Grassroots Activist
An MEA Grassroots Activist is a person whom MEA has
certified to be capable of leading a delegation of constituents
through an in-district meeting with a member of Congress
or Congressional staffer, to lobby for the repeal of
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
If you want to be an MEA Grassroots Activist, you must
be certified by MEA in three areas of knowledge: 1)
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” 2)
lobbying techniques, and 3) how Congress works. You
obtain your certification as follows:
First, you send us an email at info@militaryequality.org
indicating your desire to be an MEA Grassroots Activist.
An MEA representative will then contact you and send
you a copy of Chapter 1 of the MEA Grassroots Workbook.
This chapter will teach you the history and specifics
about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
policy that you will need to know in order to become
an effective advocate for its repeal. At the end of
the chapter will be a series of exercises for you to
complete in writing—at home, on your own schedule,
and at your convenience—that will help you develop
the skills to advocate persuasively and “think
on your feet.”
When you have completed the Chapter 1 exercise, you
return it to MEA. An MEA Mentor will then contact you
by telephone to discuss your answers with you, give
advice and answer any questions you might have. Your
MEA Mentor for Chapter 1 will be someone with experience
advocating on the issue of “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell.”
Once you have had your consultation session with your
MEA Mentor and he or she gives MEA the go-ahead for
you to move on to the next assignment, you will be sent
Chapter 2: The Basics of Lobbying. This time, you will
learn how to set up and conduct an effective in-district
meeting with your Congressional representatives and/or
key staffer. The exercises at the end of Chapter 2 will
require you to do research on your Congressional representatives,
primarily through on-line sources. This time, the MEA
Mentor who discusses your answers with you will be someone
with lobbying experience, who will help you begin to
formulate a political strategy for convincing your Congressional
representatives to support the repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Finally, you will be sent Chapter 3: How Congress Works.
This chapter will discuss how federal laws are passed,
how Congressional offices are organized, and other tips
that will help you become a more informed and effective
advocate. Again, you will be contacted by an MEA Mentor
with experience dealing with Capitol Hill to guide you
through Chapter 3.
At the end of your completion of these three chapters,
you should feel ready, willing, and hopefully very enthusiastic
about setting up and conducting a meeting with your
Congressional representatives. You will have had the
benefit of receiving advice and feedback from experienced
mentors and will have acquired skills and knowledge
that will serve you well, not just as a committed advocate
on this particular issue, but as an engaged, politically-active
citizen in our participatory democracy. And after your
first in-district meeting, MEA will formally recognize
you as an MEA Grassroots Activist. You will receive
an MEA certificate of completion and MEA Grassroots
Activist lapel pin.
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