Since we are still dealing with COVID outbreaks and want everyone to be as safe as they can be and to only go out as they feel neccesary, we are suggesting a Digital Hill Day on Wednesday, March 2 for our partners. If you are able to go to the capitol and meet with your legislators, then great! You can use these materials to inform your discussions or to leave behind as handouts. But if you cannot be at the capitol this week (it doesn’t have to be Wednesday) or if you are actively restricting all of your activities due to COVID, then phone calls, letters, emails, Zoom or Facetime meetings, and social media posts and messaging are the next best things.
If you decide to have a Digital Day on the Hill through Facebook and Twitter, it means you will help us thank Tennesse’s state legislators and advocate for:
- Pre-K in general. See the suggested, generic Pre-K posts you can download below, but you can also support Senate Bill 2563 by Senator Crowe and House Bill 1890 by Representative Haston. It makes Pre-K part of elementary school in name, to clear up some confusion and create a consensus that Pre-K is eligible for ESSR and other funds labled “Elementary.” We are also supporting this pre-k bill: SB2179/HB2201, which would redirect sports gambling revenues to an account for the department of education to increase grants for pre-k classrooms. SB2179 is sponsored by Senator Ferrell Haile and HB 2201 is sponsored by Representative Rebecca Alexander and co-sponsored by Representatives White, Hawk, Hicks T, Whitson, and Gant.
- “Handle With Care,” which is Senate Bill 2268 and House Bill 2089. It is an administrative bill that allows the practice to be replicated across the state. Allows law enforcement to mark students as “Handle with Care” at their school to notify teachers, if the student has had an exposure to law enforcement, Fire Dept., EMTs, etc.
- The Value of Afterschool in general. This is general advocacy, as opposed to lobbying for a specific bill. We are doing this to 1) grease the wheels for any federal funding that might come in to TN, and 2) to preserve the money for afterschool programs through LEAPS and 21st Century Funding Streams.
The best part is how easy it is. Just follow @TNAfterschool and @UnitedWaysTN on both Facebook and Twitter. Then watch these pages between March 1 and 4 and like and share all our posts. Remember to tag your elected officials too. But we recommend using the materials below to come up with your own emails, letters, and posts that are unique to your own organization and location.
Hill Day Talking Points
TN Funding Reform Talking Points
Fact Sheets
Social Media Toolkit & Contest Materials
TN State Representatives SM Handles
Backgrounder Documents and Information
You can also change your cover banners on Twitter and Facebook to join us. Just right click on the pictures below, scroll down and click on “save image as” and save them to your desktop or hard drive. Then upload them to your Twitter and Facebook accounts to use them as your cover art.
