Policies and Procedures
- Mission:
- Provide leadership, direction and political action on issues of public policy with municipal, state and federal governments that will benefit the membership of NAWBO-NYC and women-owned business in general.
- Identify and research business-related public policy issues of importance to women business owners.
- Draft and recommend municipal and state public policy positions that benefit NY women as business owners and that align with the public policy platform of national NAWBO.
- Educate the membership of NAWBO-NYC on public policy issues that impact their businesses.
- Execute and manage NAWBO-NYC’Äôs annual program of public policy advocacy events and activities.
- Maintain active contact with elected and appointed officials at municipal, state and federal governments.
- Serve as an information resource of first resort for public policymakers and the media on issues of public policy that affect women-owned businesses.
- The NAWBO-NYC Public Policy Committee (the committee) , when educating their membership and influencing public policy at the state and municipal levels, should be mindful of NAWBO's public policy platform. This chapter is part of a national organization; therefore, any work done at these levels, as a NAWBO chapter, must reflect national NAWBO's issues and its positions on them.
- Neither the committee, the chapter, nor a member shall campaign or engage in any political activity on NAWBO-NYC’Äôs behalf or as a spokesperson for NAWBO-NYC that is at cross-purposes with NAWBO’Äôs objectives or that may be misinterpreted as an action or intent of the chapter board of directors.
- The committee shall always be aware of its responsibility to maintain NAWBO’Äôs independent, non-partisan political stance in all situations
- Issues that do not impact women as business owners, such as abortion, general women’Äôs health issues, and consumer-related issues, should not be worked on as a NAWBO-NYC activity.
- NAWBO-NYC is prohibited from endorsing and / or funding any political campaign at any level ’Äì federal, state, or municipal. Only the national NAWBO PAC can take such action and only for federal Congressional candidates and campaigns.
- Positions taken on state and municipal issues that are similar to NAWBO's issues must not be in conflict with NAWBO's positions on those issues.
- Taking a position that would create obstacles for a WBO wishing to provide affordable, quality health care insurance for herself and her employees and
- Any state or local position supported that does not assist WBOs in obtaining their fair share of state and municipal procurement dollars.
- Additionally, advocacy activities at the state and municipal level on issues that impact us as women business owners (WBOs) would be acceptable, even though these are not part of national NAWBO’Äôs platform. Some examples of these are Family Medical Leave, governmental regulations, tort reform, and minimum wage legislation.
- A member is free to support any issue she chooses outside of NAWBO
For example, the following positions would not be aligned with those of national NAWBO:
- The vice president of Public Policy (VP Public Policy) is the official chapter spokesperson on public policy issues. All media and legislator requests made to staff, board members, or general members shall be referred to her for handling.
- The VP Public Policy shall be the chapter’Äôs most visible public policy advocate in the state and municipal arena. She will communicate with the media, governmental agencies, public, and chapter members directly on all relevant public policy topics and activities.
- Board, committee, and other NAWBO members have no legal or implied authority to act on behalf of the VP Public Policy and must not represent themselves as having that authority.
- The Public Policy Committee shall continually identify and evaluate issues for chapter support.
- The committee shall conduct an official survey of the membership at a minimum once every two (2) years to obtain feedback and input on issues in which the membership expresses interest. Informal survey on a more frequent basis may be done via the public policy blog.
- In order for an issue to be considered for support, it shall meet one or more of the following additional criteria:
- Encourages job creation, innovation, and economic growth for NY women-owned businesses.
- Fosters entrepreneurial diversity.
- Makes state and municipal government more user-friendly and effective in meeting the needs of entrepreneurs.
- Results in good public policy that is in the state and municipal interest.
- Increases the global competitiveness of NY women-owned businesses.
- The committee shall develop and recommend positions for each selected issue, based on input from the membership, its own research, and all criteria stated in the General section above.
- The recommended position may be presented to the membership for feedback.
- All positions must be approved by the board of directors and notice of these served to the membership.
- It is understood that NAWBO-NYC may not be able to take a stand on an issue due to time constraints and / or resources.
- Requests for board or general members to present testimony on a state or municipal public policy issue before a governmental agency, committee, or legislature must be evaluated and agreed to by both the board the chapter President and the VP Public Policy. The purpose of this policy is to determine whether or not NAWBO-NYC should be offering testimony on the issue in question.
- For consistency, all planned testimony shall be documented, reviewed, and revised, as appropriate, by the vice president of Public Policy, to the extent practicable, before being submitted to the requesting organization.
- Since the inclusion of NAWBO leadership in published testimony is perceived by the listeners as conveying the NAWBO perspective, augmented by the personal experience of the presenter, particular care must be exercised to assure conformance with both the national NAWBO and the NAWBO-NYC chapter public policy platforms.
- This policy does not abridge the right of a board or general member to offer testimony as a private citizen.
- All such requests shall be referred to the VP Public Policy, whether they are from elected officials or from candidates who are currently running for office.
- The public policy committee shall evaluate the request and consider surveying the membership for input, if time permits.
- If the committee decides to support a request, it must be documented and approved by the chapter board of directors.
- Care must be taken to avoid supporting any legislation not in alignment with the principles stated in the General section above.
- Standard phrases such as ’ÄúGenerally, NAWBO supports legislation that positively impacts the bottom line of small and women-owned businesses’Äù can be used when having conversations around the various requests received.
- The VP Public Policy, with the approval of the board of directors and considering any budget restraints, is authorized to join any state or municipal coalition or alliance that supports a NAWBO-NYC approved public policy position, as long as the goals, objectives, and values of the partner organization are consistent and compatible with those of NAWBO.
- The purpose of such partnerships would be to enhance NAWBO-NYC’Äôs visibility in the political arena and to increase the impact of the chapter’Äôs public policy advocacy efforts.
- Examples of groups that would qualify as partners are other NAWBO chapters, various municipal chambers of commerce, and small business organizations with a public policy mission.
- Examples of joint events and activities are signing a letter or petition to a legislator, putting on a public policy educational event or conference, and conducting a political debate.