This week we are excited to continue building awareness for civics with our second week of action: Civics Advocacy Week! Together, CivxNow members will engage their networks with three central goals in mind:
- Grasstops Activation: Elevating grasstops awareness and support for bi-partisan civics education policy;
- Mobilization: Mobilizing constituents to advocate for the passage of the Civics Secures Democracy Act; and
- Amplification: Raising the general profile of the importance of the Civics Secures Democracy Act and other bipartisan civics policy efforts.
Organizations and individuals can engage in this week by joining us daily for the following Days of Action. We encourage you to share this post with your members to join us for one or all of these activities!
- Monday 5/16 – Get the conversation started! We are excited to host our second #sschat and kick off CivxNow’s Advocacy Week tonight, May 16th! Join us on Twitter at 7:00 pm ET / 4:00 pm PT using the hashtags #sschat and #CivicsAdvocacyWeek to share and discuss questions such as:
- Who needs to advocate for civics? How do we get them to do it?
- What advocacy tactics are most impactful in moving our field forward?
- How do we ensure support for civics is bigger than the politics of the moment?
- Tuesday 5/17 – Learn about the tools in our toolbox. CivxNow Advocacy Office Hours | May 16, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER. Open office hours with the CivxNow team to learn about our resources to support advocating for civic education during Civics Policy & Advocacy Week (May 16-20), #CivicsAdvocacyWeek. We’ll answer questions about our toolkit including how to use the bill tracker, email/phone scripts for contacting elected officials, and policy menu, as well as discuss strategies for mobilizing our networks in support of civics throughout the week!
- Wednesday 5/18 – Let them hear you! Members of Congress need to hear that the civic mission of schooling is an essential bi-partisan issue worthy of support. That’s why on Wednesday, we’re coordinating on making calls and sending emails to our elected officials voicing support for the Civics Secures Democracy Act! Don’t know what to say? We’ve got you covered! Check out our CSD Take Action toolkit, to easily send emails and make phone calls to your elected officials. It should literally take you no more than 5 minutes!
- Thursday 5/19 – Let them see you! Phone calls and emails are great, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction, virtually or in person. Take time today to either set up or hold a meeting with your elected officials to advocate for CSD. Again, we’ve got you covered! We have sample email scripts requesting meetings, contact information for the staffers in your Members’ offices, talking points, and more.
- Friday 5/20 – Tell your community, tell the world! On the final day of action for this week, we go back to social media and traditional media through Twitter, Facebook, your organization’s newsletters, op-eds, and letters to the editor. Once again, we have resources to make it easy! Check out our CSD social media toolkit, a tool to draft a compelling letter to the editor in your local paper, and sample language to include in your network’s newsletters.
We wanted to particularly raise the work of some of our great partners who have already stepped up for #CivicsAdvocacyWeek for a range of activities. This incomplete list includes:
- The National Association of Elementary School Principals who are holding an event titled, We Can’t Wait! Educating Students for American Democracy (register here).
- Girl Scouts of the USA are leveraging the story of a Gold Award Girl Scout winner and how advocacy for civics affected her experience.
- A number of organizations who’ve committed to joining and/or leading visits with federal elected officials include Business for America, the National Indian Education Association, the National History Coalition, and many others. Register your actions through this form.
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