While Congress Is Home for August Recess, Make a CRT Connection with Your Members

As Members of Congress head home for their August recess, it's a great time for CRT stakeholders to connect with their representatives on a local level and secure additional support for our Complex Rehab Technology legislation. To emphasize this opportunity, we've officially declared August 18th to 22nd as National CRT Week. With your members home for the whole month, you can get their attention in-person. No need to travel to Washington!

To keep our legislative momentum going, we need CRT stakeholders to "touch" their Members of Congress that week and ask for the support of CRT bills H.R 942 and S. 948. You can't beat a face-to-face connection. If you can't connect that week, then make the contact sometime during the month.

The assignment is simple:

1.) Find an opportunity to meet in-person with your Members if they have not yet signed on as co-sponsor (you can view a list of current co-sponsors at www.access2crt.org).

2.) Introduce them to what CRT is, why it's important, and the access challenges that exist.

3.) Hand deliver the CRT Legislation Information Pack that has the key information relating to our legislation (you can download it at www.access2crt.org).

4.) Ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor...and follow up until they do. Your in-person connection can take many forms. A home run is to have them visit your store or facility. This is a fairly easy event to hold and we're happy to provide personal assistance with the planning, structure, and materials to ensure an effective visit.

Please contact Don Clayback at dclayback@ncart.us for specific guidance and suggestions. You can also find an overview of the structure of a visit in a presentation entitled "Hosting a Visit at Your Business" available at www.access2crt.org. If you can't arrange a visit at your location, there are plenty of other ways to connect with your Members. You can set up an appointment and visit them at their local office; you can attend a local fundraiser, or you can attend a community event that they will be at. Get creative and partner with other CRT stakeholders in your community.

Make it fun! While they likely will not commit on the spot, you can push for the Member's support and find out who in their office you can follow up with for further discussion. Be sure and give them a copy of the CRT Legislation Information Pack as mentioned above. That way you are leaving them with the specifics to review and respond to.

Don't forget there is a variety of other helpful information available to help in your CRT advocacy efforts in the Educational area at www.access2crt.org. If you need something that's not there, let us know. And please contact us if we can supply any additional information or be of other assistance. Thanks for your participation and let us know how your meetings and conversations go!