(left to right) Jack Humphrey, GR Committee and Jesse Moore, GR Committee Chair
From Alaska to New Jersey, Louisiana to Massachusetts, 65 educators and reading professionals traveled to Washington, DC during President’s Day week to learn, network, and lobby their Congressional representatives on key federal and state education issues.
The International Reading Association 2008 Government Relations Legislative Workshop, held February 21-22 in the Hall of the States on North Capitol Street across from the U.S. Capitol, offered an insider’s peek at the machinery of state and how determined individuals and organizations can work to make government responsive to constituents and meet their needs.
After a half day of learning and discussing relevant issues and approaches on Thursday, participants were ready to carry their message to senators and representatives. Armed with IRA talking points, on Friday morning the education advocates trooped alone or in small groups to the Cannon, Rayburn, and Longworth buildings to see House representatives or to the Dirksen, Hart, or Russell buildings to visit senators. The participants also were urged to bring their local council or state association issues to the attention of their legislators and to stay in touch with them throughout the year.
This year’s workshop drew veterans and most encouragingly, many new participants interested in advocacy, organizers said. For more on the workshop, read the April/May issue of Reading Today.
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