ACTE has put together this Congressional recess packet for CTE advocates to use during Congressional breaks, when Members of Congress leave Washington and are back in their home districts and states. It is very important that you contact your legislators during this time to advocate on behalf of your CTE programs. Members of Congress want and need to hear from their constituents, so take this opportunity to participate in activities that can raise CTE’s profile and get real results in Washington.
Despite the general support that many Members of Congress proclaim, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act has not received an increase in funding since Fiscal Year 2002, and there is an overall lack of understanding and appreciation for the value of CTE. We must each carry the message. The recess packet will explain in detail how to effectively meet with a legislator, use social media to initiate a coalition of CTE supporters, take advantage of town hall meetings and make the most out of a site visit during recess, when Members of Congress are most likely to be accessible and in your state and Congressional district.
Before you dive into specific advocacy activities, what would you like to see accomplished during this Congressional recess? Answering this question will help you identify the most important issues to use to craft your message. Be sure to decide on one or two key points. If you try to focus on too many points, your message will become muddled and the Member of Congress will not be able to pinpoint what you want. Talk to a few people in your community and decide what issues are the most crucial for CTE programs.
Use ACTE’s CTE Policy Watch blog to find out about all of the latest Congressional happenings. It is crucial to any advocacy effort to know the current issues being debated on Capitol Hill. By familiarizing yourself with these issues, you can craft a message that is timely, relevant and targeted.
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Before you begin any advocacy activity, be sure to do your research and brush up on the current happenings on Capitol Hill. Here are a few places that you can find information to help you with your advocacy efforts:
- CTE Policy Watch Blog—The blog is updated at least four times a week with the latest information about Washington policy-related activities.
- Key Issues page—ACTE lists all the issues currently affecting CTE programs. Browse the latest news and our recommendations. Feel free to contact the Public Policy Department for more information.
- Fact sheets and Issue Briefs—ACTE has many publications that highlight CTE’s role in certain areas, like dropout recovery, STEM education, guidance and green industries. Please review this information to help craft your advocacy message.
- ACTE Capwiz Action Center—Direct links to all Members of Congress can be found by entering your zip code in the ACTE Action Center. Find information including your legislators’ Web sites, committee assignments, locations of district offices, positions and biographical information.
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Meet Face-to-face: Schedule a Meeting in the District Office
There are a few ways to effectively reach and influence your Members of Congress when they are home. All strategies include being in touch with the district office. When Congress is in session, you are encouraged to contact the Washington, DC office, but, when on recess, the district office is where the action is happening, and staff in this office will know where the Member of Congress is at all times.
The best way to ensure your message gets heard is to schedule a one-on-one meeting with the senator or the representative in his/her office. Following are a few pointers on how to make the most out of your meeting. There are more details, including a how-to video on ACTE’s Action Center Web page.
- Schedule your appointment in advance and be flexible. Call the district as early as possible and have a few dates and times in mind. Members of Congress try to squeeze vacations in during some recesses, so be sure to double check when they will actually be in town. Be as open as possible to alternative dates if they work better for the Member of Congress.
- Do your homework! Craft your message, and do your research to support your points. To help you do this, look at the Member of Congress’s bio, committees he/she serves on and his/her voting record. If you need help locating any of this background information, be sure to contact ACTE staff.
- Be prompt and provide relevancy. The legislator’s time is limited, and you must make a local connection to keep the conversation relevant. No matter your topic of discussion, always bring it back to how the current practice is impacting the community/state and how a policy change would positively impact the situation. For example, if you are meeting with your senator to discuss CTE funding, you might talk about how the local school budget is shrinking and how CTE programs are suffering as a result. Explain that, as the programs continue to suffer or are cut, the community will have a large shortfall of skilled workers. Continue your conversation, describing how the senator or representative can help; in this case, it would be by increasing Perkins funding.
