Pay Attention!
Contacting the Media and Elected Officials
Communicating with Elected Officials
Writing an Op-ed / Letter to the Editor
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Contacting the Press
Media publicity is a great way to boost attendance at your Day of Action event and spread the word about ServiceNation. When first contacting the press, write up a media alert or a press release and send it out to as many news outlets as possible. When contacting the press, remember to make two clear points: the importance of universal voluntary national service and the plan for 1 million active full or part-time volunteers by 2020.
Media Alert vs. Press Release:
A media alert is the basic facts of an event, the who, what, where, when and why. It publicizes an event to the press and invites them to come.
A press release is essentially a one page article about your event, written from your perspective. It can include quotes from event organizers and attendees, and a much greater level of detail. As STAND (the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition) put it, “think of a press release as a way to write the article for a reporter.” Press releases are usually written in Associated Press style, going from most to least important information. Look for an example of any AP news story for more guidance.
Both media alerts and press releases are usually less than a page, so don’t worry about making them longer.
Sending Out the Alerts:
You should send out information about your Day of Action event to as many press outlets as you can think of, but definitely prioritize the local outlets first, since they are more likely to send a reporter to your event. Community and local newspapers are key, as are nearby college and university newspapers. Also try local radio stations. If you’re planning a particularly large event, you can also try contacting local television news channels, or even the local affiliates of major networks like CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox. Contact information for local affiliates of these channels can be found on their websites.
Make sure to make the subject heading of your e-mail or the headline of your press release as catchy as possible. Also make sure to have a clear message about the importance of service with any success stories about service you want to share.
Media Timeline:
1-2 Weeks Before the Day of Action
Contact as many media as possible with your press release or media alert.
3 Days Before
Call and e-mail al of your press contacts and remind them about the event individually.
1 Day Before
Call and e-mail all press who responded to your alert or press release and try to get a list of who will come. Make sure to give any more information they might need.
Day of Action!
Make sure there are participants to speak to the press. Remind your speakers (if you have some) to take questions after their presentations.
Sample Media Alert
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: [Your name] [Your phone number]
Headline of Your Event
E.g. A Hundred Citizens Rally Outside State House to Demonstrate Importance of Service
What: [Describe your event and your events goal, as well as details like the number of participants here].
When: [Your event date and time]
Where: [Your event location and city]
Why: All across the country, thousands of Americans are participating in the ServiceNation campaign, calling upon our country to increase the role of service as a means to solving problems. With over 62 million Americans already volunteering in some capacity, Americans now are serving more than at any other time in history and are ready to take on an expanded role in service.
How: Through a “grasstops” and grassroots campaign, ServiceNation encourages national leaders to promote new legislation that works towards universal voluntary national service. However, this cannot happen until communities of citizens mobilize themselves at a grassroots level to call upon their legislators and the President to make lasting change by passing new national service legislation. For more information, visit www.servicenation.com.
Click here to download a local advisory template that you can send out the week before your event!
Communicating with policy makers is an important strategy leading up to the Day of Action. Getting policy makers at the local and state level is an essential element of the ServiceNation campaign, and meeting with them in person or writing a letter can also be a great way to invite them to your Day of Action event. The following are various ways you can communicate with your elected representatives.
Use this list to identify your elected officials in Congress and in your state legislature.
8 Steps to inviting elected officials.
Post DOA Thank you Letter Template
Sending a Postcard:
A link to a sample postcard is here [Coming soon!]. If you are pressed for time, signing one of these yourself and getting a few family and friends to do so as well helps to reinforce the importance of service to your representatives.
Writing a Letter:
Keep it personal, but make sure to include facts that demonstrate the impact of the issue on the larger community. Handwrite your letter if at all possible, and if you type, add a handwritten note. Be brief, clear and specific. Request a personal and written response from the official in question, specifically about your issue. Also, make sure to include your address on your letter itself; it’s especially important to include where you live, because representatives will only take your opinions into account if you live within their district.
Click here to download a template to invite your elected officials.
Click here to download a sample program.
Click here to download a sample speaker invitation.
Meeting with Representatives:
One of the most effective things you can do as a constituent is meet with your representative in person or a member of her or his staff. You can go by yourself or in a group. In order to meet with your rep, call up the office and tell the staff member that you’re a constituent and that you’d like a meeting.
Before going in, make sure everyone in your group is on the same page and knows your message, and establish the goals for the meeting. Also research your representatives stance on service and what organizations she or he might have been involved with or how they might have voted in the past. www.vote-smart.org or www.thomas.loc.gov are good websites to find out your representatives’ stance. Bringing background materials on your issue can also be a good way to make sure your meeting has an impact.
During the meeting, be as concise as possible, and of course make sure to be polite. Also speak from your own experience and the experience of your community; tell a story and make it personal. If they tell you that they agree with the importance of the issue, press them to attend your Day of Action event or sign the Declaration of Service.
After the meeting, make sure to thank the representative or her or his staff for their time and re-emphasize the points that you made in an e-mail or note. Also, follow up with any information, whether it is details about your Day of Action event or a copy of the Declaration of Service.
Source: “Writing Letters to the Editor” and “Writing Op-Eds” from STAND (the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition).
Writing a letter to the editor or an opinion-editorial for your local newspaper is a great way to be involved in ServiceNation even without planning an event for the Day of Action. You will spread the message of the Day of Action and help put the issue of universal voluntary service on the agenda as we head towards the election. When writing your piece, make sure to include two points: the importance of universal voluntary national service to you and the constituency you represent, and the plan for 1 million active full and part-time volunteers by 2020.
Targeting Media Sources
Before writing an op-ed or a Letter to the Editor, try to find out what’s already been written recently about ServiceNation or service in general in the media outlets you’re looking at. Also, consider the full range of print and electronic media at your disposal. It’s always worth trying to get a piece in a larger circulation newspaper like the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle or the Chicago Tribune, but your chances of success with local newspapers or magazines are much higher.
Consider community and neighborhood publications as well, and even corporate or school newsletters. You might also want to look into writing for a community blog or an electronic newsletter; even if the audience seems small, every additional person who learns about ServiceNation is critical in this grassroots movement.
Writing an Op-Ed
An op-ed is a longer piece that details a wider variety of reasons why your issue is important and should be acted upon in the ways you suggest. Here it can be particularly helpful to start with your own personal story about service and why you believe in service as an effective solution. Then you could expand to more general reasons that a wide variety of people can get behind so as to draw people in. Try to start off with a recent experience or a recent piece of news as a hook for why the paper should publish it and people should be interested. Feel free to allow your voice to drive the piece, but also make sure to ground your op-ed in stats and facts.
Writing a Letter to the Editor
You can write a Letter to the Editor to do one of the following things:
1. To point out and fill a hole in the newspapers’ coverage of your issue (or lack thereof).
2. To call upon elected representatives to act on an issue and vote a certain way.
3. To campaign for an official endorsement of your position from the newspaper.
In addition, Letters to the Editor are considerably shorter than an op-ed. Keep them around 250-300 words, and make sure you read the paper’s requirements. State your point or criticism clearly and support it pithily. Identify yourself and the constituency (whether a neighborhood, a student group or a student body) that you represent, and discuss how the issue effects you. Don’t make a series of complaints; instead, provide concrete ideas for a solution or ways to take action.
Make sure to include your full contact information for both Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds; the newspaper may want to be in touch with you before publishing.
Letter to editor template for local media
Contacting the Media and Officials
