The Association Blog

As a leader, advocacy is part of your job description

In Part I of this series featuring top takeaways from The Network Live, Lily Yap shared three archetypes of emerging leaders. In Part II, Shawn K. Woods outlined his adaptive communication model, while Part III featured Gene Hammett’s five levels of leadership. In our final installment of the series, Katie Jarl offers strategies for shaping policy at all levels of government.

In her session, “Advocacy in Action: Mobilizing Voices to Shape the Future of Animal Welfare,” Animal Policy Group’s Katie Jarl stripped the mystery out of advocacy by showing leaders exactly how to make an impact — no policy degree required. Her session blended practical instruction with real stories from the field, revealing how shelters can influence decisions at every level of government.

Jarl broke down the essentials into four key steps:

1. Use data + stories to influence policy

Jarl emphasized that elected officials respond to both the numbers and the narrative.

She encouraged leaders to:

• Share data trends and shelter outcomes proactively with officials
• Pair that data with human and animal stories to make issues real and memorable

This is especially effective for funding requests, program expansion, and demonstrating community impact.

2. Mobilize internal teams for advocacy

Jarl challenged shelters to activate staff, volunteers, and emerging leaders as part of their advocacy strategy. She recommends:

• Forming internal advocacy teams that bring multiple departments together — field services, veterinary, shelter ops — to work toward shared policy goals
• Empowering volunteers to speak confidently about shelter initiatives in the community

Mobilizing a team distributes the workload and builds a culture of shared ownership.

3. Prepare talking points before crises hit

Jarl was clear: Reacting in the moment is rarely effective.

She urged leaders to:

• Prepare scenario-based talking points in advance — especially around tough issues or negative headlines
• Use data to correct misinformation quickly and confidently

Proactive preparation allows shelters to respond strategically rather than emotionally.

4. Make advocacy part of everyday leadership

Jarl reminded the room that advocacy isn’t an “extra task” — it’s a natural extension of serving your community.

She illustrated simple, everyday actions shelters can take:

• Offer to be a constituent contact for animal-related questions
• Host shelter tours for councilmembers which can be both an educational opportunity and a relationship-builder
• Celebrate wins publicly to reinforce goodwill with partners and policymakers

Bottom line: Advocacy is leadership. It’s not a separate skill. As a leader, it’s part of your job description.

If you missed The Network Live this past November, we hope you’ll join us next year in Chattanooga.

If you were there, thank you for making this community what it is, and feel free to share any additional takeaways and aha! moments you experienced.

Learn More
What We Learned at The Network Live, Part I
What We Learned at The Network Live, Part II
What We Learned at The Network Live, Part III