Not knowing who to invite to his community conversations, Michael Facey sent an invite link to his fraternity brothers for his virtual meeting without telling them what the conversation was about.
Facey later told this story during one of the virtual meetings, as the programs director, during the summer fellowship of Men4Choice. He inspired the fellows to use an unconventional approach to get other men to join their community conversation, though he added a disclaimer: don't drop an invite link without explaining what it is.
But that’s advocacy!
Advocacy, a word that is repeated to the fellows of the Men4Choice organization. Their first challenge isn't necessarily defining reproductive freedom and its importance, but getting someone to listen and care about the issue.
Over the 10-week fellowship, the organization’s fellows are assigned to host three community conversations. They invite men from their schools, communities, families, friends, or any man willing to listen and engage about reproductive freedom.
It may sound simple, but fellows often run into a question early on: How do you get someone to care about an issue if they may believe the problem does not involve them?
Conveniently, the organization hosts once-a-week virtual meetings that cover advocacy and educate fellows more on abortion so they can be even more informed on the issue.
Evan Fernando, a first-year Men4Choice summer fellow, finds the organization's target demographic interesting and empowering.
"It is quite rare to see an organization as passionate as it is when it is not the target audience," Fernando said. "Women are only 50 percent of the electorate. We need men to be in support too."
Founded in 2015 in Illinois by Oren Jacobson and Ben Head, Men4Choice was created after one of the founders saw too many men being on the sidelines on the issue.
Dewayne Martin, the organization's senior director of external affairs, said one of the founders attended a reproductive health seminar and discovered a major gap between men who supported reproductive freedom and men who were actually involved in advocating for it.
"He came across the stat that said although 61 percent of men supported [reproductive freedom], less than one to two percent took action," Martin said. "Ultimately, that was a wake-up call."
Getting men who support the issue into advocacy to close the gap between belief and action was only the beginning for the organization.
Through the fellowship, fellows learn organizing and advocacy skills and write personal narratives about why they decided to take action by joining the movement.
One of the first-ever assignments the fellows had to do was writing a “Story of Self”, which helps them look inward so they can better communicate to others why the mission of protecting reproductive freedom is important.
Martin believes those stories hold power that statistics and political messaging sometimes cannot reflect.
"In a world where meta-narratives are being attacked, our micro-narratives can never be hacked and propagandized. You cannot make up someone's personal story," Martin said.
The story of self was the first step; the next step was taking those personal narratives into their community conversations. The reason for the community conversations is not only to discuss abortion access or reproductive rights with men who already agree, but it is also to help other guys understand why they play a pivotal role in the issue when they are not necessarily personally the ones affected by restrictions.
Fernando says, "When you raise someone else's quality of life, it raises your quality of life in some area. Because even though America finds itself in being this very individualistic country, we all are connected in a way,".
Throughout the fellowship, fellows have multiple sources of guidance to help them navigate those conversations. They have weekly meetings, and they also have a chapter coordinator based in their home state. The Florida chapter coordinator, John LaFlamme, mentors fellows like Fernando and helps them become more engaged advocates.
"My job is to mentor the next generation of political advocates and teach the necessary organizing skills," he said.
His interest in advocacy began after his mother suffered a stroke, leaving his family to navigate the challenges and financial burden of the healthcare system. That experience eventually led him toward healthcare advocacy and reproductive justice.
"I know that this could happen to anyone. And I want to make sure that healthcare access is given to all," LaFlamme said.
LaFlamme’s story shows that advocacy can begin with something personal, which is why writing personal narratives is important to the fellows' advocacy.
By the end of the fellowship, the summer cohort has hosted three community conversations and gained experience in organizing, public speaking, creating a personal narrative, and community engagement.
The transformation the fellows obtain is supposed to extend beyond the fellowship, LaFlamme mentioned.
"This is designed not just to be a random class but to be a transformative experience," he said.
Four years after the attack on Roe v. Wade, Men4Choice continues its work on getting more men to advocate for reproductive freedom. It reminds them that it is not just a women’s issue, but an issue that requires allies willing to speak up.
Through conversations, personal storytelling, and community engagement, the organization believes meaningful change begins one person at a time.
Kazon Allen is a broadcast journalism student at Florida A&M University and is a member of the summer Fulcrum Fellowship.
