Project Liberty
A blueprint for citizen advocacy
Schmill’s story provides a blueprint for anyone seeking to make change on the biggest stages. Here are five takeaways for anyone seeking to champion policy change.
- Find the leverage point. Schmill focused on what was feasible. The timing, the awareness, the momentum, it was all leading to phone-free schools. So she concentrated there because legislation was possible. She cautioned that you have to be careful not to just spin your wheels on a bill that has no chance of passing. Not every issue is ready for legislative action.
- Focus on learning and seek collaboration. It sounds like a poster you’d see in an office hallway. But Schmill was relentless. She studied legislative processes, pored over bills, and obsessed with the details. Then she didn’t go alone. “Learn from other people who’ve done it and let them show you the way,” she said.
- Embrace compromise. “When I was working on KOSA, some of my favorite people to work with were on the other side of the aisle. That was a surprise and provided valuable perspective,” she said. “Despite the times we live in, there is opportunity to work together when both sides are willing to listen and are open to reasonable compromises.”
- Start with passion, not experience: “Experience is always helpful but it’s your passion for an issue that is most important. The issue is what motivates me every day to go outside of my introvert comfort zone, to meet with many different people, to be open to other points of view, and to find solutions that will get us to the end goal of protecting children. You don’t need to be an expert—you need to be committed.”
