Baltic Advocacy Day Preparation
Express interest in the next advocacy day or if you'd like help setting up an advocacy day at home.
Images from Baltic advocacy day - 2019
2020 Advocacy Days
- Youth Advocacy Day: May 8, 2020
- General Advocacy Day: May 11-12, 2020
- Location: United Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002
- RSVP to jbanc@jbanc.org
What to expect:
You play an important role as an advocate, because constituent conversations with members of Congress often guide the policy making process. Among surveyed congressional staff, these face-to-face meetings continue to rank the THE MOST effective way to advance a policy agenda.
Don’t forget that advocacy is a two-way street. Your members of Congress want to hear from you, because reelection depends on their ability to serve constituents.
During your meeting, which may last 10-15 minutes, you are likely to meet with a staff member of your member of Congress. Members of Congress trust their staff to listen to constituents and staff have a heavy influence on the Congressmember’s policymaking decisions.
Preparation:
Take some time to learn about the issues.
The main issue topic discussed during the 2020 Baltic Advocacy Day will be:
- Increasing military funding to the Baltics/reaffirming Article V of NATO
More details on each issue can be found under the “issues” tab above.
Your members of Congress
Take a minute to also see where your senators and representative stand on Baltic issues:
- Check if they are a member of the House Baltic Caucus/Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus
- See if they’ve cosponsored relevant bills
- Are they a member of relevant committees of jurisdiction?
Bills
Baltic Advocacy Day is a chance to directly ask your member of Congress to cosponsor legislation supportive of the Baltic community. It can be hard to push a bill through Congress, but when constituents ask their members of Congress to support specific bills, this carries a lot of weight.
Other things to keep in mind:
Come professionally dressed, but try to also dress comfortably. There may be a lot of walking.
While Uber/Lyft are useful, taxis are more accessible around the Capitol and cost about the same.
Lunch cafes are located in most buildings for members of Congress.
Come to have fun! It’s an exciting day where you get to represent your Baltic community to Congress. The relationship between the United States and the Baltic countries is extremely important to ensure an independent, secure and free Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Your presence is incredibly important.
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