Vibrant Episode 7 - Public Policy & Advocacy with Jonathan Frochtzwajg
With Election Day right around the corner on November 8th, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to dive into CAP's Public Policy & Advocacy work! Joining us for our seventh episode today is Jonathan Frochtzwajg, CAP's Public Policy and Grants Manager, to give us the inside scoop on our policy initiative, advocacy work, and a plethora of resources, including our 2022 Voter Resource Guide, to help you get prepared for the upcoming elections. Listen to or read the full episode below!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Welcome to Vibrant, an affirming healthcare podcast from CAP, Our House, and Prism Health. I'm your host, Dustin Vance, and I'll be here sitting down with folks across our agency to get the inside scoop on the work they do to provide compassionate affirming and care to all those in our community. Let's get the show started!
Dustin: Hey, folks, thanks so much for tuning in for another episode. Coming up right around the corner on November 8 are the midterm elections, and we thought, “What better time than now to do a highlight of our public policy and advocacy program here at CAP?” Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, people living with HIV and their allies have understood the vital importance of speaking up for their wellbeing. As the AIDS activism organization Act Up iconically put it, “Silence = Death”. Today, CAP follows in this rich tradition by advocating at the local, state, and federal levels for public policies that promote the health and wellness of all the people we serve. Joining us today to tell us a bit more about CAP’s advocacy work is Jonathan Frochtzwajg, CAP’s Public Policy and Grants Manager. Hey, Jonathan, welcome to the show. If you could, could you give us a brief introduction of yourself and how you came to be at CAP?
Jonathan: My name is Jonathan Frochtzwajg, I use he/him pronouns, and I am the Public Policy and GrantsManager for CAP. And I joined CAP in 2019 as our Institutional Giving Officer, aka our Grant Writer. But I've been interested in and involved in public policy advocacy for a long time. I served on the board of Next Up, a youth civic engagement organization here in Portland, and I volunteered on the research committee for Welcome Home Coalition, a local housing org, and I was just generally a politics and policy nerd. So when CAP created a new position dedicated to public policy and advocacy in 2020, I was fortunate enough to be promoted into this role.
Dustin: Well, I mean, with a background like that, how could they not, right? So, for those who aren't very familiar with public policy and advocacy, could you give us a bit of an overview of what your program does at CAP?
Jonathan: Yeah, we focus on three issue areas in the public policy and advocacy program. First, of course, HIV, recognizing that the epidemic is far from over, but is actually in many ways becoming increasingly entrenched and inequitable. Second, LGBTQ+ health, from sexual and reproductive health, to mental health, to gender affirming care. And finally, racial equity. Knowing that black people in Oregon are five times more likely than their white counterparts to become infected with HIV, we have to pay attention to all the ways that systemic racism intersects with HIV and LGBTQ+ health. And we work at all levels of government: city, county, state, and federal. Because CAP has two offices in southwest Washington and serves four counties there, we lobby in Olympia as well as Salem.
Dustin: Wow, so it sounds like you're kind of all over the place, both in terms of issues you're advocating for, but also geographically. Could you maybe tell us, then, what a typical day for you looks like, and how you go about your work as a public policy advocate?
Jonathan: There is no typical. I participate in a lot of coalition meetings, exchanging information and collaborating with our partners. So, for example, I represent CAP on the Public Policy Council of AIDS United, which is the country's largest HIV advocacy organization. I participate in the Washington HIV Justice Alliance, which is a grassroots group of HIV advocates up in Washington State. I'm a member of the Oregon Housing Alliance on behalf of CAP. So a lot of meetings. I also spend a lot of my time meeting with state agencies and community based organizations and industry groups to talk about policies we're working on. Days do look pretty different during legislative sessions because I've only been in this role during COVID times. I have not spent a lot of time in person in Salem or Olympia. That will probably change in the next few years, but during legislative sessions, I do spend a lot of my time meeting and communicating about the specific bills that we're advocating for.
Dustin: Speaking of bills you're advocating for, what are some of the current issues that are popping up in your world, or what are some of the biggest policy priorities for you right now?
