"Congressman Joe Sestak,

My classmate and I are working on lobbying the affordability and reliability of our local means of transportation, SETPA. We are both high school students that attend Science Leadership Academy in Central Philadelphia therefore we ride SEPTA quite often. Besides this, we are also traveling to sports games our friend’s houses so we’ve experienced almost every aspect of SEPTA whether bus, trolley, train or el. which requires us to rely heavily on the idea that SEPTA will consistently be a means by which we can travel effectively and at the same time not destroy our pockets. (we have very low budgets) Which means we have been practically taking SEPTA for some part of our lives.

In those few years of experience, several things have changed since then. November 2009, Septa protested because of their disagreement with their current budget. It wasn’t until March 2010 when they went on strike to fight for their compromise. Many Philadelphians were greatly impacted by this because many students and adults weren’t able to go to school or work. Now with Septa’s spiking budget and Philadelphia’s debt along with it, SEPTA have sold the rights to the name of Pattison Station to AT&T for 5 million dollars. This is a definite reflection of the amount of debt that they are in because they are willing to sell and sacrifice the dignity of their station name to a company for a resolution of about 3% of their debt.

These points are crucial to the success and endearment that the city of Philadelphia wants to allot this transportation association. Please we are asking if you can take this in consideration and give us feedback to improve the affordability and reliability of SEPTA.

 Sincerely,

Aimee Leong & Teila Allmond"

Above is the email Teila and I sent to Congressman Joe Sestak.

In this e-mail we introduced ourselves and what we were lobbying. We wanted to reach out to Congressman Joe Sestak to try and ensure that awareness would some way spread. We would like to discuss the possible techniques to reduce the price and increase SEPTA's dependability. Of course, Teila and I will take charge of other actions but this is what we was able to. We have yet to hear a response. 

By: Teila Allmond

The goal is to develop awareness about the fact that SEPTA is not only reliable but doesn't live up to the expectations for the price that we pay. Recently prices have been raised but along with that, so has the pay of the workers. I would also like to discuss what possible techniques to reduce the price to ride SEPTA, with my representative. First, i sent an email to Joe Sestak explaining my point.

Congressman Joe Sestak,

            My classmate and I are working on lobbying the affordability and reliability of our local means of transportation, SETPA. We are both high school students that attend Science Leadership Academy in Central Philadelphia therefore we ride SEPTA quite often. Besides this, we are also traveling to sports games our friend’s houses so we’ve experienced almost every aspect of SEPTA whether bus, trolley, train or el. This requires us to rely heavily on the idea that SEPTA will work consistently and be a means by which we can travel effectively and at the same time not destroy our pockets since our budgets are quite low. It would be wonderful if you could give us feedback on this topic. Thank You Sir.

Teila Allmond and Aimee Leong,

Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia.

We haven't received a response yet.

Obesity, Nutrition and Physical Activity In Philadelphia

Put simply, a lack of money prevents residents from purchasing food for a healthy diet resulting in a third of the city’s adult population to be overweight and 57-percent of Philly’s kids, reports the Daily News.

The Lobbying Project

I am lobbying against obesity caused by misinformed and uneducated citizens in the Pennsylvania area. My motivation for investing and influencing the public policy comes from the reported obesity weight in the United States which stands at 147 million people on average. It is a problem that has been viewed at over the  course of  50 years and continues to expand rather than ceased. My plan is to  begin small ( in Philadelphia) and  after improvement   has been made, I am going to broaden my lobbying project to the state of Pennsylvania for better accomplishment.

Goal:

1. To help create  sustained media campaigns to promote healthy food choices and increased physical activity in the Philadelphia area.
2. Change the affordability of fresh, healthy foods in communities
3. Host interventions to inform the public about some healthy choices that they could make to improve themselves

The Main Supporters

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

OAC ( Obesity Action Coalitio)

The Main Opponents

The Philadelphia media and supermarkets, stocks, and salesmen.

Pending Legislation Dealing With American Obesity?

