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Spring 2004 Advocacy and AgingVirtually every person who has worked in the field of aging over the past forty years has called him- or herself an advocate at some point, and meant it. And for most, it has been true. I think of myself as a veteran of many years and many battles (some of which were really important and, in the spirit of full disclosure, some of which were not), and I take advocacy to be a very important subject. So, to be asked by the editorial board of Generations to be guest editor of an edition on advocacy was a real honor. It meant that I was going to have the opportunity to ask people who are giants in our field to write pieces that would be guided by my vision. And, I could ask people far more articulate than I to communicate complexities that I would be hard-pressed to elucidate. I had to ask myself, was I up to it, since my primary qualifications rest largely on being an ex-public official. So, after the inevitable failure of good sense to overcome the urges of ego, I accepted. In thinking through what might be written about advocacy for people in the field of aging, the first task was to decide what to concentrate on. Advocacy means many things to different people. As a result, we could choose a specific kind of advocacy to focus on, and try to treat a number of applications of it, sorting through contexts, why a particular approach was selected, what its success was, and the like. Or, we could try to look at the issue of advocacy at one particular level of government, say, the federal level, and examine advocacy on even one issue from many angles. What are the approaches to advocacy that were tried on an issue? Which ones worked and which ones failed? (It would seem the second category might have more to choose from.) And, how has advocacy in Washington changed over the years and since September 11, 2001? Perhaps because of my own professional history, and perhaps because so many things that affect the lives of older people are not decided at the federal level, I think it would be a disservice to Generations readers to concentrate exclusively on federal advocacy. Most of them work in the field (with real people), or teach those who will, and most of the actual service rendered to older people, while it might be connected to federal policy, is administered by state governments. Still other services come from purely local resources. In this issue, we needed to touch on them all. The next consideration was how "intellectual" to be about this. Advocacy is something that is rarely analyzed directly. We think of the work of lawyers, consumer advocates, and the like. There is published material on advocacy processes, usually oriented to the passage of legislation, and various organizations have developed numerous programs to train people in advocacy techniques. But, not a lot has been written about advocacy itself. The last task, which was both a joy and a challenge, was to recruit authors for this edition. As you all know, the field of aging has some of the most articulate and best-informed advocates and students of the many aspects of advocacy in the United States, and it was a joy to work, albeit briefly, with each of those in our assembled collection. The challenge came from having to choose among so many who would have made great contributions. With all due respect to those who were not able to be involved, our contributors to this issue have done a wonderful job and, as I had hoped, have taught me a lot. I have learned the humbling lesson that most successful editors must have always known. You look good when you find authors who know a lot more about things and can write about them better than you can. fie tried to strike a balance in some way. First of all, advocacy for older people has many meanings, and it has a historical context. Our authors Elias Cohen and Rob Hudson perfectly set the scene and give us the tools for thinking about the rest of the issue. Where you sit and what your position requires affects your view of the issues and the appropriate actions that might be taken, given the necessary calculus involving legal, financial, organizational,and even ethical considerations, as the articles by Marshall Kapp, Jim Callahan, Steve McConnell, and Rosalie Kane illustrate. In addition, there are (or must be) concepts at work that those engaged in effective advocacy campaigns have used. There are the forces at work on organizations that motivate them to become involved in advocacy and that will have an influence on what they feel free to do and what they won't do. Political issues and political contexts apply to what advocates might do, as Robert Binstock tells us, and we also benefit from the reflections of those who have been involved in campaigns from the "grassroots" on up-our authors Iris Freeman, Roland Hornbostel, and Mary Anne Kelly. Given the tenor of the times, I felt it would be appropriate to reflect on the state of advocacy in the field of aging as it is and has been for a number of years. While there are some great successes to point to, there are all sorts of reasons that the efforts to move public policy forward on aging issues at the state and national level have been only modestly successful for so long, as John Rother, Robyn Stone, and Bob Blancato consider. And there are unique situations that present recurring and sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges over a long period of time. Dave Baldridge writes about one of these. It seems manifestly true that the energy and commitment of advocates has waned at the national level and in most states and communities. We need to find out why, and what we can do about it. It may be that a generation of advocates has "aged out," while others have been consciously or unconsciously "bought out." As the system of services grows, and more people become involved in one way or another, the interests of the parties change. It may also be that achievement of the kind of consensus necessary to sustain effective advocacy that has eluded us for all sorts of practical reasons will continue to do so, as the vested interests of the aging network focus more of their energies on protecting what they have rather than searching for the common good. Whatever the reasons, and whatever the obstacles, I hope that this edition of Generations makes a meaningful contribution to understanding the issues and challenges of advocacy for older people, in full consideration of its history and its many contexts. The goal is to refurbish the image of advocacy in our field and to send a signal to long-timers and newcomers alike that the tradition of advocacy remains an essential underpinning of the mission that animates what is special and exciting about working in this field. We may be looking ahead to an "age wave," but the onslaught of the baby boom isn't by itself going to fix anything. Advocacy, for everything from changing stereotypes to changing policy, is needed now more than ever. I would like to personally and publicly thank all the authors who worked to make their excellent contributions-in spite of their terrible schedules and a little bit of polite nagging. And, I especially want to say thanks to Generations' editor Mary Johnson, whose quiet applied skills, good humor, and diplomacy make all the rest of us sound so much better and look well organized. It truly has been an honor and a privilege. Richard Browdie is president and ceo of the Benjamin Rose Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, and is the former secretary of aging for the State of Pennsylvania and executive director of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. From Generations Spring 2004 issue, 28(1): 5-7. © 2004 American Society on Aging
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