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Grassroots Advocacy on the New Capitol Hill
1-day program
How to use the power of individuals to influence legislation.
Do you need help building
membership? Do your staff and members want to learn about cutting
costs while growing your network? Are you using effective website
tools and links as part of your grassroots program?
Today on Capitol Hill there are more
advocates—professional and
grassroots—than at any other time in the nation’s history. Their increasing
numbers, and the many new ways technology allows messages to be delivered to Members of
Congress, are contributing to an information overload on the Hill. The recipients of these
messages are staff members whose average age and experience continues to decline.
For any advocacy program to be effective in this continuously changing environment, an
organization must develop a national network of grassroots advocates who can speak to
elected officials as voting constituents. These grassroots advocates must understand not
only the basics of working with members and staff, but also how larger legislative and
political events may influence their organization’s legislative agenda, and how to
use technology for more effective communication.
This program can be designed as Grassroots
Advocacy & Coalition Building.
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Custom Training
Information |
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Sample Agenda |
Sample 1-day Agenda
9:00 What is "grassroots" and why you need it
- What grassroots advocacy is
- How grassroots advocacy has evolved this decade
- Why grassroots advocacy is crucial in today's political environment
- Determining whether you should build a "quality" or "quantity"
network
9:45 How to organize an effective grassroots network
- Based on the organization's culture
- Identifying and recruiting members
- Keeping staff and volunteer leadership committed and supportive
- How to organize, assess resources, and allocate responsibilities
Meetings and "legislative days"
10:30 Break
10:45 Communicating with your network
- Using Washington-based media to direct member energy and keep network members informed
- Using technology to create electronic networks
- Using newsletters, position papers, and toll-free numbers
- Using telephone trees for immediate action
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Delivering the message to Congress
- Action alerts and calls to action
- Town hall meetings with legislators
- Site visits and other special events
- Campaign work
- Advisory groups
- Fund-raisers and PACs
- Personal visits
- Send issue updates and regular news
- Editorials in local papers
- Letter campaigns
- Campaigns via phone, fax and email
- Using the media - free and paid
2:15 Coalition building as part of a government
relations strategy
- Determining if coalitions are an option
- Joining an existing coalition
- Forming a new coalition around a specific issue
- Coordinating goals, issues, membership and communications
- Maintaining credibility
2:30 Break
2:45 Developing and implementing a legislative campaign
- Using the power of a grassroots network to support or oppose pending legislation
- Developing your message and framing the issue in the current political environment
- Finding a champion for your issue
- Creating a role for the champion's staff
- Enhancing the champion's image
- Determining pressure points for different elected officials
3:30 Advocacy/Lobbying rules, gift ban, and the Hatch Act
- Avoiding bad publicity and legal problems
- Educating network members on current rules
- Informing federal members of contacts for legal questions
4:00 Seminar Concludes
All custom training is
tailored for each organization and audience. Topics from
this program can be combined with topics from our other
programs and with topics from your existing training
programs.
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Sample Agendas
in pdf format 
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Sample agendas of
different versions
of this program
tailored for previous custom clients are available
in
Adobe
pdf format:
See our Sample
Agendas page for more.
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Audience Level |
This
program will benefit all with an interest in
becoming more effective grassroots advocates.
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Audience Size |
This
program is most effective for between 15 and 75
attendees.
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Previous Clients |
Variations
of this program have been presented for associations
and businesses.
Our selected
client list includes clients who have purchased
custom training, sent staff to our public programs
and who have purchased our publications.
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Faculty |
Our
team of experts have at least 10 years' current
experience with various aspects of grassroots
activity, including the use of current technologies.
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Rave Reviews
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"A wealth of information.....as
president of state association, will be able to encourage
increased activity with government affairs."
"Materials great to
take home and work with." Assistant Director,
Grassroots Programs, national association
"I’ve been involved in grassroots legislative work and grassroots
coalition building for ten years -- this was a dynamite program."
Assistant Legislative Director, American Legion
"I will immediately implement the tips that I received today!"
staff member, American Urological Association
"I've been involved in
grassroots legislative work and grassroots coalition
building for ten years -- this was a dynamite program."
Assistant Legislative Director, American Legion
"The sample handbook
will be very helpful in developing one for our grassroots
network."
"Gave me concrete ideas of
things to do & ways to approach our grassroots. I
would strongly encourage our field dept. to participate
b/c we work together w/grassroots." Public Policy
Associate, national association
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Course Materials |
Course
manual includes sample grassroots handbook
containing more than 50 pages.
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Length and Location |
Usually requires
1/2 to 1 day.
This program is usually held in
Washington, DC. It can be presented anywhere in the
world. |
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Internal Marketing |
To
help you
publicize and market a custom program to your
organization's audience, we can provide printed
materials and language for your own internal
promotion and publicity.
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Fee |
The
fee for this program depends on the location, number
of attendees, length, and training materials.
Call us for details, or complete our custom
program information request for more
information.
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What is included in the fee? |
TheCapitol.Net
tailors each program to meet your training and
educational objectives. Before we issue a cost
proposal, we will work with you to tailor a program
to meet your training objectives. We provide
all course materials and faculty chosen for your
topic and your audience at the time and location you
choose.
Our
custom program clients provide the classroom/meeting
space, all audio visual equipment, any food and
beverages, all registration functions, and travel
arrangements for attendees. When the program is held
outside the Washington, DC metro area, travel
arrangements for faculty can be made by the client
or by us.
We can also provide meeting space,
audio visual equipment, food and beverage,
registration, and travel arrangements, though this
affects cost. |
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FAQs |
See
FAQs
About Our Custom On-Site Training.
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Payment |
TheCapitol.Net
accepts all forms of payment for its custom
training, including credit cards (VISA,
MasterCard,
Discover,
American Express), government procurement cards,
checks, EFT, and purchase orders.
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About Us |
TheCapitol.Net,
Inc., is a non-partisan small business,
and a Virginia corporation. We are registered
with CCR. See our
About Us page for more details.
FEIN: 54-1917701
DUNS: 04-273-5071
CAGE: 1K5S4
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Related Information |
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Related Custom
Training |
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Need more
information? |
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Non-Partisan |
TheCapitol.Net is a non-partisan firm, and the
opinions of its faculty, authors, clients and the owners and operators of its vendors are
their own and do not represent those of TheCapitol.Net. |
URLs: www.TheCapitol.Net/CustomPrograms/lobby_agenda.html
www.LegislativeTraining.com
Last updated:
April 04, 2008
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