About Citizen Advocacy
Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy has been in Savannah for over 45 years. We are a community-based non-profit organization that recruits, matches and offers support to 100 local citizens in voluntary citizen advocacy relationships. Fourteen local people form the board and govern the work of three staff, George Seaborough (Coordinator/Executive Director), Rob Douberly (Associate Coordinator), and Kathy Bohannon (Administrative Coordinator).
What is Citizen Advocacy?
Citizen advocacy is built on a one-to-one, freely given personal relationships between two people. One is a person with a developmental disability who has often been excluded from typical community life, and the other is a person who is living a good, ordinary life here in our community.
Citizen advocacy coordinators and board members work under a guiding set of principles to make the strongest possible match between people. Here are four key principles that guide our work.
- Each citizen advocacy relationship is freely given.
- Each citizen advocate is independent of human services, the citizen advocacy office, and, if necessary, his/her advocacy partner’s family. Loyalty to the person allows the advocate to speak out and act freely and clearly.
- Most citizen advocacy matches are established with the hope of developing a long-lasting relationship, some of which may be life-long.
- Each citizen advocate looks for ways to bring his/her protégé’s interests, gifts, and needs to the larger community in ways that are dignified and enhancing to the person.
A Brief History
In 1975 all states were mandated to create protection and advocacy offices for people with disabilities. In 49 states, this led to the creation of case management agencies and legal aid offices. A small group of people in Atlanta, who had been asked by then-Governor Busbee to develop a plan, chose to invest instead in citizen advocacy. The mission of the soon-to-be-formed Georgia Advocacy Office would be to “provide protection of and advocacy for people being abused, neglected or excluded because of disability.”
The Savannah office was established in 1978 and operated as part of the Georgia Advocacy Office until 1983, when it gained its own 501(c) (3) status. The organization’s purpose is to recruit, match and offer training to private citizens who become advocates.
We have been making matches for over 45 years and have made over 1,000 matches.