Special Bulletin: 2009 Senate Dear Colleague Letter Deadline April 30
Dear NWP Site Leaders:
As many of you heard at the Spring Meeting last week, the Senate Dear Colleague letter, sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), is now circulating.
We are asking you and your teacher-leaders to contact your senators as soon as possible and request that they sign the 2009 Dear Colleague letter in support of a $30 million appropriation for the National Writing Project. Your quick and dedicated efforts to request signatures on the House Dear Colleague letter last week yielded impressive results – 37 signatures in two days! Now we need you to ask your senators to sign this very important letter. THE DEADLINE FOR SIGNATURES IS THURSDAY, APRIL 30.
HOW YOUR SENATORS CAN SIGN THE DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER
Your senator can sign the Dear Colleague letter by contacting Barbara Pryor from Senator Rockefeller's office at 202-224-2578, Emily Ferris from Senator Wicker's office at 202-224-6253, or Samantha Harvell from Senator Bingaman's office at 202-224-5521. ONLY SENATORS OR THEIR AIDES, NOT NWP SITE LEADERS, SHOULD CONTACT BARBARA, EMILY, OR SAMANTHA.
HOW TO CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS
1. Before calling your senators' offices, find a copy of the 2009 Senate Dear Colleague letter and a chart of additional information on the NWP website at:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/extranet/supportingthenwp
2. Next, call your senators' Washington, D.C. offices. You can find contact information for your senators by selecting your state on the following website:
http://www.senate.gov
3. Ask to speak to your senator's education aide. Ask your senator to support the NWP by signing the Dear Colleague letter. If your senator or the aide has not seen the letter, you may fax a copy to the office.
4. Don't forget to follow up and be persistent. You are a constituent; your senator wants to hear about the issues that are important to you! If your senator cannot or will not sign the letter, please ask how else he/she can support the NWP. Suggestions include writing a separate letter of support or attending an event at your local site (such as a day at your summer institute).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE 2009 NWP SENATE DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER
In an effort to increase transparency on federal funding, the Senate is requiring that all senators interested in signing a Dear Colleague letter submit additional information. We have made available a chart of information about the NWP that you can provide to your senators' education aides. The chart is posted here:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/extranet/supportingthenwp
Please keep us updated on your progress by sending questions and comments to: publicaffairs@nwp.org.
FINAL LIST OF HOUSE DEAR COLLEAGUE SIGNATURES
Thank you so much for jumping into the work on the House Dear Colleague letter despite the unusually tight deadline. The final list of House signatures is here:
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/doc/extranet/supportingthenwp