Getting City Hall to Support Your Cause
As most know, it’s hard to make change at a national level. It takes considerable resources, connections, time and tremendous effort. As a result, most will focus on areas that they can truly impact, which for the most part, is locally.
However, local community efforts still can be daunting and dealing with City Hall can be just as challenging.
Here are a few tips to help you get your cause noticed with the political decision makers in your community.
Introduce Yourself
If your cause is going to blip on City Hall’s radar, you first need to connect with your local councilor. If you don’t know them personally, then make an effort to reach out to him or her. You’ll often find their contact information on the city or town’s website. Send them an email, introduce yourself and ask for 30 minutes of their time to discuss an important issue that impacts the community.
Prepare Your Pitch
When you finally get that coffee or lunch set up with your local representative, make sure you are prepared. No, you don’t need a 30-page document or presentation, but you should have talking points prepared for the conversation. He or she is going to want to know why this issue is important to you; how he or she can assist; and what impact this might have on the community. Being prepared will help steer the conversation to a place where actionable items can be outlined.
Be Diligent
Sometimes your local representative has a day job or is frankly very, very busy. Of course, your cause isn’t the only one that needs attention in your community so your issue might be third, fifth or tenth on the list. It’s really up to you to maintain contact with your representative and be sure that he or she is taking care of what you’ve asked them to take care of.
Get Social
Once you’ve started to make some headway with your local representative, it’s time to let others in your community as well as other influencers in the city or town know your story. Use a variety of social media channels to take your cause public. This not only helps market your efforts and rally support, but it also holds your local representative accountable for what you’ve asked them to do.
How have you used your local political scene to rally support for your cause?
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