Pending legislation's includes states receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18 , then report the information to the state government. After, the state government would report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis.

Background Information

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, sixty percent of Pennsylvania adults are overweight.

Representatives

1. Giridhar Mallya, Director of Policy and Planning, Giridhar.Mallya@phila.gov, 215-686-5230
2. Nan Feyler, Chief of Staff, nan.feyler@phila.gov, 215-686-5206

Know their districts: Philadelphia

How has my legislator voted on my issue in the past?

They have created  Communities Putting Prevention to Work and Centers for Disease Control. A grant of 20 million has been in affect for Philadelphia  since February 26th 2010  for funding opportunity for health departments to implement sustainable

What do you and your representative have in common?

1. We both suggest that the persuasive media is implemented for positive correlation in the citizens health.
2. We are working on educating  the public about nutritional content and food choices
3. Eliminate some of the violence and  grant  the opportunity of of walking and biking in the city with safety, to create a easy exercise mechanism

Sources :

 http://www.phila.gov/recovery/HSS_PrevtoWork.html http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blogs/stimulus_tracker/2010/03/philadelphia_gets_healthy_slice_of_anti-obesity_funds.html

http://kdka.com/aom/Pennsylvania.Obesity.Rates.2.378994.html

http://www.votesmart.org/search.php?search=pennsylvania&x=0&y=0

Election day questions:

1. What motivated you to come out and vote?

My mother because she told me to come out and vote since I wasn’t doing anything with my sorry life .

2. What would you like to see changed in our political system?

Less charter schools .

3. Do you vote in every election? (How regularly do you vote?)

I just started voting November 2nd 2009.

4. Do you know why we vote on Tuesday?

Because people have to work on Monday.

5. Where have you encountered the highest amount of ad campaigning?

Print

6. What was the most memorable campaign ad that you have

encountered?

None

7. Are you always sure of who you are going to vote for when you walk

into the booth or are you still deliberating?

Im always sure.

8. What changes do you hope to see in Philadelphia as a result of this

election?

I don’t know

9. What impact do you feel that your vote will have on the election?

A small impact , Im pretty sure if I would have passed on  voting it wouldn’t have mattered.

]\[‘

10. Did you learn about voting in school? If yes, did that impact your

willingness to vote today?

No.

Direct action strategies

Letters to the editor, editorials and commentary.

To demonstrate high grass root powers , I believe that the most effective thing to do would be have each district of Pennsylvania paint murals of what they see everyday as a example of what could be improved.  To be even more effective each block can prepare a paper of reasons why there should be new motivation and education programs for healthier living.  Doing this will allow multiple people to not only learn the problem personally but to inspire them to help. The legislators will be able to target the obesity issue with a better well thought  out plan.

1 . Murals - The murals will represent the people, the  unhealthy environment, and the consumer price index that the people wish to change.  This creative piece will cover domination and make the strategy personal .

2. The letters-  The letters will explain the murals literally and include personal opinions and experiences from the people of Pennsylvania. This literal piece will help recruit the legislators and force multiplication.

3. Fund Public Classes - Specifically  classes for children . These classes will address the current generation because  it has been estimated the health care costs attributable to obesity are greater than any other health condition.

Dear Joe Manchin,

I am writing to you with regards of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repeal. This is history piece of legislation is absolutely necessary to reverse this discriminatory law that has plagued our nation for nearly 18 years despite abundance of criticism and ridicule.

"Don't Ask Don't Tell weakens our national security, diminishes our military readiness, and violates the fundamental American principles of fairness, integrity, and equality."

In a survey of 400,000 service men, it was deemed that the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would not affect their ability to perform their civic duty. 92% stated that their unit’s “ability to work together,” with a gay person was “very good, “good” or “neither good nor poor.” And 70% of Service members said they would be able to “work together to get the job done” with a gay service member in their immediate units.

The pentagon has also vowed that the implementation of this legislation would not hinder any current military efforts. Thus, there is no reason to vote against this bill that has deprived thousands of Americans from the freedom to serve their country.

