Advocacy Toolkit
Whether you are new to advocacy or have been a seasoned advocate for years, this toolkit is designed to help you navigate the legislative process, and develop a voice to effectively advocate to policymakers, the public, and your peers about community schools. Policymakers need to hear from you, hear your community school story and know why community schools are essential to student achievement, family engagement, and overall community development.
 
This toolkit is meant to help you accomplish several goals:

• To be able to comfortably and publicly discuss the benefits of community schools.
• To create a blueprint for advocating on behalf of legislation that is of importance to the community school movement.  
• To provide the resources and the procedures for contacting your senator or representative to have discussions, set up site visits and further the dialogue.  
• To help you develop a voice in community school advocacy.

Together we can work to achieve legislative support for the 60,000 students and families that benefit from community schools in our state. So commit yourself and those at your school to get involved in sharing the community story in a way that will lead to sustainability and continued enhancement of this way of educating and engaging students, families and communities!

Complete Advocacy Toolkit for Community Schools | (Word)
Advocacy 101 Webinar presentation deck
Advocacy 101: Understanding the Basics
Corresponding with your Legislator
     - Find Your Legislator - Legislator Lookup
     - Sample Email/Letter to Elected Official
     - Calling Your Legislator
     - Meeting with Your Legislator
     - Sample Thank You Letter (After Visit/Phone Call)
Organizing a Site Visit
     - Site Visit Check List
     - Sample Schedule and Timeline for Site Visit
Sample Community School Info Sheet
Community Schools FAQ
Using Social Media to Advocate for Community Schools
     - Sample Social Media Posts
     - Find Your US Congressman/woman on Twitter

If you need support connecting with or hosting a site visit for your elected officials, please contact .