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Suggested Tips for Contacting
Your Public Officials
Here are a few ideas on contacting your public
officials:
Phone Contacts:
- Phone calls are a great way to
let your public officials know right away how you feel about an
issue, especially on a time sensitive issue such as a bill under
consideration in the legislature. To call the office of you local or
state government official (ex: governor, mayor, city council
members, congressman, senator, or state legislator), keep these tips
in mind:
- Call during business hours
(Monday-Friday between 9 am - 5 pm).
- For legislators, you may want
to call them at their offices in your state capitol or in Congress
on legislative days during the legislative session which are usually
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
- You are not likely to reach
these contacts directly as they may be in meetings, but be sure to
leave a message with their staff. Ask for the staff's name, and
write it down with the date and time you called.
- Be sure to give the staff
person your name and address and ask for a written response to your
call.
- If you don't receive a
response within a week, contact the office again and ask to speak to
that staff person. Let them know you are still expecting a written
response.
Letters:
- Sending letters to your
government officials is a good way to let your public officials know
how you feel about an issue and ensures that there is a record of
your contact.
- Sample letters are included in
this packet to get you started.
- Public officials are more
likely to respond to personal, hand-written letters than to form
letters. Also, public officials may be more responsive if they
receive a lot of letters.
- To effectively reach your
public officials, host a letter-writing party at your house or
neighborhood gathering and provide sample letters that people can
use to handwrite their own letter.
Additional Ideas:
Consider these additional ways to reach your
public officials:
- Plan an event like a community
forum or town hall meeting and invite your government officials to
attend and learn more about the issue as well as interact with your
community members;
- Call on your public officials
to hold public hearings and then organize community members to
attend;
- Attend regularly scheduled
public hearings. Not sure when these are being held? Call your
public officials and ask to be notified in writing about all
upcoming public hearings.
- Be a resource by asking your
government officials about how you can serve on your state's youth
advisory board to provide a youth voice to policy discussions on
juvenile justice.
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