April 24, 2019 Advocacy Alert

April 24, 2019
With members of Congress back in their Districts and States this week, now is a great time to ask your agency’s grassroots advocates to connect with federal lawmakers about the importance of increasing funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) and other aging programs. Budget and spending discussions are at the top of the to-do list for Congress this spring, so once lawmakers return to DC they will quickly resume discussions about federal funding for FY 2020.
 
Recently added to n4a’s recently released FY 2020 Appropriations Campaign Toolkit is a Grassroots Advocacy Alert Template that we hope will make it easy for you to urge your network of local advocates to take action!
 
We have a lot of advocacy to do this spring and we need your help!One way to keep your issues top of mind for members of Congress and their staff is to ask your grassroots to take action, too. We need Congress to hear directly from their constituents who benefit from the OAA programs and services that you deliver.  
 
Sharing Personal Stories is Important
 
Use (and feel free to modify!) n4a’s Grassroots Advocacy Alert Template to community members to share their stories with Congress!
 

1. Ask your grassroots to email/post a short social media note to lawmakers. Members monitor their email/website traffic for constituent correspondence, and personal messages resonate most. Ask your grassroots advocates to share why OAA is important to them. 
2. Ask local advocates to call Congress. Included in the Template Alertare instructions to call lawmakers and a short sample script that constituents can use.
3. Share stories in person. Encourage your advocacy stakeholders to attend a townhall meeting the next time your Representative or Senator is in the District or State (the next recess will be May 27-31) to share the importance of funding for OAA. Better yet, invite your Members of Congress to come see your agency in action and meet some of their constituents receiving OAA services!

 
We need all AAAs, Title VI Native American programs and local allies to raise their voices in support of Older Americans Act funding. We must ensure that all members of Congress know that stagnant and eroding funding risks the health, well-being and independence of their older constituents.
 
More advocacy resources are available on n4a’s FY 2020 Appropriations Campaign page! Stay tuned for more updates from n4a. Thank you for your advocacy on this important issue!
 
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If you have questions or concerns about this Advocacy Alert or n4a’s policy positions, please contact Autumn Campbell at acampbell@n4a.org and Amy Gotwals at agotwals@n4a.org.