By Christina Hingle
Every conference has a few sessions that send people back home with pages of notes and a longer to-do list than anticipated. Power Up Your Preservation Impact! may be one of those sessions.
Spend enough time in historic preservation and, sooner or later, you’ll become the advocate that perhaps you never intended to be. Most of us didn’t…we simply cared about something enough to speak up.
Historic places don’t preserve themselves. They depend on people who can explain why they matter, answer tough questions, build unlikely allies, and keep showing up after the first “no.” Legislative advocacy is rarely about “winning” the first conversation. It’s about earning the second.
That’s exactly what this NAPC Forum advocacy session seeks to address, with each panelist bringing a unique local, state and federal perspective.
At NCSHPO, I focus a lot of energy on federal historic preservation policy. Some days that means talking about congressional appropriations supporting the Historic Preservation Fund. Lately, though, much of my time has been spent discussing the intricacies of Section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act with congressional staff and responding to proposals that could fundamentally reshape how historic preservation operates nationwide.
One lesson I’ve learned from doing this work is that the most effective advocates are rarely the loudest people in the room. They’re the people who understand their audience.
A city council member may care about neighborhood character. A state legislator may be focused on economic development. A member of Congress may be looking at federal spending, housing, or infrastructure. The facts matter, but how you frame them matters too. The same preservation argument won’t work everywhere.
I learned this lesson early in my career. As a fairly green preservationist and policy professional, I walked into a state senator’s office ready to make what I thought was a compelling case on the synergy of the federal and state historic tax credit programs. I barely made it through my introduction before I was stopped.
“The Senator just doesn’t like tax credits as a policy”
So much for Plan A.
In that moment, I had a choice: keep delivering the points I’d rehearsed, or start listening and rethink the conversation. It was an early reminder that successful advocacy isn’t about giving the perfect presentation. It’s tough to persuade someone if you’re answering a question they aren’t asking.
That lesson has stayed with me ever since. It also underscores the interest in designing this advocacy panel around real experiences instead of theory. Each panelist has perspectives to offer in local, state, and federal advocacy. We’ll share the successes, the setbacks, the moments that forced us to rethink our approach, and the lessons we still carry with us….because the best advocacy stories usually don’t begin with everything going according to plan.
Since We’re in Minnesota…
One of the best parts of my job is learning from preservation leaders representing each of the 59 State Historic Preservation Offices across all 50 states, Washington, DC, five territories, and three freely associated states. Every SHPO writes a slightly different playbook, shaped by the communities, history, and politics of the places they serve.
With this year’s Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota seems like the perfect place to start by exploring the excellent resources available through the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. For those interested in engaging legislatively in MN, these resources may help you on your journey: Senate | House | Find My Rep | Agencies & Governor’s Office | Statutes | Hearing Calendars | Bill Search.
Not based in Minnesota? Connect with your own State Historic Preservation Office through NCSHPO’s directory, it’s one resource I refer to daily. Many states also have a variety of fantastic statewide, regional, and local historic preservation organizations.
Beyond Your State
The preservation community has spent decades building practical advocacy tools, policy guidance, training opportunities, and action networks nationally. Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been doing this work for years, there are organizations and resources you’ll find yourself coming back to time and again.
Stay Current
- NCSHPO News, the latest from the SHPOsphere
- National Trust for Historic Preservation
Take Action
- National Trust Action Center
- Preservation Action Action Center | Advocacy Week
Learn the Basics
- National Alliance of Preservation Commissions Advocacy
- 10 Tips for Effective Advocacy from the National Trust
One Lesson I Wish More Advocates Knew
People often assume advocacy happens when legislation is introduced or when a historic building is threatened. In reality, the most important advocacy usually happens long before that.
It happens when preservation organizations build relationships with elected officials BEFORE they need something. It happens when local commissions explain their work to community members.
It happens when preservationists connect historic places to issues people already care about, whether that’s housing, economic development, tourism, sustainability, disaster recovery, or community identity.
Good advocacy looks a lot more like education than lobbying.
See You in Minneapolis!
Every preservation challenge is different. Chances are someone in that room has wrestled with a version of yours before. That’s one of the best parts of gatherings like the NAPC Forum.
Power Up Your Preservation Impact! will spend 90 minutes talking about advocacy. The hallway conversations afterward tend to last much longer.
