Recess Is Over! Tips for Effective Legislative Outreach  

With Congress and state legislatures returning to work this month, how will you get your issue heard?

The end of any legislative session is hectic one. Legislators will be extremely focused on completing their work, making it more important than at any other time of the year for you to think strategically about creative ways to bring attention to your issue. Here are some recommended techniques to garner the maximum attention for your issue in the final months of this legislative session.

• Update and resend a one-page overview. Give your legislator a fresh look at your issue by updating and resending a one-page overview of your issue. This document should include background about the broader issue and where your group or organization fits in, as well as what action you would like your legislator to take. Make sure to include contact information!

• Look at the calendar. You have been tracking the legislative calendar, watching to see what legislators are scheduled to discuss and your issue is not here. What can you do to raise the priority of your issue? Think creatively about how you can improve your message to make it timely and important to your key legislators. Is there an anniversary or special event in the next three months that you can use to draw attention to your cause? If your issue is education advocacy then you might focus your efforts around September 24, the anniversary of the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock. Or if you are trying to raise awareness around end-of-life care planning and to encourage families to talk to each other about their wishes, you should know National Family Week is in November.

• Make connections. Where do your board members, funders, and other stakeholders have connections to legislators?  Perhaps one of these people has an existing relationship with your targeted decision maker and could help you get attention to your issue more quickly.

• Mobilize your supporters. Contact your grassroots and higher level supporters to assist you in reaching out to your target legislators. Provide supporters with talking points, one-page overview and contact information for the legislators. Remember, keep the message simple and don’t overextend your network. Use email alerts to inform your supporters when key events are happening and when votes are coming up.

• Set up meetings with key legislators or their staffs. There is nothing better than a face-to-face meeting to guarantee that a legislator will hear about your issue. Whether at home or in Washington, meeting with a legislator or staffer gets you an opportunity to present your viewpoint. You might have more success setting up meetings with staffers. Find out which staffer handles your issue. Stress your role as a constituent and help them to see the tie between their work and your issue. For example, a senator who works to bring economic opportunities to her state may be most interested in the vocational education component of a substance abuse and recovery program. Consider having grassroots supporters set up meetings or bring them with you during visits.

• Pay attention to media coverage of your issue. Your legislators are tracking media coverage carefully, and you should, too. When an article, op-ed or editorial about your issue is published, prepare a letter to the editor that captures your main point. Or, rather than responding directly to an article or editorial, write an op-ed to present your unique perspective on the issue. Contact your newspaper to learn more about the guidelines for submitting an opinion piece.

Remember to be patient. The end of a legislative session is often hectic and change can take time. However, with careful planning and thoughtful outreach to legislators, you can achieve tremendous progress even in a short time frame.