You’re vote is essential to the passing of this blatantly homophobic law. I strongly urge your vote in the upcoming attempt to pass this law once it is taken out of the military spending bill and regarded as stand-alone legislation.

Sincerely,

Andre Serrano

P.S. You can learn more about this issue at my blog.

__________________________________________________________

It is absolutely essential to reverse the homophobic law that has deprived millions of American from serving their country in the military. To make the greatest impact, I decided my efforts would best be targeted towards the members of the senate who still oppose the law even after the pentagon’s report. Historically, senators have continuously voted along party lines, with the exception of Joe Manchin. Therefore, I deemed it appropriate to target Joe and the Republican Party.

At this time, my main goal is to create a video on human trafficking. I have to gather information about the seriousness and combine  the statistics that I have already found into the video.  By January 9, 2011, I would like to send the video to Alpha Kappa Alpha head quarters in Washington DC. Once the video is their hands, I will try to send my video to Chris Smith and explain to him in a letter along with the video, my goal. With these goals accomplished, it should be the catalyst for the main work to begin. If these contacts have a good response to what I'm trying to accomplish, I believe that this can have a big impact on a many of people. 

In recent news:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/04/29/cnnheroes.koirala.profile.cnn 

Anuradha Koirala  is a woman who is trying to end human trafficking in her home country. 

http://www.texasnepal.com/blog/2929 

I am lobbying for two bills. The first act is the Healthy for Healthy Schools Act of 2009, sponsored by Blanche Lincoln. This aims have nutritious school meals that meet dietary guidelines. I have emailed Blanche Lincoln the following message.

To United States Senator Blanche Lincoln:                                 Hi I’m Emma Connell. I am currently attending Science Leadership Academy and for my American Government class I have been assigned the task to lobby for an issue. I decided to lobby for something that affects me and many other kids all across the nation: this issue is school lunches.  I currently focused on lobbying for the Healthy Food For Healthy Schools Act of 2009, proposed by you Blanche Lincoln. So far the Act has been introduced on September 8th, 2009 and reviewed by the committee and has been referred to the committee of agricultural, nutrition, and forestry. But even if the Bill does get passed many schools aren’t up to date with kitchen standards. Although, the United States Department of Agricultural can offer nutritious foods, schools  still won’t have the materials to cook nutritious food and instead unhealthy food such as chicken nuggets and pizza will continue to dominate school meals. How do you plan to fix this problem? Are there any issues you are having with this bill?

I also emailed people supporters and non-supporters of the School Meal Enhancement Act, which strives for a higher percentage of kids to receive free or reduced school meals. I focused on this act because if the Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act of 2009 gets passed this will allow for nutritious food to be available to a larger percentage of kids. I emailed supporters of the act such as Joe Sestak and Robert Brady. I also emailed representative Jim McGovern who is against the bill. In my email i asked him why he is not in support of the act and if there is anything that can be changed in the bill, that would get him to support the School Meal Enhancement Act.

To Joe Sestak and Robert Brady:                                                 Hi I’m Emma Connell. I am currently attending Science Leadership Academy and for my American Government class I have been assigned the task to lobby for an issue. I decided to lobby for something that affects me and many other kids all across the nation: this issue is school lunches.  I currently focused on lobbying for the School Meal Enhancement Act proposed by Joe Sestak.  So far the School Meal Enhancement Act has been introduced,  referred to committee, reported by committee, and has been presented to the House of Representatives who earlier proposed voting on a Senate-passed version of the child nutrition bill. However, 106 House Democrats addressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi  and said they were no longer in support of the Senate version. Instead they called for their own House bill, which does not contain the food stamp cuts. Further debate and discussion on the bill will not take place until winter 2010.  I was curious if you knew anything about the date( s) for debate and discussion of the School Meal Enhancement Act. I was also wondering if you have enough support of the Act and if you do need support, how do you plan to gain support of democrats against the bill. Would it be by reducing how the act cuts into food stamps? If there is anything I can do please let me know.

