Congress Left DC: Time to Make Noise in the Media!
By Ken Patterson, Director, Grassroots Impact for RESULTS, DFW’s Advocacy Partner
Congress left DC for the long August recess with no agreement on a Covid-19 supplemental spending bill. This has left millions of people in the U.S. and around the world in dangerous predicaments. Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in low- and middle-income countries are struggling to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on regular efforts to combat diseases, vaccinate children, provide basic maternal care, combat malnutrition, and provide basic education. (See graphic on COVID-19 impact on global health.) Some are projecting that progress on global health could be set back 10-20 years. And women and girls are impacted the most!
We must publicly call on Congress and the Administration to do their job and pass a bill that addresses the needs of the people in the U.S. and in partner countries. The best way to do this is by calling them to task in the media.
On the August 19th DFW Advocacy Chapter with RESULTS (see below for the links to the recording and slides), we looked at the impacts of Covid-19 and how we can call on Congress to take action in the media. Writing a letter to the editor is pretty easy if you think about the parts:
- Hook (response to something in paper or reference to a topic most people would understand)
- Why it matters to you
- Call to action
There are some examples of letters in the slides from the webinar. RESULTS also makes it very easy to write a letter to the editor. Just go to this online action, edit the subject line and the sample letter, put in your address, hit send. Your letter will automatically be sent to nearby papers.
Congress and the Administration are not doing their jobs. We must let them know that we do not approve and urge them to act.
Want to do more than write a letter to the editor? Contact Leslye (advocacy@togetherwomenrise.org) or Ken (kpatterson@results.org) for guidance and coaching.
Our next webinar will be Wednesday, September 16 at 8:30 pm ET.
Sign up for the DFW Advocacy Chapter here.