Public Policy & Advocacy: Empowering Nurse Leaders to Engage and Influence

Nurses are leaders, and nurses have unique skills and perspective to share. Nurses sharing their perspective and being represented on community boards, healthcare organization boards, and in elected office is good for our profession, for patients, and for our communities.

ONL works with our members to identify key issues at the regional, state, and local levels, provide viable solutions, and influence and build buy-in with key stakeholders and decision-makers. We do this through grass-roots advocacy as well as through strategic partnerships and interactions with key policy leaders, legislators, and other nursing and healthcare organizations and associations.

ONL's Member-Defined Policy Platform ONL's Member-Defined Policy Platform guides our work to influence policy that impacts nursing practice. This platform was refreshed in fall 2024 based on member feedback collected via survey with guidance from ONL's Government Affairs Committee and our Board of Directors. Our 2025 Policy Priorities are organized into three pillars: Health Care Delivery and Healthy Work Environments, Nurse Leader' Influence, and Nursing and Health Care Workforce Development. Review Our Policy Platform

Ways You Can Get Involved

Advocacy takes many different forms and requires engagement and persistence. Change is possible when we contribute to the dialogue. Click the button to learn more about ways you can get involved today to help amplify the voice and influence of nurses and nurse leaders on public policy.

Ways to Get Involved in Advocacy

ONL's Role in Advocacy

Empowering Nurse Leaders to Engage and Influence and Amplifying Their Voices

How We Help Nurse Leaders Grow Their Influence and Engage to Impact Policy

Whether you are already passionate about public policy or just beginning to explore a curiosity for this work, ONL is here to help and to support you iinfluencing policy that impacts nursing practice.

We support nurse leaders in their efforts to influence public policy in a number of ways:

• Sharing context and background on policy topics
• Providing coaching for nurse leaders preparing for meetings with legislators or for hearings
• Offering talking points and reference material that may be useful in policy discussions
• Helping leaders write or edit written testimony or prepare for media events
• Facilitating connections and relationships that may help to advance the work
• Leveraging our multi-state structure as an asset for sharing lessons learned and insights in policy discussions so that nurse leaders throughout the region can benefit from the experiences of their peers in different states

ONL Government Affairs Committee

ONL's Government Affairs Committee is open to all members who wish to participate. The aims of the committee are to share information, provide exposure to policy happenings, and facilitate collaboration between members on key policy topics. If you are interested in joining the committee, please email Ashley Waddell.

ONL Government Affairs Committee State Representatives
Jennifer Boutelle  MSN, RN, NE-BC CT Representative	Amanda Ford MSN, MBA, RN, CMGT-BC MA Representative	Ara Millette MBA, DNP, RN, NE-BC RI Representative	Helene Thibodeau DNP, RN, CCRN, NEA-BC NH Representative	Carol Conroy DNP, RN, FAAN VT Representative

Addressing Key Policy Issues

ONL strives to support our community of nurse leaders with responsiveness and action on the key issues impacting nursing practice today. Current key issues include:

• Responding to Unprecedented Workforce Challenges
• Addressing Workplace Violence
• Championing Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Belonging in Nursing and Healthcare