-Thank you

Not only did I send out emails but I also made fliers and posted them around the city. On the flier the two bills pending for legislation and the issue of unhealthy school meals is addressed. I have links for people to go to and vote in support of both bills.

Below is proof that I emailed people and pictures of my fliers posted.

Today I emailed PA state representative, Daryl Metcalfe and asked about his views on anchor babies. This is the email I sent to him:

Daryl Metcalfe,

Thank you for your email.

I personally receive and read the communications that are sent to this address.

I appreciate the time that you have taken to contact me. 

If your message expresses your view on legislation or a specific policy, please be assured that your input will be considered.

You will be contacted by one of my staff if you have sent a constituent service request or have shared a concern that requires further action by my office.

Serving the 12th District,
Daryl Metcalfe
State Representative
Pennsylvania House of Representatives

I think I will email him again soon on the steps of making this aware to others and also how would I effectively present this information to others without starting a fight or arguement

In the middle of this week I had sent an e-mail to The Humane League on December 8th and got a replied today (December 9th) and got really wonderful news on being volunteers to help notify the public on animal cruelty which was the issue of Aj and mine lobbying project. 

Here the emails: 

“Good Morning, My name is Leeann Nguyen and I am a student at Science Leadership Academy and I was wondering if you had any projects available for volunteers coming up? I know that this email is a little surprising because it came out of nowhere. I'll give you a little background to why I am asking, I’m a senior and I am taking an American Government class and as an assignment we have to do a lobbying project, I am lobbying about animal cruelty and I had came across The Humane League and saw that you are a project coordinator, and so I was wondering if it was possible to attend a project or a meeting? I’m really dedicated to this issues and hope that it is possible. Thank you for the time and consideration about this email and have an amazing day!

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen  

Responses.

Hi Leeann,

“Thanks for reaching out to us! I have sent your email along to our volunteer coordinator, Lydia. She can help you learn about the different volunteer opportunities that we have. Lydia is CCed on this response.”

Take care,

Sally Andersen

Now this is Lydia

Dear Leeann,

“I coordinate volunteers for The Humane League of Philadelphia. Thanks so much for expressing interest in The Humane League. Below, I've listed our most common ongoing activities for which we need volunteers; perhaps one or more of them would be of interest to you for your assignment. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 (By the way, consider attending our upcoming Holiday Party this Sunday, December 12th! It would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the Humane League and its work to help animals)”

Thanks again!

Lydia Chaudhry
Volunteer Coordinator, The Humane League of Philadelphia. 

Amazing right! The projects that she had suggested to me was getting colleges, high schools and restaurants aware of vegetarianism, promoting vegetarianism of MYSPACE and the holiday party. So, as of now I am going to discuss with my partner in going to see them and actually get hands on with this issue. :]

Though there comes a time to become active, I don't feel  educated enough to immerse myself into specific levels of action. I want to cover a wide array of aspects when attacking this issue. I feel that communication tactics that are on a more personal level such as making an appointment for a meeting with a representative or even phone calls and emails are something that shall come after the "smaller" or more publicly involved forms of communication. 

I plan to: (in order) 

- Start a Facebook or some form of popular media campaign spreading awareness. (Kind of like the so- called Child Abuse Awareness Campaign on Facebook, or the Breast Cancer Awareness situation with the posting of the color of bras.) 

- Start a petition. 

- Send

- Possibly arrange rallies or demonstrations. 

- Send emails, fax, and make phone calls to the senators and governor. 

- Set up a visit with senators and/ or the governor.   

Qianna Nelson

To inform more people about water preservation I want to let every one know about all the places that are helping with water preservation and I also want to help them tell the world what they are trying to do. Over the summer my job went to Tinikim national park to learn how they are helping water preservation. I wool like them to help me inform people about our water problem and hopefully they will tell ore people about the parts we are all playing in destroying the little water we have.

