Directing Multi-Platform Strategy in Educational Advocacy,
Alumni Engagement and Coalition Building

Johns Hopkins University Government Affairs office wanted to build grassroots support for University/Medical legislative agenda through key constituencies including medical groups and health coalitions to support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education legislation to fund initiatives to strengthen K-12 education on the federal level.

Problem

How to build active engagement by alumni, faculty and business advocates in increasing grassroots mobilization?

Solution

Payes lead an interdepartmental team to direct and implement the Johns Hopkins Government Forum on Capitol Hill engaging leading business executives and policymakers in a panel discussion for Hopkins alumni, students and faculty, and the media: Rekindling the Passion for Innovation. With the success of the Innovation Forum, the Office of Government Affairs was able to produce a second national forum on Stem Cell Research.

Results

• Attended by 350+ Johns Hopkins alumni, faculty, business and coalition leaders and government policy makers.
• Covered by national media outlets.
• Alumni and business support coalesced around the university’s major legislative priorities through Congressional Commerce and Education committees and in the State of Maryland.
• Sparked second public policy forum on stem cell research: The Science, Policy and Ethics of Stem Cell Research.