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Designing the Event or Meeting
At this point, we hope you are interested in educating your Member of Congress about SRTS, which could make him or her a new champion for the program in Congress. This section will help you develop the concept and overview for your event or meeting.
Please read through the sections below for more information. In addition, there are two tools and resources that we hope you will take advantage of:
➢ TOOL: Planning Worksheet. (Word format)This document will help you put your ideas on paper and enable you to hone in on the type of event, the messaging, key partners and participants, and initial logistics. It will help to have this worksheet handy while you read through the sections below so you can start making notes about your prospective event or meeting.
➢ RESOURCE: SRTSNP is here to help. Please click here to let us know if you are considering hosting an event or scheduling a meeting with your Member of Congress. You can even request a phone consultation with SRTSNP staff to help you plan your event and work through any questions or concerns you might have.
Deciding between an Event or Meeting
There are two primary ways you can use to familiarize your Member of Congress with your local Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program and its needs and benefits:
1. An event. You can invite the Member of Congress to participate in or witness an event you are already planning for your SRTS project, which can also help attract media attention. Examples of how you can engage your Member of Congress in an upcoming event include:
• Participate in a walk or bicycle to school or home from school day. The Member can escort groups of children, hand out refreshments at the school, or make a speech after children arrive at school.
• Accompany parents, local elected officials, school personnel, and engineers on a neighborhood assessment. The Member can then learn first-hand from the engineers and parents about the challenges facing children when they try to walk and bicycle to school.
• View a classroom education or bicycle/pedestrian safety training event. See if the Member is interested in a speaking role to kick off the training session and emphasize the importance of safety.
• Participate in a groundbreaking ceremony or unveiling for an infrastructure improvement. Ask if the Member would be interested in making a speech, helping with the ceremonial “first shovel of dirt” for a new project, or cutting a ribbon for a completed project.
2. A meeting. You can ask to schedule a meeting with the Member of Congress. Along with other SRTS leaders for your project, you can meet the Member of Congress to explain your project and discuss why SRTS is important to your community. This meeting will likely take place in your Member’s district office, which should be nearby.
The best of these options is the event, so the Member can see first-hand the impact of SRTS funding and the involvement and excitement of a wide range of constituents. Plus, it’s an efficient use of your time, since you would already be planning the event regardless of the Member’s involvement or attendance. Including your Member of Congress will simply require a little extra work to invite the Member and staff him or her during the event.
But, if you don’t have any events coming up, a meeting is a good substitute. It’s important that we reach as many Members of Congress as possible before the end of 2008 so that SRTS can be well-positioned for the coming reauthorization.
Identifying your “Story” or Message
Regardless of whether you have chosen to invite your Member of Congress to an event or to request a meeting with him or her, it’s important that you start thinking now about what you want to tell the Member of Congress about SRTS. Here are some ideas of the kinds of things you should think about in developing your message for the event or meeting:
• What barriers are preventing children from walking and bicycling to school that you are looking to address? (For example: lack of sidewalks and safe crossing areas, drivers that speed or run stoplights, parent concerns about a child’s personal safety, lack of crossing guards, etc.)
• How much funding were you awarded for your SRTS project? What types of activities will your grant allow you to undertake?
• How will these activities improve your community? This can include many aspects (see the downloadable fact sheet on SRTS in Section 3, Developing Background Materials for more information):
o Increased numbers of children walking and bicycling
o Increased safety for children (from traffic and/or personal safety)
o Less traffic congestion, less fuel consumption, and better air quality
o Healthier lifestyles for children, which can help address obesity and related illnesses
o A better sense of community for parents and children
• What stories or data do you have to show the impact of the SRTS project on your community for activities you’ve already started? This could include numbers of children and parents trained in bicycle and pedestrian safety, percentage increase in children walking or bicycling to school, reductions in unsafe driving incidents, as well as positive stories or quotes from parents, children, school personnel, and community leaders.
