Teton County Introduction to Advocacy and Elected Officials Panel

The Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole is excit­ed to part­ner with the Wyoming Non­prof­it Net­work for an Intro­duc­tion to Advo­ca­cy and Elect­ed Offi­cials Panel.

Event Time­line:

• Advo­ca­cy Work­shop — 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
• Pan­el with Elect­ed Offi­cials — 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• Lunch with Elect­ed Offi­cials — 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Advo­ca­cy Workshop:

Leg­isla­tive pol­i­cy has a pro­found impact on our way of life in Wyoming. To help shape the future of our state, non­prof­its must have a clear under­stand­ing of how to effec­tive­ly advo­cate for the caus­es they espouse and the pop­u­la­tions they serve. In part­ner­ship with the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole, the Wyoming Non­prof­it Net­work is pleased to offer Intro­duc­tion to Advo­ca­cy, an in-per­son learn­ing event in Teton Coun­ty. The goal of this train­ing is to teach local non­prof­its how to craft com­pelling mes­sages that edu­cate and res­onate with deci­sion-mak­ers at all lev­els of gov­ern­ment.

Work­shop par­tic­i­pants will:

• Learn the dif­fer­ence between advo­ca­cy and lob­by­ing and what activ­i­ties are allow­able for 501©3 organizations

• Receive guid­ance on how to edu­cate Boards about the impor­tance of advocacy

• Gain clar­i­ty on how mes­sag­ing dif­fers for orga­ni­za­tions that receive direct gov­ern­ment fund­ing ver­sus those that do not

• Explore a mes­sag­ing frame­work ground­ed in core Wyoming values

• Devel­op mes­sag­ing aligned with their organization’s spe­cif­ic mis­sion and impact

• Prac­tice mes­sag­ing in a peer-learn­ing environment

• Be intro­duced to the role of coali­tion build­ing in estab­lish­ing a col­lec­tive voice that is heard and val­ued in Cheyenne

• Devel­op an action plan to sup­port their organization’s advo­ca­cy efforts with local elect­ed offi­cials and in advance of the 2027 Gen­er­al Ses­sion of the Wyoming Legislature

Elect­ed Offi­cials Panel:

To extend the learn­ing from the work­shop, par­tic­i­pants will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to direct­ly engage with local elect­ed offi­cials in a pan­el dis­cus­sion and a net­work­ing lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Con­firmed pan­elists, list­ed below, are not cur­rent­ly run­ning for re-elec­tion or are run­ning uncontested. 

• Natalia D. Mack­er, Teton Coun­ty Commissioner

• Len Carl­man, Teton Coun­ty Commissioner

• Arne Jor­gensen, Town of Jack­son Mayor

• Mike Yin, Wyoming State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive. HD-16

• Andrew Bry­on, Wyoming State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive, HD-22

Click HERE to reg­is­ter for the Advo­ca­cy Work­shop, Elect­ed Offi­cials Pan­el Dis­cus­sion and Lunch through the Wyoming Non­prof­it Network.

Sup­ple­men­tal Session: 

Facil­i­tat­ed Dis­cus­sion for Estab­lished Coalitions

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Coali­tions allow orga­ni­za­tions to com­bine resources, exper­tise, and influ­ence to address com­plex prob­lems, often serv­ing as a bridge between indi­vid­ual non­prof­it advo­ca­cy and sys­tems of change.

This facil­i­tat­ed dis­cus­sion will help estab­lished coali­tions strength­en their col­lec­tive efforts, both local­ly and statewide. Par­tic­i­pat­ing coali­tions will be ground­ed in a def­i­n­i­tion of an effec­tive coali­tion and guid­ed through a series of reflec­tive ques­tions to iden­ti­fy where the group has been suc­cess­ful and where oppor­tu­ni­ties exist to increase impact.

Who should attend? Estab­lished coali­tions that have been work­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly for at least 1 year, have iden­ti­fied pri­or­i­ties and strate­gic goals and have pre­vi­ous­ly engaged deci­sion mak­ers on coali­tion priorities.

Reg­is­tra­tion Struc­ture: Space is lim­it­ed. One reg­is­tra­tion per coali­tion, with lim­it of 7 par­tic­i­pants per coali­tion). There is no addi­tion­al fee to reg­is­ter, with atten­dance of Intro­duc­tion to Advo­ca­cy and Elect­ed Offi­cials Pan­el encour­aged but not required to par­tic­i­pate in the facil­i­tat­ed discussion.

Click here to reg­is­ter for the Facil­i­tat­ed Dis­cus­sion for Estab­lished Coalitions 

About the Presenters: 

Michael Pearl­man serves as the Wyoming Non­prof­it Network’s Direc­tor of Exter­nal Affairs, where he leads the Network’s pub­lic pol­i­cy and out­reach efforts, serv­ing as an advo­cate and a voice for Wyoming non­prof­its. He pre­vi­ous­ly spent six years immersed in Wyoming state gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy as Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Direc­tor for Gov­er­nor Mark Gor­don. A for­mer Teton Coun­ty res­i­dent, Michael’s pro­fes­sion­al back­ground includes more than a decade of expe­ri­ence in jour­nal­ism, com­mu­ni­ca­tions and pub­lic rela­tions in both the pri­vate and non­prof­it sectors.

Tess Mit­tel­stadt serves as the Wyoming Non­prof­it Network’s Direc­tor of Learn­ing and Devel­op­ment, where she sup­ports non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions statewide through edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties and helps orga­ni­za­tions in Natrona Coun­ty reach their full poten­tial through one-on-one con­sult­ing. With a master’s in pub­lic admin­is­tra­tion with a non­prof­it focus from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wyoming, and hav­ing served as an exec­u­tive direc­tor, direc­tor of devel­op­ment, and board mem­ber, Tess brings broad expe­ri­ence in non­prof­it lead­er­ship, com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment, fundrais­ing, and governance.