Condense information into talking points for a congressional staff member
Background
Policy advocates on Capitol Hill monitor current events regarding topics of interest to their organization and create fact sheets to send to members of congress and their staff. Fact sheets summarize information that supports your argument in such a way that a congressional staff person can understand your viewpoint. Depending on your organization, you are likely to be proactive in sending your fact sheets to a congressional office. However, there are cases where they may reach out to you and ask for talking points.
The Exercise
For this exercise, put together a fact sheet analyzing the effects of a funding freeze of the Environmental Protection Agency. Your goal is to persuade your member of congress to vote a certain way and will send her/him a fact sheet supporting your position.The fact sheets are typically read by a legislative assistant or associate. Address the fact sheet to a staffer in the office. For this exercise, keep in mind that the member of congress and staffers in the office may have expressed skepticism of climate-change science.
Task 1: Identify issues the senator or representative cares about.
To find areas of concern, think about issues their constituents might care about in their home state. The fact sheet is most effective when it is specific and personal to the target audience. Think beyond the examples provided. Be creative!
- Economic impact – Job loss. For example: defunding the EPA would mean that scientists funded by EPA grants might lose their jobs.
- Personal impact – What does the representative care about? Gather facts about hobbies, previous organizations/involvements, and how they might be impacted.
- Political impact – Polling data. For example: how would their re-election be impacted by the way they votes on this specific issue?
- Financial impact – Who has contributed to their campaigns in the past?
- Diverse roles – What else is the EPA responsible for besides climate change? For example, water safety. How would regulation of the EPA affect water safety and availability for San Antonio, or the state of Texas as a whole?
Task 2: Research
Search for information in one or two of the categories from Task 1. For the purposes of is simulation, use sources that have digested and summarized information rather than analyzing your own data sets. You may wish to consult federal agency websites for articles, news stories, or budgets, as well as polling data, congressional hearings, op-eds, and census data. Fact sheets typically rely on graphics such as charts and graphs. For this simulation, create graphics if you have time.
The Deliverable
Create a one-page document of bulleted talking points a staff person, typically the legislative assistant or associate, can use to make an argument on your organization’s behalf.
Fact sheets typically rely on graphics such as charts and graphs. For this simulation, create graphics if you have time. See example fact sheets from Boston University in the “Resources” tab below.
Sample Deliverables
Resources
- Fact sheets typically rely on graphics such as charts and graphs. For this simulation, create graphics if you have time. See two excellent examples of different types of fact sheets from Boston University:
- Ways to tailor your message to different congressional districts in order to account for differences in constituency
- Descriptions of “the hill” and other commonly used terminology in policy that may appear in your research of blog and social media posts on current hot topics in politics:
- DC slang (LivetheDMV) – terms to describe the locations and people of Washington DC politics.
- ABC Australia article about the book “Decoding the Jargon, Slang, and Bluster of American Political Speech”
- 50 political terms you should know (Stacker.com, 2020) on most commonly referenced terms in news and politics
- Science communication presentation (Erin Health video)
Skills
For this task:
Clear, concise writing
Research and synthesis
Mental adaptability to a rapidly changing environment
Ability to condense larger amounts of information
Needed in this career:
Research
Communication skill
Writing
Problem solving
Leadership and teamwork
To view detailed lists of skills in job descriptions for policy careers, please see workforce data generated by Boston University’s BEST program.
Additional responsibilities
A professional in the field of policy and advocacy may also:
- Advocate in person or lobby
- Collect data for advocacy
- Write briefings
- Respond to policy issues
- Hold meetings with various stakeholders
- Work with coalitions to form strategies for going to the Hill
Read more about careers in public policy in this resource generated by Duke University Career Center.
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Simulation author: Thi Nguyen, PhD
Simulation vetted by professionals in Boston and St. Louis
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