The Government Affairs team wanted to share three important pieces of information with you:
1. House Labor, Health & Human Services and Education Appropriations Mark-up
On Wednesday, July 13th the House Appropriations Committee will mark up its FY 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-ED) bill at 10:00am ET. You can watch the webcast here. Unfortunately, the LHHS-ED appropriations subcommittee did not include funding for the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFECs). We continue to engage with committee members on the importance and need for this program and will continue to do so throughout the appropriations process.
ACTION ITEM: If you have a representative on the House Appropriations Committee, please call them today and let them know they need to fund SFECs in the bill. This link provides you with your representative’s phone number and talking points on SFECs. You can only access the representative’s information if you are a constituent. Please share as appropriate with your members.
2. Legislation Committee Advocacy Survey
The Legislation Committee wants to hear from you and PTA members across the country! Please take a few minutes to complete the Advocacy Survey by Monday, July 18th. The committee will be using the feedback to help shape its plan of work for the coming year. Again, please share throughout your PTA networks.
3. Advocacy Webinar from the Congressional Management Foundation
National PTA is premier partner of the Partnership for a More Perfect Union, led by the Congressional Management Foundation. Through our partnership National PTA has access to webinars and materials to help foster better relationships and communication between PTA members and Congress. Join fellow advocates on Wednesday, July 20 at 1:00pm ET for The Citizen Advocate Toolkit: 8 Essential Tools for Influencing Public Policy webinar.
This webinar will walk participants through the most effective tools available to every advocate. Participants will learn:
· How to leverage social media;
· Tips for in-district interactions; and
· Why letters to the editor still work.
You are encouraged to share this webinar with your PTA members, as it is exclusively available to National PTA and PTA members. However, due to copyright laws, please do not share on public facing websites such as Twitter, Facebook or any other social media accounts. You can share the webinar link through email and newsletters.
