Citizens Climate Lobby

Virtual office hours for regional coordinators; Guidelines for LTEs in current climate

	CCL Weekly Briefing, March 25, 2020

Table of Contents:
	2020 conference will be online
	Take action this week
	Featured lever: Lobbying
	Training topics
	This week on the CCL blog

Our 2020 conference and lobbying will be online only

In the face of COVID-19, it no longer seems possible nor prudent to plan for our usual in-person conference and lobby day in June. Instead, we will hold a virtual event, so that our climate change work can continue online. We’re still working out the details and will share them soon. Keep an eye on our event page for updates.

If you registered for the in-person conference, your registration fees have been fully refunded. Please look for an email from Eventbrite notifying you of your refund. For questions on refunds, contact [email protected].

Please take care of yourself, your family and friends, and your community during this time. We hope to see you online for our virtual Conference & Lobby Day in June.

Other news this week:

Visit your regional coordinator online: CCL’s regional coordinators are holding office hours online for volunteers who want to “drop by.” Check this post in Community for office hours and links.

Guidance on letters to the editor: Writing letters to the editor is an essential piece of CCL's advocacy work, and we know many of you are wondering how to approach LTEs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. CCL Communications Director Flannery Winchester offers guidance about subject matter and tone for your letters. Read more.

Changes to Monthly Calling Campaign: With the coronavirus crisis occupying Congress’ full attention and disrupting offices on Capitol Hill, we’ve made changes to the Monthly Calling Campaign during this sensitive time. Learn more.

Take action this week

If you have a little time - While our society practices social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19, many of us will have new or different needs. Think about help you may be able to offer someone right now, and consider how you yourself may need to ask for help. Write down a few ways you could act on those needs.

If you have more time - Call a fellow CCL volunteer to ask how they are doing. If appropriate, spend a few minutes discussing how you each feel about the COVID-19 crisis. You might reiterate Mark’s message that CCL trusts its volunteers to do what’s appropriate for them, whether that’s increased or decreased climate advocacy for right now.

Connect with your nearest CCL chapter to take action in your community, or join one of CCL’s national online Action Teams to take action on specific topics like agriculture, health, faith, and more.

Browse CCL Community’s Event Calendar to find upcoming events, trainings, and calls you can join.

Lobbying from a distance

Constituents from Maryland’s 8th congressional district had their first online meeting with their member of Congress (MOC) and a staff member last week. “This would be called a ‘face-to-face’ meeting, except we could not see our MOC or his staff member’s faces. Both used the dial-in feature for Zoom,” says Sabrina Fu, coordinator for CCL’s Mid-Atlantic Region.

“We made a few special preparations, such as creating a unique Zoom meeting ID for the meeting to avoid CCL members popping in and out of the meeting,” Sabrina explains. “We also practiced how the meeting would start and what possible items we would like to cover, depending upon what our MOC was thinking and feeling that day.”

In the end, Sabrina says, “We had a really good meeting with relevant follow-up and good insights on how we can take the present work in Congress on the coronavirus pandemic to our climate work.”

CCL volunteers are regularly activating the “five levers” of political will in their communities. If you’d like to learn more about how to pull the lobbying lever online, like these volunteers did, watch or read our training on “How To Host Online Zoom Meetings.”

CHECK OUT THE TRAINING

Training topics

CCL offers two ongoing learning series: Citizens' Climate University for existing volunteers, and Core Volunteer Training for new volunteers. Here are the next few sessions you can join:

3/26 Citizens' Climate University: Generating News Coverage Training - Want to see more stories about your CCL chapter in local media? CCL Communications Director Flannery Winchester will tell you how to make it happen. Learn more.

4/2 Citizens' Climate University: Self-Care for Stress Reduction - With self-isolation and worries about the coronavirus pandemic, these are stressful times. This session from CCL’s Peer Support Action Team provides tools for staying calm. Learn more.

To see upcoming topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.

This week on the CCL blog

Climate action in Oregon: With measures to address climate change stalled in the state’s legislature, Gov. Kate Brown signed an executive order to move forward with clean fuels, clean buildings and a clean economy. Read more.

Spotlight on Pennsylvania volunteers: Chuck and Sharon Yohn often include climate change in their lectures at Juniata College. After hearing climate scientist James Hansen recommend Citizens’ Climate Lobby, they became active in CCL and started a chapter in their community. Read more.

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