New Congress — New Opportunities for Social Justice Advocacy

Tell your U.S. Representative what’s on your mind!

The Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps will deliver your congregation’s letters to the Washington, D.C. offices of your members of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 12, 2019.

This month congregations and individuals have the opportunity to decide what to write on!

For some suggestions on topics to write on and sample letter format, link HERE to the February WHWN handout for your letter-writing tables or to email to your congregation’s members.

Deadline: All letters must be received by February 11. Emailed scanned and PDF’d letters should must arrive by 12 noon ET Monday, February 11 and emailed to advocacy@uusj.org. See “Congregational Organizer Instructions” below with delivery instructions.

Note: The following is adapted from a message sent to our Write Here! Write Now! congregation team partners and Advocacy Corps members.

Check out our Write Here! Write Now! A Toolkit for Letter-Writing HERE for tips on “how to” organize letter-writing at your congregation. If you want to learn more or are interested in partnering with UUSJ in our monthly letter-writing campaign, contact us at advocacy(at)uusj.org or call 202-600-9132.

January 22, 2019

Dear Advocacy Corps members, WHWN Partners and Friends,

We are preparing for our Feb.12 Advocacy Corps Day (our second anniversary), and invite you to send your congregational letters for delivery on that day. We’ll be in the HOUSE side. Pretty exciting over there. If you have any questions, please contact us at advocacy(at)uusj.org.

Warning this is longer than usual announcement about this month’s WHWN. Please read carefully and read the February WHWN handout. It requires some decisions on the part of organizers. The sample announcement for your weekly communications, newsletters and other publications is below along with some signage tips and other messaging tips.

UUSJ’s new priority issue: The UUSJ Board voted on January 12 to take on a fourth priority issue – (tentative name) Defending our Democracy (related to the current UUA CSAI link HERE) . This includes issue such as voter rights, corporate personhood, campaign finance reform, etc. Check out HR 1 a “sweeping reform bill that aims to restore voter rights, remove big money from campaigns, and strengthen ethics oversight in government.” Interested in working on this issue? Let us know. advocacy(at)uusj.org. 

Our issue topic is different this month: We don’t have one! We’re asking UUs to write letters to their U.S. Representatives and to identify the issues and concerns that weigh on their hearts and minds, not a specific issue like we usually do. We still do have a February WHWN handout that you can use at your letter-writing tables, which includes ideas about issues to address if people don’t know what to write about. You do not have to use a handout this month, since the title should pull them in. Circulate it widely so people can think about it in advance. Here’s another source of ideas for issue groups or your congregation to identify issues to write about, our UUSJ Guide for Questions for Candidates 2018 and Toolkit HERE.

Why are we doing this?

Hill Visits – What’s Different: On February 12, 2019, since it’s a new 116th Congress, the UUSJ Advocacy Corps will introduce UUism, UUSJ Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps, and our priority issues to staff of new members of the U.S. House of Representatives, new House Committee and Subcommittee chairs, and renew contacts with returning members we’ve worked with in the past.

A new Congress is a “fresh start” and an opportunity to advocate for our UU values and promote bipartisan forward movement for social justice. That’s why this is the perfect time for us to write letters, share our hopes and concerns, tell our stories, and take our UU values and hopes for the nation to Capitol Hill.  

We must exercise your democratic rights. Now that elections are over, our job is to hold our elected representatives accountable. We can not abdicate that role.

We will also introduce staff to UUSJ’s priority issues: Immigration Reform, Escalating Economic Inequity, Environmental and Climate Justice, and our new issue Defending our Democracy.

Congregations and individuals have the opportunity to decide what to write on. What’s important to you and your congregation? immigration? Keeping healthcare affordable and accessible? Rising sea levels? Climate change? Protecting voting rights? Other issues?

We encourage your congregation, issue or youth groups to discuss and identify a specific social justice issue or concern to write about. You can write as an individual or create a family writing event. Ask children to express their wishes for the country. Use crayons and stickers even Valentine’s Day cards.

Signage Hint: The signage is easy – Write your U.S. House Member. The message is self explanatory. The first time at my church we did this, we didn’t use any handout and the sign was more than enough to draw people in and folks knew what they wanted to say, including the children. Just put a sign up that says something like:

• Want to send a message to your U.S. Representative about issues that are important to you? or
• Tell your U.S. Representative what’s on your mind. or

Timing: You can schedule congregational letter writing starting this weekend January 27, February 3 and February 10. Or spend the next week brainstorming an issue that the congregation might want to address together. Think about engaging families and children. It’s the week of Valentine’s Day and you can use that as a hook with young children as a family event. Get some heart stickers and crayons and they can draw pictures.

We’re sending out this call early so we can collect as many letters as possible and receive them as early as possible. Since there is more time, you can mail letters instead of scanning and emailing them. We hope this gives you more time to get the word out and engage your congregation in discussion and maybe deciding on one issue that the congregation joins in on together.

Congregational Organizers Instructions for Processing and Delivery of Letters:

1. MAIL letters if time allows: put all letters in one package separated by House member. Provide a count of the number of letters. Mail  via U.S. MAIL – two day delivery [call or email us for the address so we know to expect it]. Mailed letters must be received no later than Thursday, February 7.

2. EMAIL: Email a PDF of all scanned letters to advocacy@uusj.org to arrive by 12 noon ET Monday, February 11. Subject line: WHWN, New Congress, name and state of your congregation.

3. Double check for legible names and full addresses: Make sure each letter includes the writer’s name and full mailing address. Congressional offices use the information to verify that letters are from their constituents and many respond with a letter.

4. Separate and count the letters: Some congregations have multiple Representative and Senators. It helps a lot if you separate and count the number of letters for each. It’s a good double check for us.

5. Include your contact information and phone number too: Sometimes a third party like church administrator scans and sends the letters and we don’t know who it came from.

Sample Announcement: Below is a sample announcement you can adapt to let people in your congregation know about the topic and the schedule for your letter-writing table. Please feel free to edit, cut and paste and send to your congregation’s communications coordinator for inclusion in your newsletter. Include the dates you want the article to run if you will host more than one WHWN.

This can be adapted for an email message that you send to key congregants, RE, issue groups, etc. You could forward the attached WHWN handout to encourage people to organize a topic or just write in advance.

Title Ideas:

• Tell your U.S. Representative what’s on your mind! OR
• What’s on your wish list for the new 116th Congress? OR
• Want to send a message to your U.S. Representative about issues that are important to you?

New Congress — New Opportunities for Social Justice Advocacy. What’s on your wish list for the new 116th Congress? On [insert date(s)] come to our Write Here! Write Now! table to write your personal letter to advocate for bipartisan action on important social justice issues that matter to UUs, like immigration, sea-level rise, health care, or voting rights. And to show gratitude for a position, action or vote they have taken. A handout with writing tips and suggested topic and supplies will be available. We invite families to write letters together. Or write your letter in advance and drop it off. See the WHWN Handout here. The UUs for Social Justice Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps will hand-deliver your letters in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 12. Contact (insert name and email address). To learn more about the Advocacy Corps check UUSJ’s advocacy page here.

Thanx,
Lavona, Bob and Anna