- Be armed with research, information and handouts specific to your district. Support all of your talking points with recent and accurate information. You want to back up your argument with fact! If possible, speak to your school administrators about data and information that could be useful in making your case. Use ACTE’s CTE Information Web page to identify data and information to support your cause. Contact ACTE if you have additional questions.
- Answer questions truthfully. Listen to what the policymaker says and be sure to keep your cool if you do not like a response, and answer questions honestly. If you do not know the answer to a question, it is fine to say that you don’t know the answer. In fact, not knowing the answer and promising to get back to him/her provides you an excuse to do our next step.
- Follow up, follow up, follow up! Be sure to get contact information for the policymaker and his/her staff member who works on education and workforce issues. After the meeting, send a thank you message and answer any questions that arise during your meeting. Continue to send the office information including articles on CTE programs, and stay informed on issues that Congress is working on so you can weigh in on how it impacts CTE in your community.
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Today’s advocacy environment is always evolving. Traditional advocacy, such as face-to-face meetings and phone calls, is effective, but you may want to consider using other strategies, as well. On the national level, ACTE has several social media networks in which we build and maintain a coalition of CTE advocates, including teachers, administrators, alumni, institutions, businesses and more. We encourage you to join these outlets to receive and share information on the national level about ACTE and CTE.
At the state level, ACTE state associations are the natural choice for taking the lead on organizing through social networks. Locally, any individual or group can choose to step up and organize through social networks, but first try searching for an already-created group before starting a new and possibly redundant profile or page.
Once you’ve decided to proceed, choose your network. Most are free, so cost is probably not an issue. The networks most useful for you to join will depend both on your purpose and on the networks your members and interested parties already use.
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Facebook
Since it is the world’s largest social network, Facebook is an ideal place for finding your members and other individuals, organizations and companies interested in CTE.
- Facebook Page: A Facebook page is a great way to share information quickly and easily with your followers about both your state association and about CTE. You can also post videos and photos, and start and encourage discussions. Your updates will appear in the news feed on your fans’ home pages. Ex: Ohio ACTE on Facebook.
- Facebook Cause: A Facebook Cause is less about your organization and more about spreading the message and collecting donations. Your cause is a network of supporters who receive “props” when they recruit more to the cause. The site also accepts online donations.
Twitter
This growing social network/microblogging tool is a popular resource with educators. By retweeting others’ content in addition to your own, you can quickly grow your network to include individuals, education journalists, companies and more. Remember to keep your posts brief and relevant and to always include links to more information. Ex: Ohio ACTE on Twitter.
LinkedIn
This social network is popular because it’s geared toward professionals, dispensing with the more personal aspects of other online tools. Form a group to share news, post job openings and start discussions.
ACTE Online Discussion Forums
You are welcome to use ACTE’s discussion forums as a home base for your online community. These forums are best used for starting discussions and helping colleagues with their questions rather than for networking. Find out more by contacting ACTE’s E-Media Manager, Catherine Imperatore.
Getting started:
- Formally or informally survey your colleagues to find out their preferred social networks (try a free online survey tool, such as Zoomerang).
- Create your network.
- Get started by posting a variety of content and starting discussions.
As you continue to build your network:
- Be prepared to provide most of the content yourself, at least at first.
- Keep your tone informal.
- Include as many hyperlinks, photos and videos as you can.
- Promote your network through other communication methods.
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Now that you’ve formed your coalition, it is time to be heard! Members of Congress typically host a town hall meeting in the community. The meetings are open to the entire community and allow constituents to raise concerns, ask questions and publically share their views regarding legislative issues and positions. These meetings are traditionally held in community centers, churches or schools, and will most likely be held in the evening. You can find out the time and location of the town hall meetings in your local paper or by contacting your policymakers’ district offices.
Whether you have a group of people with you or you are flying solo, this is your chance to put your Member of Congress on the spot and ask his/her stance on issues facing CTE. Be polite and concise. If your policymaker gives you an answer you do not agree with, remain cool and politely tell him/her why you and your colleagues feel a specific way and why he/she needs to support CTE programs in the district. Offer to send the Member materials that support your stance. If you are with a group, have everyone in the group ask the legislator about CTE.
