CDA Stand With Students Advocacy Guide

8/7/2019 CDA Stand With Students Advocacy Guide

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Dear College .Democrat,

We are thrilled to announce the College Democrats of America's new, exciting, yearlongStand With Students advocacy initiative. With the 2010 elections now behind us, it's time tohold the House Republican leadership accountable to students' needs. And it falls upon us,as College Democrats, to take up those efforts ...

The central component of our advocacy effort is reminding the Republican leadership andour own representatives that they are responsible to US,the students. In order to remindthem, we are going to call their offices, send them emails, draft petitions, and write lettersthroughout the year. We are going to fight health care repeal, support the DREAM Act, ad-vocate for energy reform and other issues that affect young people. We have drafted thisguide to help you develop a comprehensive advocacy strategy.

In this guide, you can find information about contacting elected officials, working with othercampus groups, planning advocacy events, organizing service projects, making the advo-cacy programs fun, writing columns and letters to the editor, drafting press releases, hosting

press conferences, and collaborating with our caucuses. As you will see, there are manycomponents to a successful advocacy project.

We hope that you find this guide helpful! If you have questions, or would like help as youdevelop your plan and execute it, please let us know. We look forward to working with youand the DNC to make sure Congress stands with students.

Alejandra C. Salinas, PresidentJeremy Feigenbaum, Programs Director

Rachel Lamorte, Political DirectorMichael D. Worley, Communications DirectorTori Taylor, Events Coordinator

STANDtuitibSTUDENTSCOLLEGE DEMOCRATS.1AMERICA


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CDAPROGRAMMINGways to advocate

Advocacy Though Events

Any effective advocacy program will be a combination of national and local-taking thebest of CDA's Stand With Students initiative and tailoring it to your state's and chapter'sparticular needs and interests. To raise awareness on your campus, you should consider or-ganizing a large lecture featuring your Democratic Member of Congress. Who better to ex-plain the danger posed by the Republicans' attempt to repeal health care than a Democratserving with them? And who better to stress the importance of student advocacy, and toexplain the impact that it can have, than your elected representative?

But ejected officials are hardly the only draw. For some issues, a rally could get the most at-tention. This October, hundreds of immigrant-rights groups held rallies to support the

DREAM Act and encouraged attendees to call their Senators at that event. Similarly, youcould host a film screening related to an advocacy effort you are pursuing, and call yourelected officials when the credits roll

Organizing Advocacy PanelsYou should also consider panels related to the issues for which you are advocating, Excit-ing speakers include popular professors, leaders of prominent local advocacy organiza-tions, state legislators, council persons, and other experts. These speakers offer insight into

how major national issues directly affect your state, your neighborhood, and even yourcampus.

You can also turn these panels into a series, Last year, the Brown Democrats organized alunch series entitled "Progressive Potpourri," featuring panels on environmental activism,immigration reform, reproductive rights, ethics reform and civil rights and equality, Thepanels not only taught Brown students about these policies in Rhode Island, but also pre-pared them to be effective advocates for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell and passing theDREAMAct.

Events are an excellent way to incorporate other progressive student groups into your ad-vocacy program, The purpose of "Progressive Potpourri" at Brown was to bring togetherleaders of different student groups-each of whom had cosponsored the panel that relatedto their work-to learn about other progressive policies, You should be working with thesegroups in all your advocacy efforts, but especially when you are hosting elected officials,planning panels, or organizing to fill screenings and rallies..

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or . Imm@dia leReleaseNovember 7lh , 201'0

Contact:MichaelWorley, COACommunicationsOirector I [email protected] 1954.661.492:4

College Democrats Train Members to Write Press ReleasesIncreosed Communication with Media Helps COA Chapters Get Noticed

WASHI NGTON DC- Corlege Democrats of Amelica( COA) are utilizing pre ss reteases to he Ip informm em bers o f t he m edIa, as w eU35 s tu de nt ,p re ss o u tle ts , a bo u t Impor ta nt n ew s& event In fo rma tion .

"Press releases are an important aspect of our organization's comml.lnica't ion outreach,"S3id MichaelWorley, CO A' sNatlonal Communication Director. "They can,be e>:traordlnarlly helpful n communicatingoutside our campu.ses and gaming valuable earned media. If

COA plans to conUnue their utW2atIQn of p.ress releases In the coming future.

Mlch ael Worley can be reached for further comment at wOrfeym@ool egede ms.com or 9iS4..661. .492~
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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C Become a Fan C] Staggers' Index

Making Students Count: CollegeDemocrats and the 2010 Census

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CDA Stand With Students Advocacy Guide

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