Mark A. Russell currently serves as the Director of Education and Family Services for the Indianapolis Urban League (IUL). In this capacity Mark supervises the services of these three departments and sets policy for these vital service areas of the agency. Mark’s duties and responsibilities in this area include investigating and referring complaints of educational bias, providing advocacy for the educational needs of disadvantaged students and their parents, supervising IUL programs that serve youth and their parents, supervising emergency requests for rent/mortgage and utility assistance as well as seasonal assistance at Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition to identifying and maintaining funding sources for all three program areas, Mark is the agency’s United Way Liaison and also researches and authors grant proposals on behalf of the organization.
SESSION
Advocacy/Public Policy: Achieving Excellence with Impoverished Students
Learning Objectives
- Participants will gain intricate insight into the legislative process using Indiana issues and challeges as a site -based example.
- Participants will gain knowledge of non-profit advocacy using real issues in Indiana as a learning tool.
- Participants will gain advanced knowledge of the importance of coalitions and research in political advocacy.
- Participants will be more astute about the role and necessity of both traditional and emerging media as a resource tool.
Participant Outcomes
- Participants will be readily able to replicate the lessons learned for their locale. Identifying issues, organizing allies, researching issues.
- Students will be fully aware of what non-profits must do and what advocacy means in a non-profit setting.
- Students will become familiar with the essentials of issue research, identifying and assembling allies and effective advocacy.
- Students will be comfortable using traditional and emerging media formats and resources as an advocacy tool.