Remember August 2009, when town halls got rowdy with constituents concerned about health care reform? Regardless if you agree or disagree with the group, they made national news by having a large amount of people there to ask the Member of Congress why he or she will support, or won’t support, health care programs. For a reminder of how the health care advocates were effective, please see ACTE’s blog post.
Here are a few pointers to summarize and ensure that you get the most out of the town hall meetings.
- Find out the date, time and place of the town hall meeting. You can find this information in your local paper or by calling your representative or senators’ district/state offices.
- Organize other CTE advocates to join you at the town hall meeting. Utilizing social media networks make developing coalitions relatively simple and painless. Take advantage of all that’s out there to help broaden your network of advocates. Remember, you will make a larger impact with a larger group.
- Do your homework! Your time to speak is very limited, so prepare ahead of time for what you want to discuss. Do your homework, and know how your Member of Congress stands on CTE issues. For this information, you can contact ACTE staff, contact your Member of Congress’ office or search by representative or senator on Thomas, a legislative resource Web site, to identify what bills he/she have sponsored.
- Be precise and direct! When it is your turn to address the policymaker, step to the microphone, remain calm and state your name and address. Then ask your question or state your position clearly. You should already know what your message is, but it is usually best to ask a precise question. For example, “This year, Congress proposed cutting the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, even though programs in our district are struggling. What do you plan to do to help increase resources for CTE programs?”
- Be polite and follow up! Even if the Member of Congress does not support CTE, thank the Member for his/her time and follow up with a staff member after the meeting. A town hall meeting could be a first step in building a relationship with the Member. You can schedule a face-to-face meeting afterwards to go over points you mentioned during the town hall.
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You’ve met with your Members of Congress one-on-one, you’ve built a coalition of CTE advocates and attended a town hall meeting; now what? It is up to you to keep the connection going. A great way to showcase the value of CTE is by inviting your policymaker to see your local programs.
No advocacy effort is as persuasive as showing how something works first-hand! You know you have a great program at your school, and your administrators, students, parents and business leaders know it, but that policymaker seems like he/she doesn’t! It is up to you to show the Members of Congress how your programs impact students’ lives, while preparing them with lifelong skills.
Here are a few pointers to ensure that you get the most out of your site visits.
- Get permission! Before you begin any planning, get permission from school officials or your local CTSO chapter. Be sure to keep students and parents informed along with school officials.
- Determine goals and set agenda. You want to make sure you get everything you can out of this site visit. Determine ahead of time what you want to accomplish. Be realistic with your goals and understand that it may not be up to your Member of Congress to decide if Perkins receives an increase. However, that Member can vote on spending bills, join the Congressional CTE Caucus and make floor statements regarding the need for CTE. You want to make sure your agenda strives to accomplish these goals.
- Invite your Member of Congress! Send an invitation via e-mail or fax to your Member of Congress’ scheduler. You can find this person by calling the Member’s DC office. Be sure to be flexible on your date and time. If you do not receive a response within a week, call the scheduler to follow up.
- Invite media! Work with the Member of Congress’ press secretary to put together a press release. If you need pointers on putting together a release, please see ACTE’s Web site or contact ACTE’s media relations manager, Sabrina Kidwai.
- Conduct the tour! The day has come. Stick to your agenda and make sure everyone in the school knows that the Member will be visiting. Be sure to initiate conversations with the Member to ensure that your issues are understood.
- Follow up! Be sure to follow up with your Member of Congress to continue building a relationship. Send thank you letters, include press releases and articles, and include a photo of the Member with your students and supporters to remind her/him how important CTE is to your community.
Congratulations! You have effectively engaged your policymaker. Please report all advocacy efforts to ACTE so that we can do our part to make sure CTE remains on the Member’s radar. Together we can advance CTE programs and make the connection that these programs are the future!
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