I will then try to get into contact with Chaka Fatah to tell him about what I have been doing and try to persuade him to also be a advocate for water preservation. I also wish to inform him on the problem that we are now living with. 

There are many other organizations that are involved in helping with water preservation all over the US and it is my wish to get these organizations more well known also because they to have the same goal I wish for everyone to have. To save our water because before we know it our water will be gone.

Tajh Jenkins

December 9, 2010

Blog Post #4

 Communication

The process for banning virtual child pornography has become somewhat stagnant over the last couple of years. When I contact an organization, I want to be able to have an impact on making virtual child pornography, or child pornography in general, a topic that the government takes more notice of. In making my first approach, I want to start off making direct contact with local organizations in Philadelphia or in the state of Pennsylvania. In order for me to meet people and start speaking with them, I have to find them. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare is a good place to start. I can come in contact in the DPW in a variety of ways. They already openly welcome feedback, questions, comments and concerns, through their “contact us” hyper link on their website. So, being able to express myself to them should be easy.

            I am willing to communicate with them, my concerns, plans and actions that I would like to take against virtual child pornography. If I can get their attention, then I would like to openly discuss solutions to make it illegal, and too make stricter laws against it. Since 2005, the DWP has released a “Child Abuse Annual Report” each year. The 2010 edition hasn’t been released, but the 2009 edition has plenty of information for me to begin with in terms of contacting the many organizations across the state that have a say on virtual child pornography and child porn in general.

             After I start becoming more familiar with organizations locally about the topic, I might be able to start reaching people on a more national scale. In blog post before, I talked about wanting to contact the authors who wrote the “Guidelines for Policy Makers on Child Online Protection”. The authors of these guidelines are people from across the country who have attempted to ban virtual child porn, and who are well instilled with everything that is related to online child safety. Rather than contacting the authors, I might want to take it a step further and write a letter to Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure. He is the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

 I’m not really much of an outspoken person. To come in contact with these resources I could send emails, create a Facebook page, make phone calls, write letters and start a petition. If I’m am lucky enough maybe my efforts could get me to take it a step further and make personal visits with these resources and other decision makers. If I could find other people who are passionate about putting an end to this situation than I would be in a better position to succeed, Hopefully I can effectively use my tactics to a great advantage and put virtual child pornography on the governments radar.  

  Recent News: The DREAM Act has recently passed the House but was put to on hold until possibly next week or maybe longer in the Senate because the fear of a filibuster held by GOP.

    To help lobby for my legislation I am going to write a personalized letter to GOP explaining why the DREAM Act is important and why they should vote. GOP is the Republican National Committee with the chairman being Michael Steele. A personalized letter will truly show him how important the DREAM Act is from a student's perspective. 

             Along with my personalized letter I would hope to get some of my friends involved with this topic as well and for them to write letters to GOP in order to persuade them more because many students are writing about a topic in a way related to them. Hopefully the letters will be mailed out before the next week. If I can’t get the letters mailed out my alternative would be phone call explaining instead.

       I also plan to keep updated with the Senators who are not going to vote using the DREAM Act twitter. I will try get in contact with them, whether I am able to meet with some of them in person or send them letters. It might be a little bit difficult to convince most of their minds at this point in time but it never hurts to try!

Blog Post #4

For Blog #1, click here

For Blog #2, click here

For Blog #3, click here

A lobbyist can spend months researching the issues they feel strongly about, and weeks researching the representatives that can make a difference, but until he or she gets involved, their actions are useless. 

Sincerely,

Taylor Valentine    

My lobbying assignment has much to do with the federal law making and a federal law would have to be made for my bill to become effective. After researching for the past three months it is evident that their is not a particular person against this law or their is not a particular person for this law. It is being handled on a schedule that would allow constant revising and opinions to be involved in the decision making.

As the process of this bill continues a person who may have been for the law may not be in another setting due to revisions made.

