Using our First 100 Days to End AIDS Plan Summary, write down your plan, including who will do what, by when, and include the following four areas:
1. Meet with Your Members of Congress
a) List the names of your members of Congress and the point person in your group for each of them.
b) Put a date by which you will submit your face-to-face meeting request for each member of Congress. Face-to-face meetings with your lawmakers are the goal. Here is a sample meeting request letter for global AIDS.
i) If you cannot get a face-to-face meeting, request an in-person meeting with the closest local staff and ask if their foreign policy aide in D.C. can join that meeting remotely.
ii) Research where they are on the issues. For example, if they were in office in 2008, did they vote "Yay" to reauthorize PEPFAR? (Check the House roll call and Senate roll call to see how representatives voted in 2008.) Did they show support in the past by signing onto last year’s "dear colleague" letter asking for the needed appropriations increases for PEPFAR and the Global Fund?
iii) See tips on how to have successful face-to-face meetings with representatives and senators and how to raise global AIDS issues at town hall meetings and other public forums by birddogging.
iv) Take a look at the Champion Scale created by our friends at RESULTS for guidance on what to ask from your representatives to move them up the ladder from neutral to champion.
v) Download and print out our Fund the Fight lobbying kit to bring to meetings and leave behind.
2. Make Your Own Media
Generate local media that supports our asks, educates other constituents, and holds lawmakers accountable by getting letters to the editor and op-eds published. How many do you plan to generate during the first 100 days? Who will write and submit them? Once your letter to the editor or op-ed gets published, be sure to send it to your member of Congress. Click here for some tips for writing and placing letters to the editor and op-eds, including some examples from other SGACers.
3. Grow the Movement
a) Our First 100 Days to End AIDS Campaign is not just about meeting with members of Congress; it’s also about growing our movement. Many people are seeking to become more politically engaged since the November election. You can help them by inviting them to get involved with SGAC or Health GAP. Set a goal of how many people you will engage (talk to, invite to a meeting, and engage in taking action) during the campaign. Take some time with your group to brainstorm when, where, and how you will reach out to new people.
b) If you are a student or young activist, list how many people in your group plan to attend the 2017 SGAC Conference in Boston, MA (February 10-12). Make sure everyone coming registers! Discuss any challenges or reservations people may have about attending and how the group can overcome them.
4. Do an Action
a) By the end of the first 100 days, we should have seen some positive action on global AIDS from our elected officials. If they have not shown their support, or if the White House has not put out a sufficient budget request, consider planning an action to get some earned media! We will announce key moments throughout the campaign.
b) Using our legal action template, decide what your goals, targets, and scenario will be. Track your planning progress with our action checklist.
c) Give yourself time to construct and carry out a mobilization plan. Reach out to allies in your community, and build a coalition action if possible.
d) Decide who will be point on media outreach, writing a press release, getting it out to an updated press list, and call, call, call to follow up. See our tips on doing media, and feel free to reach out to SGAC organizers for help.
Please share your First 100 Days to End AIDS Plan Summary with us, so we can help coordinate.
- Hilary McQuie ([email protected]) Washington, DC
- Emily Sanderson ([email protected]) New York
RESOURCES
- Action Checklist
- Birddogging 101
- FY17 Senate Global Fund & PEPFAR Dear Colleague Letter
- Group Planning Summary
- Guide to Lobby Visits
- Legal Action Planning Template
- Op-eds & Letters to the Editor 101
- Op-eds & Letters to the Editor - Examples
- Sample Meeting Request Email
- Tips for Media Outreach
For our Fund the Fight lobbying kit, click here.