Memorandum: NCIL Takes Member-led Advocacy to the Next Level
Dear NCIL Membership,
This summer, NCIL’s Advocacy and Public Policy (APP) Committee is taking NCIL’s member-led advocacy to the next level. For decades, the APP Committee (formerly known as the Legislative and Advocacy Committee) has played an important role in advancing major national disability policy efforts. As our advocacy evolves, we invite you to learn about our new APP Committee structure to meet the moment of 2026.
How is the APP Committee changing to meet the times? This spring, we completed an advocacy capacity assessment. The assessment showed that while many components of NCIL’s advocacy work are important, we needed the APP Committee to be better equipped for rapid response, and to be able to address policy problems in a way that better benefits from the multifaceted experiences of our NCIL members.
What is changing about the APP Committee? To date, the APP Committee has met monthly, with six subcommittees and one working group meeting monthly each. In the new structure, there will be one monthly APP Committee meeting, one APP Rapid Response meeting, and three specialty area subcommittee / working group meetings. The specialty area meetings will continue because of the specialized knowledge and specific projects involved.
What does the APP Committee do? APP supports NCIL’s historic policy and advocacy work by supporting NCIL staff with the development of policy priorities, engaging with policymakers and community leaders, providing education on advocacy issues for NCIL’s membership, drafting public comment and other written materials, and helping to mobilize NCIL membership and our allies. The APP Committee is a great forum for those who want to bring their disability advocacy skills to support the national disability movement.
What kinds of issues does the APP Committee work on? APP works on a wide range of national topics, including healthcare / home and community-based services (HCBS), transportation, disability civil rights, housing, disaster response, international disability community building, and much more. We don’t work on every issue all the time, but we do work on both rapid response and necessary long-term advocacy projects.
What are the next steps for the APP Committee?
- On June 22, we will hold our APP Committee Orientation for NCIL members who want to be actively involved. Current APP members are also strongly encouraged to attend the Orientation.
- On June 26, we will hold the first APP Committee monthly meeting using our new agenda structure. All current APP subcommittee members are invited to this meeting space, where we hope to benefit more effectively from your combined experience. We also have three monthly specialty knowledge area subcommittees / working groups that will meet for one hour per month: International, Disability and Disaster, and Chronic Pain.
- In July, due to the NCIL conference, we will be on hiatus to focus on our work in Washington, DC. If you attend the NCIL conference, look out for the APP Committee leaders. We’ll be glad to connect!
- In August, we will begin our full regular monthly cadence of meetings. We will hold one two-hour APP meeting, one one-hour meeting for rapid response work only, and one meeting each of International, Disability and Disaster, and Chronic Pain.
We will hold an open orientation to the APP Committee on June 22, 2026; 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern. Anyone interested in supporting NCIL’s national disability advocacy is welcome to join the orientation and learn more about what it means to be involved in APP.
What kinds of skill sets does APP need from interested NCIL members? APP includes both experienced and new NCIL members with different kinds of experience. Here are some examples of skills that can be helpful:
- Strong intersectional issue analysis / point of view
- Subject matter and lived experience cross-disability expertise
- Policy writing ability
- Toolkit drafting and social media savvy
- Good at relationship building
- Experience dealing with elected officials
- Community organizing and mobilization
- Follow-through: ability to get things done
- We’re open to other skills too!
If this sounds like you or someone you know, please join our orientation on June 22 to learn more.
Questions may be directed to NCIL Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Jessica Podesva at jessica@ncil.org.