Idea:

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

In the middle of this week I had sent an e-mail to The Humane League on December 8th and got a replied today (December 9th) and got really wonderful news on being volunteers to help notify the public on animal cruelty which was the issue of Aj and mine lobbying project. 

Here the emails: 

“Good Morning, My name is Leeann Nguyen and I am a student at Science Leadership Academy and I was wondering if you had any projects available for volunteers coming up? I know that this email is a little surprising because it came out of nowhere. I'll give you a little background to why I am asking, I’m a senior and I am taking an American Government class and as an assignment we have to do a lobbying project, I am lobbying about animal cruelty and I had came across The Humane League and saw that you are a project coordinator, and so I was wondering if it was possible to attend a project or a meeting? I’m really dedicated to this issues and hope that it is possible. Thank you for the time and consideration about this email and have an amazing day!

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen  

Responses.

Hi Leeann,

“Thanks for reaching out to us! I have sent your email along to our volunteer coordinator, Lydia. She can help you learn about the different volunteer opportunities that we have. Lydia is CCed on this response.”

Take care,

Sally Andersen

Now this is Lydia

Dear Leeann,

“I coordinate volunteers for The Humane League of Philadelphia. Thanks so much for expressing interest in The Humane League. Below, I've listed our most common ongoing activities for which we need volunteers; perhaps one or more of them would be of interest to you for your assignment. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 (By the way, consider attending our upcoming Holiday Party this Sunday, December 12th! It would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the Humane League and its work to help animals)”

Thanks again!

Lydia Chaudhry
Volunteer Coordinator, The Humane League of Philadelphia. 

Amazing right! The projects that she had suggested to me was getting colleges, high schools and restaurants aware of vegetarianism, promoting vegetarianism of MYSPACE and the holiday party. So, as of now I am going to discuss with my partner in going to see them and actually get hands on with this issue. :] 

I would like to directly contact organizations that deal with the public transportation safety issue. First, I will deal with the smaller organizations. Then, I will learn more about the more influential people who have the authority to alter and initiate laws. I would sit in on public meetings, if there are any regarding the issue. I will ingest the plans/topics/concerns, and discuss solutions. Currently, I consider discussing the issues with Philadelphia School District students a necessary step. I stated in an earlier lobbying post, “Police have determined that most crimes that occur on SEPTA transportation usually take place during afternoon hours especially during school dismissal time. Therefore, most of the crimes trace back to high school students.” It would be helpful to contact and collaborate with people who have been working on the issue and who share concerns similar to mine.

In my previous lobbying posts I mentioned some groups that are essential to resolving the issue and have been working in communities to raise awareness. I do not necessarily see myself speaking in front of a group of people to express my take on the issue. However, I am more than willing to work “behind the scenes” and help to organize a public event or the like. My next step in this process is identifying the members of these community groups, their group goals and initiatives, etc. My hope is that collaborating with these groups will lead to a set proposal.  The proposal might be viewed and considered by Mayor Nutter, Commissioner Charles Ramsey, and anyone who takes this issue seriously. Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey are officials who I do not think will overlook the issue.

The first organization that I will attempt to collaborate with is the SEPTA Community Affairs Unit.

The Community Affairs Unit Address & Contact Information:

1234 Market Street
4th Floor
Philadelphia PA 19107

Email the Community Affairs Unit
(215) 580-5747 | Telephone 
(215) 580-5789 | Fax

Considerable Communicative Tactics:

·      Letters to the editor, editorials, and commentary

·      Phone calls to the targeted decision maker

·      Faxes to the targeted decision maker

·      Emails to the targeted decision maker

·      Personalized letters and postcards to the targeted decision maker

·      Personal visits with the targeted decision maker

    •    I will also make a Facebook page and an anonymous survey to ask my friends if these things above were to happen do they think they would be a part of it.

