Hello class, Advocacy is important to human services programs because it helps communities and individuals voice their needs and concerns, which hopefully can lead to changes that positively affect their lives (Park, 2024). Advocacy connects people with essential resources and services such as education, healthcare, and housing. Advocates often work to protect the rights of vulnerable populations. The difference between public and private sector human services programs is that the public sector is a nonprofit and is funded by public agencies (Rivera, n.d.). The private sector is called for-profit, funded through fees for services, donations, and grants. According to a study done by (Schmid et al., 2008), the main findings revealed a significant positive correlation between advocacy and political activity in nonprofit organizations. The larger the number of volunteers in the organization, the greater the political influence the organization had. Political influence is important in making changes in programming and funding. An organization's budget was found to correlate positively with gaining access to decision-makers. The larger the budget, the more resources for political activity leading to policy changes