Get involved professionally and politically. Help the school counseling profession
reach elected officials with your voice about public policy. Become an advocate
for professional school counselors.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3 -
• Be Informed - Who Represents You?
• Stay Ready to Communicate
• Stay in Touch and Let Your Voice Be Heard
1. Be Informed: Learn who your elected representatives are and how to contact them via email, phone or letter.
• Who is my state Legislator? http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx
• Who is my Congressman? http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
• Who is my U.S. Senator? http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
• Contact the Governor. http://www.gov.mo.gov/
• Contact the White House. www.whitehouse.gov or E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
• Another useful link is the Missouri General Assembly Web Site www.moga.state.mo.us. During the legislative
season it will contain descriptions of all pending legislation, track it through legislative committees, show you how
each legislator voted, and much more.
2. Stay Ready to Communicate: Once you reach the information page for your
representatives, create a link to that
page by adding a "Favorite" to your Internet Explorer or a "Bookmark" to
your Netscape. This way you can link
quickly when you need to get a message to your representative.
3. Stay in Touch with Your Representative: Get in the habit of communicating
and interacting with your
representatives. Email links are the easiest way, but you can call or write
whichever media you prefer.
•
Congratulate them on their election and/or donate your time to their campaign.
•
Send a financial contribution.
•
Affirm the way they vote on issues.
•
Provide them with relevant information about issues within your expertise (e.g.
education, school counseling,
child behavior, etc.).
ASCA and ACA: Your Voice on National Issues
American Counseling Association (ACA) and the American School Counselor Association
(ASCA) web sites track
legislation at the Federal level which impact on the counseling profession
in general and school counselors in
particular. Become more familiar with national issues pertaining to counselors
by linking to the ACA Public Policy
and ASCA Legislative Affairs web pages.
Email SMSCA Government Relations Co-Chairs
• Do you have a comment or suggestion to make this page more useful
for school counselors?
•
Perhaps, you have a favorite site which should be linked from this page?
•
Is there a public policy issue that you think SMSCA should advocate on behalf
of Missouri professional
school counselors?
Email: Rondel Matney or Amy Cole
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