Organizing a visit with your member of Congress is easier than you
think, and a powerful way to share your views with an office. If you are planning a congressional meeting, e-mail Cara Bautista, Deputy Political Director, and she will guide you through the process. Here are five easy steps to follow for a successful visit.
1) Schedule your meeting.
Call
the district office of your member of Congress and ask for the name and
contact information for the local scheduler. Most offices will ask
that you fax or email a written visit request. This request should
include:
- The date you'd like to meet
- The issues you'd like to discuss
- List
of attendees (if you don't know who will attend when you're requesting
your meeting, it's good to give a general overview of the group you are
planning to bring, e.g. concerned constituents, local faith leaders,
union members, veterans).
- Your contact information
- Click here for a sample scheduling request.
To increase your chances of getting a meeting, propose a range of available dates. Send your request at least 3
weeks in advance, and call to follow up about a week after you send it.
If your representative of senator isn't available, it's still very useful to meet with a member of his or her staff.
2) Build your team.
Even
before you send your visit request, you should have in mind 2-4 people
who live in the district that you'd like to bring on the visit. To the
best of your ability, try to gather people who represent different
interests in the community (parent, faith leader, union member, etc.).
If you have your team assembled before sending the visit scheduling
letter, include their names and affiliations in your letter. A good
visit should include no more than 4-5 people speaking, though you can
bring additional people for support. You should check with the
scheduler to find out how many people the meeting room can accommodate.
Make sure everyone on your visit team is willing to stay on topic and
share the floor with your group. If you have people interested in
coming who are unable to attend, have them write letters and deliver
them as part of your meeting.
3) Prepare and practice.
A
good congressional visit starts with good research. Know where your
representative or senator stands on the issues you plan to discuss, and
briefly research his or her background. Check his or her website for
their most recent statement on the issue. Click here to find your representative’s voting record and cosponsorship of important legislation.
Make
sure your team meets before the visit, even if it's just an hour before
the meeting. Decide who will cover what points, and who will take
notes. It can be helpful to have everyone practice his or her part of
the meeting so everyone feels comfortable and prepared, and the meeting
will go as smoothly as possible. Remember that you're trying to
persuade your representative or senator to take action, so use
arguments targeted at him/her, based on his/her voting record and
personal background. For example, if the representative comes from a health care background, you could mention that nuclear weapons production often contaminates the environment and causes workers and the community to become sick. You could also list health organization opposed to nuclear weapons. It's good to bring one to two articles supporting your points; they should be short and from well-respected sources.
Be clear on what your group will be asking for, based on your member of Congress' record on nuclear weapons. Have your "ask" written down for everyone’s reference. While it is important that you convey the general reasons your community is against nuclear weapons, the real accountability comes from asking your representative to take a clear action. Make sure it is something your member of Congress can do (for instance, don't ask a representative to cosponsor a Senate bill). The clearest asks are usually to vote a certain way on an upcoming bill or to cosponsor a piece of legislation. If your member of Congress is already doing these things, you can ask for something different like a speech, press release, or opinion editorial outlining what the US can do to lead a global disarmament effort. You will probably not get a definite answer, especially if you meet with a staff person, but asking clearly for something specific gives you an action to follow up on and a way to measure the success of your grassroots efforts.
4) Get the most out of your visit.
The
day before your visit, call the office to confirm. Be sure to show up
5-10 minutes early, and dress professionally. It's often a good idea
to have your team meet somewhere near the office 45 minutes-1 hour
before the meeting.
Start the visit on a positive note, even
if the member of Congress has a bad voting record on foreign policy.
Be polite, and thank them for taking the time to meet. Try to build a
connection or common ground, even if it's small talk—for example, the
fact that you went to the same high school as the representative is
enough to build a more positive meeting.
Your job in the visit
is to get as much information as you give. Listen carefully, take good
notes, and ask good questions. Usually the representative or his/her
staff person won't make a firm commitment in the meeting—that's okay.
Grassroots advocacy is an ongoing process and real action on their part
will require follow-up on yours. Again, even if you strongly disagree
with the representative or senator, remain polite—don't interrupt and
don't be disrespectful. The goal of the meeting is to build a bridge
with the office, not burn one.
5) Evaluate, follow-up and plan next steps.
After
the meeting, take 5-10 minutes with your team to evaluate the visit.
What went well? What points resonated the most? What follow up is
needed? Be sure to send a thank you note to the office within a few
days after the meeting. If you promised to send additional
information, send it ASAP. Follow up with a phone call 2-3 weeks after
the visit to check-in on actions you requested.
6) Report back
Send your notes, photos, stories and more to Cara Bautista, Deputy Political Director.
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