Leslie Harris Policy Goals

Leslie Harris has been an advocate for numerous issues, now taking on the title President and CEO of Center of Democracy and Technology. She has advocated for many different organizations, primarily focusing on different liberties and freedoms. She has obtained a law degree from Georgetown. In addition to being a president and CEO, she has opened an advocacy agency, worked at a law firm, and worked on capitol hill during early advocacy years.
Ms. Harris’s policy goals had to do primarily with women’s rights, civil liberties, and internet freedom. While advocating for these different policy goals she used various venues to accomplish her goals. She had a unique experience with these issues during different points of her career. In her early
career, she had an emphasis on women’s rights and civil liberties. During this time, she primarily advocated the legislative branch at the state level. These were issues where she was particularly passionate about and how she found her passion for advocating for specific issues. Ms. Harris then moved on to the work for the Justice Department and a small firm in DC. The later part of her career, she became heavily involved in internet freedom. While pursuing these advocacy goals, she worked at the federal level dealing mostly with the legislative and executive branches. Over the course of her career Ms. Harris has had many experiences working at the state and federal level while also working a variety of branches of the government.
Creating different approaches and having different tools in your belt help individuals conquer tasks once thought impossible.
A “strategy” that came to Ms. Harris’ advantages in early years was her courage despite not being a well knowledgeable lobbyist. This quality in her gave her an edge to keep pushing foward. She also was able to bridge the gap between opposing opinions to make positive progress in her policy goals. Her passion for the issues she was advancing allowed her to help others see the value and importance of her policy, because if she would have been complacent about the issues no one would have felt need to listen to what she had to say. Ms. Harris used the people she knew to help her also, which was an important tactic on her part. By doing this she was able to rally support when she needed more strength on a policy; she had great success with power in numbers. Whatever came her way, Ms. Harris had the tenacity and resiliency to overcome
adversity.
The lobbyist used personal skills in spite of the difficulties she faced to accomplish her policy goals.
Ms. Harris used her legal skills to help her as a lobbyist. As she continued on in her career, she found she had widened her circle. Her ability to network had gotten larger as she spent more time in the Washington D.C. area she came to know and work with more people over the years. When called upon to serve she would participate in hearings, draft analysis, and even serve on advisory committees. She would take advantage of these avenues that she was to be a part of to promote her policy goals. This has not always been an easy feat for her as she was not often supported in her goals. People around her were skeptical of what she wanted to do. She had other obstacles also such as pushing through when resisted because she was a woman. Ms. Harris overcame hardships in strides to advance policy goals she found important. On some issues, she had to overcome opposition in opinion. While in different avenues she had to bring others to see the issues she saw, make others feel strongly about what she did, and have congressional members from across the aisle come together to agree on legislation. By talking with these various people, she was able to overcome some of the obstacles presented to her in these
situations.
All advocacy is tailored to fit their organization, but I was able to see some valuable benefits for my nonprofit. As was the program she created, the advocacy for my nonprofit should rely on some of its small business strengths. The power of banning with other organizations and the variety of people they attract. These individuals all have as much power as the organization to stir change. In addition to this, the advocacy for my nonprofit needs to remember the bigger picture to not only support policy that will directly apply to the organization but also indirectly apply such as education policy. Lastly, to make connections with many people, not only relying solely on board members, but branching out from those individuals and including more individuals. By educating more people, more people will become involved in the push to make situations better.
There is much to learn from Leslie Harris and her career. She was able to conquer many disadvantages to have the career she did and push policy through. Knowing the value of others and how to communicate well with them took Ms. Harris far. By being mindful of her experiences and successes, her experience will influence my nonprofit advocacy. She had the courage to take risky leaps to advance and resist policy she believed was right or wrong.