Grassroots Innovator Award Finalists

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries- there were a number of fantastic innovations that impressed our judges. A brief outline of the finalists follows. Be sure to cast your vote before 12:30 pm EST Friday!

Tom Connell (PMA)- Facebook
Tom shared his experiences using Facebook Ads as a part of the Smoke-Free Boise campaign. The ad, available on Facebook for 2 months, allowed users to click thru to a webform on the AHA site at www.americanheart.org/smokefreeboise. The goal was to recruit advocates that could deliver quality, personalized messages to City Council. Nearly 300 new advocates were recruited with this tactic, prompting Tom and his colleagues to dub the Facebook ad " our little recruiter."

Amanda Ptashkin & Melissa Brown (GRA)- Advocacy Road Show
Amanda and Melissa presented their Advocacy Road Show- a traveling presentation the Great Rivers Advocacy staff shared with their colleagues across the affiliate. Through an engaging game that utilized slogans from familiar companies, they discussed the value Advocacy can bring with AHA staff from other departments. Amanda and Melissa pointed to the staff's increased understanding of advocacy and a greater willingness to engage in discussion of potential partnerships as measures of their success.

Amanda Ptashkin & Melissa Brown (GRA)- YouTube
Amanda and Melissa shared how they've been using YouTube to help them accomplish their goals. First, as a part of the Advocacy Roadshow, they utilized YouTube videos to create excitement and buzz about advocacy prior to the presentation and to motivate staff to create partnerships after the presentation. They've also used YouTube to breathe fresh life into recruitment efforts around federal lobby day. Our technology challenges made it difficult to see their YouTube videos, so the links are included here.
Videos from Roadshow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwqqB2hIPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS1HbDonWy4
Recruitment Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQuS--XhIX0.

Betsy Vetter (MAA)- Advocacy Committee
In response to a need for a pool of highly engaged advocates and a need for a way volunteers could build advocacy and leadership skills within their affiliate, Betsy developed the NC Advocacy Coordinating Committee. The Executive team for the state consists of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Communications Chair, Issues Expert Chair, Immediate Past-Chair; Regional Team Leaders (Mountain, Greater Charlotte, Triad, Triangle and Eastern); and a Youth Engagement Chair. She is currently in the process of developing regional teams that mirror this structure. Betsy pointed to increased grassroots involvement and community building done by these leaders as positive outcomes of the process.