JDRF is kicking off National Diabetes Awareness Month by turning the Empire State Building blue! On the evening of November 1—T1Day—New York’s iconic landmark will blaze blue to promote diabetes awareness and show support for the 366 million people worldwide living with both type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes.

Awareness for T1D doesn’t have to be limited to a single calendar month. The more people who understand the daily burden of this serious disease, the more people we’ll have working together to raise money for the research that will end it. So show your commitment to creating a world without T1D by becoming a JDRF advocate.

Watch professional snowboarder and JDRF celebrity advocate Sean Busby talk about SDP renewal:

Your first act as an advocate will be to urge Congress to renew the SDP. The SDP accounts for $150 million per year in federal funding specifically for T1D research. Progress that the SDP has helped make possible includes:

• The Artificial Pancreas Project has been significantly accelerated.
• The drug Lucentis was approved to treat diabetic macular edema.
• Proteins have been identified that promote the regeneration of beta cells.

More than $2 billion has been provided for T1D research through the SDP since 1997.

The efforts of JDRF advocates have been crucial to continuing Congressional support. You can make a difference by becoming an advocate—it’s simple to sign up, and JDRF provides the tools you need to make a difference.

Advocates receive information about their Members of Congress, including website and email links, office addresses, and phone numbers. You can make a big difference with these simple tools. Join us at advocacy.jdrf.org.