Ostensibly, this is the new version of my PCA Inside the Beltway blog, but I hope to take a broader view issues and news as they present themselves, and my hope is that we can generate some discussion and action that will help our advocacy for prostate cancer issues at the federal and state level.

One of the first things I want to cover is building our network.  State legislatures are going to be starting up in a couple of months and we’ve already heard from a number of people interested in ramping up State prostate cancer initiatives.  It is important in all campaigns to have a strong core of dedicated advocates (if you’re reading this, you probably already are one of these).  However, if you are only one person, it can be very difficult – you need help.  There should always be at least two others that can help to strategize, recruit and advocate on a regular basis.  From this group, the network should reach out like an oak tree with branches sprouting from the trunk and smaller stems attached to the many branches and leading out to the great number of leaves ready to fall when the weather tells them to.

This takes time, but it is important to think about how to water your tree when you drop the kids off at school, talk to your neighbors while you wash your car, attend sporting and social events where you inevitably end up meeting new people, or whatever setting brings you to expanding your network.  Your network is the beginning of a movement that will initially bring change in your State, but when added to the collection of networks nationally will help us to affect change at the federal level.

I have plans for the next three entries that I will post in the coming days and I hope that it will spark some interest, feedback and input about how we take the next steps.  The first entry I will post is going to talk about building the network and it’s going to be important to keep in mind that it’s more than just names on a list – the network and the list have to be active on a regular basis, people have to answer the call to let their voice be heard and share concerns with elected officials and decision makers at all levels of government.

The next two articles will discuss what has happened so far and MY view of the current state of grassroots advocacy, and then where we’re going and how we are going to get there with the help of new advocates and more involved grassroots network.

I hope that you will share your thoughts with me and others here on our community pages and together we will work to achieve our goals legislatively, but more importantly scientifically and medically as we fight prostate cancer.