Advocacy Resources The UNA-USA Advocacy Agenda outlines the Association's annual advocacy priorities. The agenda lists concrete goals for each priority issue and recommends specific actions that UNA-USA members and other interested community leaders and citizen activists can take to help achieve these important goals. UNA-USA action alerts provide an easy way for constituents to educate elected officials about the important work of the UN and the value of international cooperation in addressing global challenges. Once you sign up, you'll receive an e-mail when your help is needed in support of cooperative global solutions and a strong U.S.-UN partnership. We’ll explain the urgency and importance of the issue at hand, and provide you with a sample letter that you can edit and send to your legislators and key policymakers in just a few minutes of your time. To receive weekly e-mails when Congress is in session with information about key votes by your legislators, announcements about upcoming votes, and links to send e-mails to your elected representatives, click here. The 2009 UNA-USA Biennial National Convention, held in Washington, DC from June 12-14, adopted 18 substantive issues resolutions covering a range of topics concerning the United Nations and US-UN relations. By sending these resolutions to legislators and using them as the basis for letters to the editor, op-eds, and petitions, you can help educate members of Congress and local communities about the important work of the United Nations. This page includes links to tips on how to effectively communicate with your elected officials, including how to write letters to your members of Congress; how to schedule visits with your members of Congress; how to work with the media; and how to write opinion articles and letters to the editor. Here you will find an online video of a special four-hour session that was conducted by the Truman National Security Project during the 2008 Annual Meeting of the UNA-USA Council of Chapters and Divisions in Washington, DC. The training was held in preparation for UNA-USA's Day on Capitol Hill the following day. This training is also useful as a more general tool to help increase support and understanding of the UN within Congress and is a valuable resource for chapters hoping to improve the effectiveness of their advocacy work. This page contains an elected officials search tool that will direct you to extensive information about Members of Congress, including biographical material, committee and staff information, and key votes and bill cosponsorhip. Information is also provided about Congressional leadership, committees, and demographics. In addition, you can find information about the President and Executive Branch Departments and Agencies. The Advocacy Guide provides UNA-USA members with suggestions for making your chapter a more effective proponent for a strong and effective United Nations. The Guide includes information on how to build and work with coalitions; how to work with the media; how to build your membership; and legislative advocacy. This page provides sample petitions that you can change to make them your own, add signatures, and send to your members of Congress and/or the President. Sending completed petitions to your elected officials demonstrates the support that exists among their constituents for these important issues. Sample petition topics include climate change; CEDAW; the UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur; and UN funding, among others. This document is intended to provide a brief overview of UNA-USA Washington Office initiatives to facilitate, encourage and coordinate community-level activism by the Association’s members in support of a strong U.S.-UN partnership. This page outlines the key responsibilities of a chapter advocacy chair. The advocacy chair leads a chapter's work in implementing UNA-USA's advocacy agenda and serves as its liaison to both the Advocacy Committee of the Council of Chapters and Divisions (CCD) and the UNA-USA Washington Office.
|