Jonathan: So, in the upcoming legislative session in Oregon, we'll have three priorities. One is securing an investment, a financial investment, from the state in Prism Health’s expansion, and therefore in the state's limited LGBTQ+ health infrastructure. We will also be advocating for a bill to ensure PEP access. So, for those who don't know, PEP is an emergency medication that prevents HIV if taken within 72 hours of unexposure, and this bill would make sure that folks who need that emergency medication can get it no matter where they live and regardless of cost. And then finally, we're working really closely with Basic Rights Oregon to close the gaps that exist in insurance coverage of gender affirming care.
Dustin: Wow, so definitely a lot going on in your world right now. Could you then maybe tell us about some successes you've had along the way or some of the challenges you've faced in your role in public policy and advocacy?
Jonathan: Yeah, in terms of successes, I'm very proud of the Data Justice Act that CAP passed in 2021. That bill requires healthcare providers to collect information from patients on their sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as their race, ethnicity, preferred language, and disabilities. It actually made Oregon the first state to mandate that providers gather sexual orientation and gender identity data from patients. And it also provided more than $18 million to Oregon Health Authority to develop a database that will provide unprecedented insight into LGBTQ+ and racial health disparities. But I'm also proud of smaller stuff that we've done. For example, in the most recent legislative session in Oregon, the legislature made an unprecedented investment in workforce development, about $400 million, with a focus on certain populations that experienced disparities in employment. And originally, LGBTQ+ people were not on that list. And thanks to CAP’s advocacy, along with the advocacy of other LGBTQ advocates, we got our community added to that list. And that means that more dollars, more attention will go to the employment disparities that, for example, trans people experience here. I would say the biggest challenge is that there is more to do than we ever could do and that LGBTQ+ people don't have a loud enough voice in public policy right now. The example I gave about the workforce bill is, I think, a good example, because that was an oversight that didn't come from a place of malice. It was simply that queer people weren't necessarily at the table making noise for themselves. So I think that's a challenge. I think there is a certain level of complacency among policymakers about LGBTQ+ people's experience in Oregon because we're this relatively queer friendly state. And it's up to us to bring attention to the places where policy is failing us or failing the most vulnerable or marginalized members of our community.
Dustin: Thank you so much for sharing all of the both successes and challenges your program has faced and how you're learning from that to keep growing and changing. If people want to get involved to help out with that, how would they go about doing that? Are there opportunities to volunteer or intern? Or how do people just kind of stay connected with what's going on in the world of our advocacy work?
Jonathan: Yeah, if someone wants to get more involved, I would first of all encourage them to sign up for public policy and advocacy email updates, which they can do by going to capnw.org/ppa and scroll to the bottom of the page. There's a little form there to get regular emails about what we're up to, including opportunities to get involved, whether that's more regular volunteering or one off calls to action. My e-door is open to community members. You can email me, find my contact information on CAP's website (jfrochtzwajg@capnw.org), and reach out about issues that you're seeing or things that you think we should be working on.
Dustin: And I'm guessing we would be remiss not to talk about the basic kind of way of getting involved in your local elections, which is to exercise your right to vote.
Jonathan: Well, since you mentioned voting, Dustin, I encourage everyone to not just vote, but if you can donate to campaigns, volunteer for campaigns, get involved. It's difficult to overstate the importance of the election coming up on November 8. CAP has a Voter Resource Guide on our website that provides information about how to register and check your registration if you've moved even within Oregon and Washington. And we'll update that voter resource guide with our endorsements of ballot measures, including information about the measures and opportunities to support them.
Dustin: Well, thank you so much again, Jonathan, for joining us today and giving us such a great overview of the policy and advocacy efforts CAP is engaging in and how folks can get involved and support that effort in their own community. And we can't wait to talk to you again real soon!
Jonathan: Thanks for having me, Dustin.
Outro: Well, that's our show for today folks. Thanks so much for tuning in and we can't wait to share another episode next month. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns in the meantime, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at comms@capnw.org. Until then, stay Vibrant!
About Cascade AIDS Project
CAP is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis. As the oldest and largest community-based HIV services provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, we seek to support and empower all people with or affected by HIV, reduce stigma, and provide the LGBTQ+ community with compassionate healthcare. We do so by helping to ensure the health and well-being of our program participants each year through health, housing, and other social services. When the need for affordable, accessible, and culturally affirming primary care services was identified as a community need, we responded by opening Prism Health in 2017. More information can be found at www.capnw.org.
