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Advocacy Day 2009 How to Schedule Meetings with Members of Congress
It is very important that you schedule your own appointments to meet with Members of Congress well in advance. You should begin setting up your meetings the week of February 9th to ensure you can schedule the time that works best for you. Try to have all your appointments set by March 6th. Follow the steps below to set up your meeting. 1. Coordinate: Before scheduling your meeting, check the Advocacy Day Master Schedule. Check to see if other PDI attendees have scheduled meetings with your Senators and Representatives. If so, you may want to contact them to discuss whether a joint meeting would be effective. This listing can be found here. 2. Schedule the Meeting Start by calling the office of the Member of Congress with whom you wish to meet. If you are not sure who your Members of Congress are, find out at www.congress.org. You can call your Senators' and Representatives' offices directly, or your call can be transferred to your legislator by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for the legislator's Scheduler. Identify yourself as a constituent from their state or district. You may also want to briefly describe your program or position. Explain that you will be in Washington, DC for the 2009 NAPE & Women Work! Professional Development Institute and that you would like to meet with the Member of Congress sometime between 2:00 and 5:30 on Tuesday, March 31st. Let them know that you wish to discuss education and job training issues focusing on new policy directions. The Scheduler may ask that you submit your meeting request in writing. If so, send a fax, not a letter. Sending mail to Capitol Hill is not advised because of delays resulting from security checks. Click here for a sample letter that you can use to request your meeting. If the legislator is not available, ask to meet with the staff person who handles the issues you'd like to meet about. You may want to ask for the legislative assistant who handles women's, labor, and/or education issues. Staff usually schedule their own appointments, so ask to speak with them directly. After scheduling a meeting, make a note to confirm your appointment a week or two before Advocacy Day. 3. Add your meeting to the Advocacy Day 2009 Master Schedule This is important to ensure that we maximize our influence - we want to be sure that we visit as many Members of Congress as possible. Record your meeting times here. Questions If you have any questions about Advocacy Day or need any assistance scheduling appointments with your legislators, contact Helen Luryi, Women Work! Public Policy Manager, at hluryi@womenwork.org or Mimi Lufkin, NAPE Executive Director, at mimlufkin@napequity.org. Be sure to visit Women Work!'s Policy and Advocacy webpage for additional materials that will help you prepare for your visit. It can be found here.
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