadership opportunity. All of my meetings went very well. In addition to learning and lobbying, I got to see the cherry blossoms blooming in D.C. for the first time and explored more of my favorite city!

This incredible experience touched on two of the Honors and Scholars G.O.A.L.S: Global Awareness and Leadership Development. My favorite thing about public health and public affairs is that they work on a small local level or they can work towards making huge global changes. In this case, I was lobbying for increased funding for women’s health internationally. Today the world is so small that something my local Congress member votes on can impact the life of a woman and her family hundreds of thousands of miles away. Increasing this kind of understanding of the significance of our actions will help us to create a healthier, more compassionate, and peaceful world. My experience suddenly becoming a group leader gave me more confidence in my leadership skills. Confidence is key to developing as a leader. Even if you know all of the right things to do, if you don’t lead with confidence, you’ll never be the best leader you can be. I am incredibly thankful for my time at Capitol Hill Days, and I hope to return next year.