Advocacy and Government Relations
At New Dream Consulting, we help organizations understand government, navigate public systems, and build the relationships necessary to move important priorities forward. We work with clients to identify the decision-makers and stakeholders who matter, clarify their message, and develop a strategy for effective engagement at the local, state, and federal levels.
Our work may include government relations strategy, legislative and policy monitoring, elected-official engagement, stakeholder outreach, coalition building, public-sector partnerships, and advocacy planning. We also help organizations prepare for important meetings, communicate complex priorities clearly, and position leaders to build credible, lasting relationships with government and community partners.
Whether an organization is seeking to raise awareness around an issue, navigate a government process, build support for an initiative, strengthen relationships with public officials, or better understand the policy environment affecting its work, New Dream helps clients know who to engage, what to communicate, and how to move forward strategically.
What We Provide
Government Relations & Advocacy Strategy: We develop customized strategies that identify your priorities, audiences, decision-makers, and path forward, helping you engage government effectively at the local, state, and federal levels.
Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement: We identify the elected officials, government leaders, agencies, community partners, and other stakeholders connected to your priorities and develop thoughtful strategies for building meaningful relationships with them.
Government & Policy Navigation: We help clients understand the government and policy environment affecting their work, identify emerging issues and opportunities, and determine how and when to engage.
Government Engagement & Meeting Preparation: We help leaders prepare for meetings, briefings, presentations, and conversations with public officials and government agencies, ensuring they enter the room with a clear message, defined objectives, and a strategy for what comes next.
Partnership Building: We bring together organizations, leaders, and stakeholders with shared interests, helping clients build coalitions and partnerships that strengthen their ability to advance important priorities.
Strategic Response & Issue Management: When an unexpected government, policy, or community issue emerges, we help clients understand what is happening, assess the stakeholders and implications, develop a response strategy, and determine the next move.
Case Study
Building a Government Relations Strategy That Delivered Results
Client Overview: Major North Carolina Municipality
A major North Carolina municipality sought to strengthen its presence at the state and federal levels, better coordinate its legislative priorities, expand relationships with government partners, and pursue outside resources for critical community needs.
The Challenge
The municipality had significant priorities involving infrastructure, public safety, housing, economic and community development, and other essential public investments. Advancing those priorities required more than individual funding requests. It required a coordinated government relations strategy that connected the organization's priorities with the right agencies, elected officials, legislative delegation members, and state and federal partners.
The Approach
LaToya helped establish the municipality's first dedicated government relations function, creating a more coordinated approach to state and federal engagement. Her work included developing legislative priorities, overseeing the municipality's state and federal lobbying teams, strengthening relationships with members of the state and federal legislative delegations, coordinating engagement with government agencies, and aligning funding opportunities with major organizational priorities.
She also worked across departments and with external partners to ensure that leaders could clearly articulate what the municipality needed, why it mattered, and where government partnership could help move those priorities forward.
The Results
The strategy produced measurable results. In a single fiscal year, the municipality secured more than $17 million in federal and state grant funding to advance important public priorities.
Just as importantly, the work created a stronger infrastructure for government relations, connecting organizational strategy, legislative engagement, external partnerships, and funding opportunities rather than treating them as separate activities.
The New Dream Difference
Effective government relations is not simply about knowing someone in government. It requires understanding the issue, the environment, the decision-makers, the relationships, and the opportunity, and knowing how to bring those pieces together strategically.
That is the approach LaToya brings to New Dream Consulting today.