Guest blog post by Haina Just-Michael, President, JustMediaGroup, Inc. and Vice President, Board of Trustees at the New Rochelle Public Library.

Democratic Conference Leader Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins holds a poster created by Haina Just-Michael

This Advocacy day has, undoubtedly, a tremendous impact on both those of us who are lobbying and our legislators.  I would like to share a fun story. By pure happenstance, I collected a few of the “LIBRARIES ARE ESSENTIAL SERVICES” posters provided by some of the Library Advocacy groups from the breakfast/check-in room.  I was hanging onto them thinking I would use them somehow in my hometown of New Rochelle to carry our point home.  However, upon visiting our legislators and their assistants, it occurred to me that these posters would make for a great message to convey and underscore our point—we made the trip to meet with them and we want to leave our message with them!

The group of advocates signed the posters, and we left them with each one in the legislator’s office.   It is very possible that the elected officials never would have seen those posters, which were available at the NYLA Legislative Breakfast on the first floor of the building they work.  The packets we leave give specifics and lend much language to our message.

But the quick fix—which was the poster (and artwork which undoubtedly will remain among the memorabilia often seen in these offices) left a smile on theirs and our faces.  Proof in the pudding…the smile on Senator Stewart-Cousins’ face as she holds up our token. And, if you look closely, you can see all our signatures around the border!