My Email:

Hi. My Name is Kimberly Yarnall, and I currently attend Science Leadership Academy. In American Government class we had to choose a topic in which we wanted to lobby. For my topic I picked transparency in food labeling. The changing of names and making it sound like it's healthy just with a different name, can lead to obesity. The diabetes rate is five times the average in Philadelphia than the national average. Diabetes and obesity link together and the change of food names can have a significant impact on the civilians of Philadelphia and their health. I was wondering if you'd consider getting involved in the issue. Making people more aware of the issue of transparency in food labeling and making people aware that changing food names, doesn't make the food any healthier. If more people get lobbied into this issue, I think it will help the health of the people in Philadelphia. It would really mean a lot. Please get back to me, thanks.- Kimberly Yarnall

Reply:

Thank you for contacting me via e-mail. This is an automatic response to let you know that your message was received.Your comments and concerns are important to me. Due to the high volume of e-mail I receive, it may take some time for me to thoroughly review your comments and respond. If your message was of an urgent matter, you may contact my office via phone or fax. Thank you for taking the time to write.Sincerely,Rep. Jewell Williams

____________________________________________

I can't tell whether my strategy was effective or not since I haven't received a response from my representative. I thought that the email I sent was straight to the point, but did a good job at explaining what I was trying to get Jewell Williams involved with. I chose the email approach because I feel it gives him more time to think, instead of bombarding him with questions. I hope he answers me so I feel like I'm making some progress.

Screen Shot of Reply:

Taniera Reid

Stop Funding Abortions: Communication - Blog Post #4

My Issue: I am lobbying to stop the prodigal spending of government dollars on abortions in the United States.

Communication: The ones I will be in contact with throughout this lobbying process will be the senators Joe Sestak and Pat Toomey, as well as Obama’s administration at a later date. The people listed above play a role in the issue I am lobbying against.

Tactics:  The tactics listed below are the tools that will aid me in the journey to getting my message across to someone of a higher authority.

• Letters to the editor, editorials and commentary.
• Petitions.
• Phone calls to the targeted decision maker.
• Faxes to the targeted decision maker.
• Emails to the targeted decision maker.
• Personalized letters and postcards to the targeted decision maker.

Steps: I am still in the researching process. I believe in knowing and understanding the law to its farthest extent before taking my issue to someone of a higher authority. One mishap in my evidence/documentation/information can make or break my argument. Having facts, details, dates, names and supporters will help my argument.

After the necessary steps are taken to gain all information,

I will begin to:

1.     Write up petitions

2.     Send emails

3.     Organize rallies.

My tactics will be executed effectively with the assistance of my teachers and mentors with substantial knowledge regarding politics and perhaps marketing.

My next step would be to recruit members to join my fight against the wasteful funding of abortions in the United State and enforce the Hyde Amendment across the nation. Recruitments will consist of others that believe in and are as passionate, if not more passionate about this issue as much as I. With more than one voice fighting for a good cause, we have a greater chance at being heard.

Using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and making groups regarding the funding abortion issue will help start off the recruitment process. This is an easy way to find out who in the world stands firmly behind the issue. 

  The progress for my bill (for those who forgot it is S.3921 for helping stop animal testing as well as testing on humans) has been nothing so far which has been very complicated in helping me. I have been thinking of ways to help communicate out this bill to help it get progress. After thinking for a while I was able to think of ways that work with today's world to help get this bill progress.

 Way number 1 is to start a twitter account made to get this bill support. Because twitter is a constant live feed it is easy to get information out there. It will also help get in contact with organizations and people who could help get the word out. This in turn can help build up a good following to help.

 Another way to help connect with people would be to link the twitter to a facebook page. On  there I could have information about the bill, why it is important and how to help. There would be a link out to a petition to people could sign if they are from Pennsylvania and also for the districts. For other areas I would have a area where they can create their own petition to send to their officials. 

 Lastly is trying to get through with more officials and people who could help. For this I simple need to arrange a better list. Also is figuring out the best ways to get through with each person or combination of ways to get through with people.This might be easier one the twitter and facebook are done because there will be more help with getting through. Hopefully this will all go through without a hitch to help.