What Your Team Can Do

Find out who the key legislators are in your region. Critical legislators will be members of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, the House Health and Welfare and Senate Health and Welfare Committees, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.  

Ask each team member to identify their Louisiana Senator and Representative.

If people do not know who their legislators are, they can click here.

Make arrangements for a constituent and others to meet with legislators prior to the legislative session. Always make an appointment. It is best tor two to three people to go to the meeting (This gives you support as well as showing the legislator that this is more than an issue for just one family.) Be sure to show pictures of your child (or bring you child if you think that would be comfortable for him/her), and tell how expansion of Community and Family Support will help your child and your family. Expect the meeting to last only 20 minutes or less, so be prepared with what you want to say. Focus on the supports you need and how Community and Family Support can help. Ask you legislator for his/her support.

Always follow a meeting with a short thank you letter. It will reinforce your message, and the legislator will remember you when you contact them during the session.

Keep a master list of your team members. On a regular basis, share this list with the DD Council. They will add it to their mailing list and help you share information.

Organize a telephone tree for members in your region. This will be helpful when calls need to be generated to legislators when the session starts. Have members be responsible for making a certain number of calls to other members. This way one person does not make all of the calls and it divides up the time required for this activity among the entire team. (See the article later in this section on organizing a telephone tree.)

Have a few people available to act as a scribe. Some team members may be hesitant about writing a letter to their legislator (their mind may go before a blank page!), or simply may not be able to due to a family crisis, etc. People offering to be a scribe can spend a few minutes over the phone listening to the person’s story, and quickly draft a letter for the person to sign.

Remember: Form letters are not effective. Legislators have told us that they immediately disregard form letters. They prefer personal stories, legibly written (typed is okay). Include a picture if you can.

Hold a town meeting. One region has held several over the past few years and they have always received a good turn-out of their area’s legislators. Make sure you do it before the session begins.

Invite area legislators to a family’s home. This has been tried in some areas with much success. Again, do it before the session begins. Invite legislators to a family’s home to meet with a few people (five or six parents is all you would need). Mingle informally over refreshments, talk to the legislators and tell them what it is like to have a child with a disability – the financial, physical and emotional needs of families. Tell them how Community and Family Support can help. Ask for their support.

Use the media by generating human interest stories on people in your community and using news releases about area events that your team may be involved with. Contact the Public Information Officer at the DD Council for more information on effective ways to use the media.

Share your successes with other teams by letting Kay or your LaCAN leader know what you are up to: we’ll share it with others.