Maine has a unique history of being a place where community citizens can indeed affect major change in public policy and laws. No-one knows this more than Joanne D’Arcangelo, owner of JD’A Consulting, Inc. She’s a policy and advocacy consultant with over twenty years of experience in public policy development, civic engagement, legislative advocacy, voter education, and civic and political leadership development at the local and state levels in Maine.
Joanne is a state leader in the art of “Community-Based Advocacy,” fostering constituency input to bring proposed bills to life. She explained, “In Maine, we don’t have professional politicians in our Capitol. Instead, we have a part-time citizen legislature of 186 Maine people who put the interests of their communities first and look to their constituents for guidance on issues of the day. Among the thousands of bills lawmakers must study and debate each year, those issues and positions on which a legislator’s own constituents can speak passionately and persuasively have the greatest likelihood of success.”
A wide range of Maine organizations have engaged Joanne for consulting, organizational team building and advocacy training. They include the American Dental Association; Coastal Enterprises, Inc.; the National Open Ballot Project; Maine Equal Justice Partners; Women, Work, & Community; and the Association of Enterprise Opportunity. To learn more about her work, and how she helps businesses and non-profit organizations, visit her website: www.jdaconsultinginc.net
