How to Communicate with Congress
Communicating With Congress
Lessons From Recent Research
Thirty years ago, no one e-mailed their member of Congress. Today, millions of Americans do. What many people don’t realize is that members of Congress have virtually the same number of staff today that they did in the 1970’s, despite the explosion of the telecommunications industry and the growth of the U.S. population by roughly a third.
What does this mean? It means that form e-mails and letters no longer work. Congress has had enough of them. Lawmakers are still hungry for information about what their constituents really think, though, and on most issues even a small number of contacts can make a big difference. In order to be effective, contacts need to be individualized.
On Thursday, November 20th ACA hosted an hour-long conference call with counselors from across the country to hear from an analyst with the Congressional Management Foundation on the current state of communications between constituents and members of Congress. Click here to listen to the audio of the call and see the PowerPoint file used.
ACA needs strong, effective grassroots support to succeed on the public policy initiatives we’re pushing to advance the counseling profession. Thank you for getting involved!
The Effectiveness of and Need for Professional Counseling Services (2008)