I Called My Rep. For the First Time!

I called my local representative today! Before this week, it was always something people I admire for their political involvement would say to do, yet for some reason felt so foreign to me. So today I’m sharing what drove me to pick up the phone, how I actually did it, and how it doesn’t have to feel like you need a law degree to do it too.

Reframe

I think I held the belief that in order to call a representative, you had to know your vocabulary and policies like the back of your hand. While it is a personal goal of mine to continue to learn more about the policies that impact our communities, I know I’ve got a lot yet to learn.

So today, I realized that calling your representative can be just like speaking up about something you know/are curious about at home, at work, or anywhere else. Despite how out of control life can feel sometimes, we do in fact know our day to day and the things that are working well, and those that are not so much. I chose to look at my phone call as a conversation where I shared what I experienced, how policy impacted that, a few potential ideas, and keep it open to see what I could learn from my rep too.

Find Your Why

So why would we call a representative? For me, I started to notice how a district policy, while great in theory, didn’t have some necessary supports to help it thrive while in action. The only reason I found out this was a policy was by asking the question “why.” Why is a situation the way it is? Why is something not changing? If something seems a bit off to you or you think something could be impacting a group of people in your community, start asking why that is. For me, I found out there was a policy behind my “why” and realized as a community member, I could easily share my experience and observations.

Do a Search

I used some key words that I knew the policy was related to, and then you can add in the city, school district, state, etc. to see if you can educate yourself a bit more. I was fortunate to find a post from the district itself outlining statistics, how the policy came to be, and why it was structured the way it was. It was an important learning piece for me to see a fuller picture.

Then, if you don’t know already, look up your representatives. Ballotpedia lists out everyone from President to local/county representatives for your exact address. Then, when you find the individual who works in the area related to your given policy or concern, give a search. You will most likely find an email or phone number directly.

Reach Out!

Then, remember what we talked about above to keep it a conversation, and reach out to your representative! Be confident in sharing what you know, and some of the factual information on how you see this issue or policy having an impact. If you have it, share any ideas or gaps that you may have identified that might help narrow in on a solution you’d like your representative to help bring to action. And absolutely feel free to ask them if there is any other helpful information that they can provide on how/why something came to be.

If found my local school board representative’s campaign site, and simply called the number! I got the chance to talk to chat with a member of the campaign, and they took down my name, number, affiliations, and that I’d like to talk. I’m expecting a call back from her soon!

While I’ve got a long way to go, I felt like today was one way that I used my everyday experiences and my voice in a way that can hopefully impact others. And I firmly believe that if we waited until we felt like we were a professional, we would never begin. So today I took that step and picked up the phone.

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