Our Outreach & Resources:

1. Get staffer contact information for your Congressional offices.

  1. Identify who your (2) Senators and your House Representative are.
  2. Go to Facebook and Direct Message Kristy Sinkhorn to retrieve contact names, emails and phone numbers for the staffers that are assigned to the topic student loans for each Congress person's office.  This information will allow you to circumvent the bureaucracy and delays of the front desk.
  3. Once you have contact information, you should go ahead and reach via email or phone and arrange a meeting with staffers, since there may be turnaround in response.  While you wait, you can take the following steps.   Naturally any of the subsequent steps can be the vehicle for setting up a meeting. 
It is best to send via email and snail-mail.  You can use this email as the method to make contact and request a meeting.

2. Send a letter and email.

2024 Budget Blitz Form Letter.docx
File Size: 17 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
  1. Download this single page form letter.
  2. Modify the letter template.
    1. Add your Congress person's name and address to the header.
    2. Modify the salutation.  If sending the letter to a Senator, you will need to change "Representative" to "Senator".  Modify the name so that your Congress person's name is reflected in the salutation.
    3. Adjust the letter date.
    4. Adjust the signature to include your name(s), address, phone number and email.  Optionally, add your signature.
  3. ​Optionally, add any personal testimony as you see fit, or modify content of the letter to personalize it.
  4. Attach the single pager summary/infographic next with your letter.
  5. You can print or send the letter along with the single pager attachment in U.S. Postal mail and/or you can attach both documents to an email to a staffer with your Congress person's office.  We recommend both.

3. Attach the single pager with your letter.

Since the letter is high level and emphasized the request and player, attach either the one-pager here, or the executive summary below.
2024 Budget Blitz Single Pager Infographic.pdf
File Size: 813 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
This single pager fact sheet describes our situation since the passing of PL117-200 and distinguishes us from the broad borrower base and summarizes our request for funding to Department of Education's (ED) Federal Student Aid (FSA) office for PL117-200/JCLSA implementation.
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It synthesizes some facts from our 'Who We Are Survey' with our recent 'Our Numbers' survey.
  • Include this with your letter or email correspondence with your Congress person's office.
  • If you've already sent something, follow up by sending this.
  • Use it in a meeting with your Representative or Senator.

4. Followup with the executive summary.

You have to followup.  It keeps their attention and forces accountability.  By sending the executive summary, you restate the request and problem.
2024 Budget Blitz Executive Summary.pdf
File Size: 1238 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
This two-page Executive Summary describes our situation since the passing of PL117-200, distinguishes us from other borrowers and summarizes our request for funding to ED/FSA for JCLSA implementation.
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It synthesizes some facts from our 'Who We Are Survey' with our recent 'Our Numbers' survey and provides a little more granularity than the single pager above.
  • You can include this, or the One Pager, with your letter or email correspondence to your Congress people.
  • If you've already sent something, follow up by sending this.
  • Use it in a meeting with your Representative or Senator.

5. Schedule a meeting with your Congress person's staffers.

The single most influential thing that you can do is request a face-to-face meeting, a virtual meeting or a phone call.  Telling your story in person impacts your Congress person's outlook and response.  Our members' stories are what pushed the JCLSA into law.
2024 Budget Blitz Mindset Approach & Speaking Points.pdf
File Size: 170 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Here is a brief guide on approaching your Congressional Representatives and Senators during our Budget Blitz through January 2024. It gives a quick synopsis of our ask, frames our mindset, and then gives some guidance and speaking points. It focuses on making 3 important distinctions to support our request for a budget line item for JCLSA implementation.
  1. What distinguishes JCL borrowers from the broader borrower base?
  2. What is the measurable, undue hardship to JCL borrowers with a two-year rollout to implementation?
  3. What is causing the continuing undue hardship?
The focus is on continuing hardship, above and beyond those we faced for the last 17 years, while we wait for implementation. It is assumed that we made Congress aware of our plight while pushing the bill and Congress passing it into law.

6. Report your advocacy outcomes...

It is important to track the results of our outreach so that we can better plan our campaign and report what we know about our efforts to Appropriations Champions.  Please complete this form so that we can understand the impact of our outreach.  A given Congress person's temperature may change.  We encourage you to come back here when you have received responses and updates.  You can simply fill out a new form to report and indicate the new temperature.

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Take me back to the home page, please!
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Do you have any allies or targets in your state?  The lists and geography of cosponsors, supporters and appropriators are here.
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​How do I connect the allies and targets in my state?  Advocacy plans for how to connect our champions, cosponsors, supporters and appropriators by state here.
Report the outcomes your advocacy.  Indicate the temperature of your Congressman on our Appropriation Request here.
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