How PolicyNote Saves Time & Makes Managing Policy ‘More Manageable’ for This Nonprofit

Disability-related legislation plays a pivotal role in shaping the lives of people with disabilities. Legislative issues ranging from employment to technology to education have a profound impact. “We say that every piece of legislation is a piece of disability legislation,” says Rostom Dadian, a senior policy associate at Disability Belongs. 

Disability Belongs is a cross-disability, disability-led nonprofit whose mission is to drive cultural and policy change to ensure our full representation and influence, creating a more accessible, equitable, and inclusive society. The organization promotes advocacy, leadership development, and best practices in education, employment, and civic engagement.

However, managing the legislative landscape at the federal and state levels — tracking bills across multiple issue areas — was once an overwhelming challenge for their policy team.

The Challenge: Inefficiency and Overwhelm Without the Right Tools

Tracking numerous disability-related bills across all 50 states and at the federal level was an overwhelming task. 

“Before using PolicyNote, tracking disability-related bills at both the state and federal levels was time-consuming and often frustrating,” says Julie Schurman, a Disability Belongs policy manager. “I had to check multiple sources to stay updated, and even then, I sometimes felt like I was missing key developments. Finding up-to-date contact information for Hill staffers was another challenge, making it harder to quickly set up meetings when time-sensitive issues came up.” 

In advocacy and public policy, timing is everything. “If you’re not keeping up with legislation as it moves, you might miss the chance to provide input before decisions are made,” Schurman says. The Disability Belongs policy team needed a solution to track bills in real-time, ensuring they could engage at the right moments, whether to support or oppose a policy.

The Solution: PolicyNote’s Streamlined Workflow and Real-Time Tracking

At Disability Belongs, staying ahead of legislative developments is crucial to advocating for policies that advance disability rights. PolicyNote has become an essential tool in supporting these efforts, allowing the team to track bills efficiently and engage at critical moments.

The platform allows the team to create Projects for each issue area, assigning specific topics to individual team members. This ensures that everyone is only tracking relevant legislation. Moreover, the platform enables easy tracking of meetings and outcomes, ensuring all team members stay aligned without duplicating efforts.

“It’s helped us stay on the same page,” Schurman says. “When everyone has access to the same up-to-date information, it makes it easier to coordinate our efforts. We don’t have to waste time double-checking details — we can just focus on the strategy and advocacy work.”

AI-Powered Efficiency 

PolicyNote’s AI assistant is a game-changer for the team’s time management. The tool saves valuable time by helping team members locate and track relevant legislation quickly. “I no longer have to go from one state legislative website to another and then try to find corresponding federal legislation,” says Dadian. “With the AI assistant, I can easily find a piece of federal legislation and ask it to track state legislation that is similar.”

Nelly Nieblas, a policy manager at Disability Belongs, previously relied on Congress.gov for research. With PolicyNote, she has gotten back hours that were previously spent on manual research. “You can plug in the title or theme of the bill you are researching and quickly find the information you need,” she says.

Dadian estimates that a recent project would have taken him four times longer without PolicyNote. What typically would have taken 16 hours to complete, he was able to finish in just four.

The platform’s ability to track legislation, find staffers, and generate talking points has helped him save time and streamline his workflow. “As someone with low vision, PolicyNote helps streamline my interaction with the legislative process and saves me time and energy,” he adds.

Easier Legislative Research 

PolicyNote has also transformed how the team conducts legislative research. Instead of wading through thousands of pages of dense text, the team now relies on concise, AI-generated summaries. This makes it easy to quickly determine whether a bill will impact their organization. 

“As a person with dyslexia, dealing with large amounts of text is difficult,” shares Nieblas. “With PolicyNote summaries, I can capture the key themes of each provision, supplemented by my notes. I would recommend PolicyNote for those who need to read a lot of text and produce succinct analyses for their work.”

For Dadian, creating talking points, outreach materials, and fact sheets has never been simpler. “PolicyNote helps me move the process along rather than starting from scratch. I don’t have to worry about it being inaccurate because it pulls directly from the legislation,” he says.

Simplified Staffer Outreach 

Another area where PolicyNote has proven invaluable is in meeting coordination. Rather than hunting for contact details, the team can quickly find the staffers they need within the platform. “I don’t have to scramble to find the latest bill movement or wonder who to reach out to for a meeting,” says Schurman. “I can just look it up and get what I need right away.”

This ease of access has made outreach more proactive. Schurman explains that having quick access to current staffers' contact information — especially given that it often changes after each congressional session — has made the team more effective in setting up meetings and engaging with policymakers. 

Results: More Efficient, Less Stressful, and More Impactful Advocacy

Ultimately, PolicyNote has strengthened Disability Belongs’ ability to drive meaningful policy change. By streamlining legislative tracking, the team can focus more on shaping policies that remove barriers and create opportunities for people with disabilities. “PolicyNote has made it so much easier to track legislation and find the right people to contact for advocacy work,” says Schurman. “Instead of spending time searching for information, I can focus on actually engaging with policymakers and moving disability policy forward.”

For organizations like Disability Belongs, where time and resources are often limited, PolicyNote is a game-changer. It has significantly reduced the time spent on manual research and administrative tasks, empowering the policy team to focus on advocacy, strategic efforts, and advancing the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities. Learn how PolicyNote can help you save time and streamline your workflow today.