It’s also important to think about what your “ask” will be for the Member of Congress. While it’s important that your Member of Congress be familiar with SRTS and your local efforts, it’s also important that he or she leave your event or meeting knowing exactly what needs to be done to help your SRTS project continue to flourish. Our recommendation for the “ask” is:
• That the Member of Congress understand the value of SRTS to your community
• That the Member of Congress agree to support the expansion of SRTS in the reauthorization of the transportation bill. (See the downloadable “reauthorization recommendations” in Section 3, Developing Background Materials and the “sample talking points” document Section 5, Conducting a Successful Meeting, for more information.)
Engaging your Partners
The nature of SRTS projects are such that many members of your community have a stake in the project and are actively involved in planning and carrying out project activities. You should consider who would be good spokespersons for your project, and make sure to engage them early on in your planning for the event or meeting.
It will be very meaningful for the Member of Congress to hear about the benefits of SRTS from a variety of community leaders and constituents. For example, a parent or child would be a great messenger when discussing the dangers of walking and bicycling to school that your SRTS project is seeking to overcome. A school nurse can be an effective advocate for the health benefits children incur when they are more active, or the negative impact of poor air quality on childhood asthma when there’s too much traffic near a school. And, important leaders for your community—such as the mayor, a school principal or superintendent, and the chief of police—can also help impress upon the Member of Congress the importance and reach of your project within your community.
Some suggestions for the types of individuals you should consider engaging include:
• The school principal, teachers and school safety personnel
• Health experts, including the school nurse, pediatricians, or county/local health officials
• Law enforcement officials
• Engineers and safety experts
• Mayors and other local elected officials
• Representatives from area community organizations (nonprofits, youth organizations, bicycling and walking organizations, etc.)
• Parents and children
If you are requesting a meeting with your Member of Congress, consider bringing a small group of 4 to 6 individuals, representing a variety of viewpoints. If you are holding an event, consider how you can feature these various types of individuals during the event, either in speaking roles, or by ensuring that the Member of Congress is able to interact with different individuals during the event.
Thinking through the Logistics
Before you contact your Member of Congress to invite him or her to your event or to schedule your meeting, you need to consider some basic logistics.
First and foremost, it’s extremely important to consider when your legislator is likely to be available. Members of Congress are frequently in Washington, DC to carry out legislative business. If you plan your event or request a meeting during their time in Washington, it’s likely that the Member will either decline your invitation or send a staffer from their district office instead. To maximize the likelihood of your Member’s attendance, you should schedule your event or request a meeting during one of the following times:
• During a district work period. During these times, Members of Congress leave Washington, DC to spend time in their districts getting to know the needs of their constituents. These work periods are generally centered around holidays, like Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day, or during the month of August. The calendar for the U.S. House of Representatives is a good guide to know when these district work periods are: http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml
• After Congress adjourns for the year. After adjournments, Members of Congress are back in their districts until early January, when Congress reconvenes. Adjournment generally is scheduled for late September or early October, but often Congress ends up staying in session well into November or December if many important bills remain to be passed.
• On Monday mornings or Friday afternoons. While Congress is in session, its business is generally concentrated on Tuesdays through Thursdays to allow Members of Congress to go back to the district on the weekends. Depending on the Congressional schedule for the week, Members are often available for events on Monday mornings before they fly back to Washington, DC or on Friday afternoons after they return to the district.
Once you have identified some proposed dates and times for your meeting or event that are likely to coincide with when your Member of Congress is in your district, you should start thinking about some basic logistics. While you don’t need to have every detail in place yet, it’s important to have some basics arranged before you invite the Member of Congress (which is addressed in the next section). The type of information that would be helpful to include in an invitation or meeting request includes:
• Proposed date(s) and time(s). If you have any flexibility in when your meeting or event will take place, you’ll increase the likelihood of the Member’s acceptance if you have a couple of options.
• Length of the event or meeting (Members of Congress are busy, so you should not plan for more than an hour)
• Focus of the meeting or event
• The role the legislator will play (speaker, observer, etc.)
• Key attendees and their affiliations. Be sure to highlight in particular any community leaders that will be attending the event or meeting.
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