Strategies for Public Health Advocacy (PH-0246)

Spring 2025 · PH 0246 · Tufts University · 3 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores the role public health practitioners can play in advocating for programs and policies to improve the public’s health and examines strategies and techniques to promote the funding of public health programs and the adoption of public health policies through legislation or regulation. It first introduces the concept of advocacy and its relationship to the practice of public health. It then reviews the theory and practice of community organizing, including basic organizing philosophy, building coalitions, community empowerment, and basic strategies for community change. It then covers the public policy making process, the role of public opinion in public policy formation, the role of the news media in setting the policy agenda and in framing issues, the role of marketing and public relations in shaping public opinion, and the influence of lobbying at the federal, state, and local levels. Students learn basic skills in community organizing, grassroots mobilization, policy analysis, media advocacy, and legislative lobbying. Classes include lectures and discussions, class exercises, and discussions of advocacy case studies, and culminate in a mock state legislative hearing in which students must advocate for or against a public health policy proposal. Throughout the semester, students will follow a specific piece of federal, state, or local legislation, attending committee hearings, legislative sessions, and meetings of public health advocates and community members. Students will prepare framing memos, press releases, op-eds, and legislative testimony relating to an assigned policy issue.

Course codes: PH-0246, PH 0246, PH0246, PH-246, PH 246, PH246

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