This is part two in a 4-part series where I will share strategies that you can become more familiar with when it comes to activism: lobbying, writing campaigns and action alerts, using social media, and rallies/demonstrations. If you’ve read any of my other blog posts (and I thank you if you have been), you know that I’m all about sexual/reproductive wellness and rights, but I believe that these tips can be used for a variety of causes. Feel free to focus on the tips throughout the coming weeks that inspire you the most and what makes the most sense for your cause. 

Last week, we touched on tips for lobbying elected officials. I wanted to start off with that one first because it tends to be the most daunting of the various strategies we can use to getting voices heard. This week’s tips are just as important, but I think it’s easier to get into for many people, and you don’t have to be an activist to do it! This week, we’re discussing tips for writing letters to the editor and to policy makers, and participating in political action alerts. These strategies involved different tactics, but together they each bring about one key result: taking quick action!

Letters to the Editor- Writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine is a great way to get your message out to your community, as well as to local officials that support your cause (or don’t!). Here are some tips to consider:

• Keep it short– Just like with lobbying, make sure you stay on topic. However, unlike with lobbying, be as concise as possible. Shorter letters increase your chances of actually being published.
• Announce yourself- Let’s say there was an article discussing mothers with a history of sexual assault who experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that you felt did not speak to your experience and relied heavily on stigma. Inform the editor that you are a mother who has experience PTSD after childbirth. Example: “I am a sexual assault survivor and new mother who recently gave birth, and I experience PTSD as the result of traumatic child labor.”
• State the facts– If you have statistics on mothers who experience PTSD as a result of child birth (especially if they are stats from your age or racial/ethnic group), be sure to add them. An example would be: “Of more than 900 U.S. mothers surveyed, 9% screened positive for meeting all of the formal criteria for PTSD set out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-IV, a handbook of mental-health conditions.”

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• Invite others– If it applies, encourage other people in your community to raise more awareness about what you’re discussing. Be sure to add your contact information so that others may be able to contact you to connect and build on creating awareness.
• Finish strong- The two sentences that stand out the most are your opening sentence and your closing sentence. Take the time to connect your closing sentence to your opening sentence by stating again why it was important for you to write.
• Do it now– Submit your letter to the editor at least 2 days after the original publication. At the beginning of your letter, you can state: “I am writing in response to your article about mothers and post-traumatic stress disorder (insert title of article, and date it was originally published)”.

Letters to Policy Makers- The tips above for writing to the editor also can apply to writing a letter to a policy maker. While writing to an editor can help to create awareness about a particular cause, writing to a policy maker is equally as important because the job of a policy maker is to listen to the voices of their constituents and to support laws that their constituency are for. Here are tips more tailored to writing to a policy maker:

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