In the middle of this week I had sent an e-mail to The Humane League on December 8th and got a replied today (December 9th) and got really wonderful news on being volunteers to help notify the public on animal cruelty which was the issue of Aj and mine lobbying project. 

Here the emails: 

“Good Morning, My name is Leeann Nguyen and I am a student at Science Leadership Academy and I was wondering if you had any projects available for volunteers coming up? I know that this email is a little surprising because it came out of nowhere. I'll give you a little background to why I am asking, I’m a senior and I am taking an American Government class and as an assignment we have to do a lobbying project, I am lobbying about animal cruelty and I had came across The Humane League and saw that you are a project coordinator, and so I was wondering if it was possible to attend a project or a meeting? I’m really dedicated to this issues and hope that it is possible. Thank you for the time and consideration about this email and have an amazing day!

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen  

Responses.

Hi Leeann,

“Thanks for reaching out to us! I have sent your email along to our volunteer coordinator, Lydia. She can help you learn about the different volunteer opportunities that we have. Lydia is CCed on this response.”

Take care,

Sally Andersen

Now this is Lydia

Dear Leeann,

“I coordinate volunteers for The Humane League of Philadelphia. Thanks so much for expressing interest in The Humane League. Below, I've listed our most common ongoing activities for which we need volunteers; perhaps one or more of them would be of interest to you for your assignment. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 (By the way, consider attending our upcoming Holiday Party this Sunday, December 12th! It would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the Humane League and its work to help animals)”

Thanks again!

Lydia Chaudhry
Volunteer Coordinator, The Humane League of Philadelphia. 

Amazing right! The projects that she had suggested to me was getting colleges, high schools and restaurants aware of vegetarianism, promoting vegetarianism of MYSPACE and the holiday party. So, as of now I am going to discuss with my partner in going to see them and actually get hands on with this issue. :]

Though there comes a time to become active, I don't feel  educated enough to immerse myself into specific levels of action. I want to cover a wide array of aspects when attacking this issue. I feel that communication tactics that are on a more personal level such as making an appointment for a meeting with a representative or even phone calls and emails are something that shall come after the "smaller" or more publicly involved forms of communication. 

I plan to: (in order) 

- Start a Facebook or some form of popular media campaign spreading awareness. (Kind of like the so- called Child Abuse Awareness Campaign on Facebook, or the Breast Cancer Awareness situation with the posting of the color of bras.) 

- Start a petition. 

- Send

- Possibly arrange rallies or demonstrations. 

- Send emails, fax, and make phone calls to the senators and governor. 

- Set up a visit with senators and/ or the governor.   

Qianna Nelson

To inform more people about water preservation I want to let every one know about all the places that are helping with water preservation and I also want to help them tell the world what they are trying to do. Over the summer my job went to Tinikim national park to learn how they are helping water preservation. I wool like them to help me inform people about our water problem and hopefully they will tell ore people about the parts we are all playing in destroying the little water we have.

I will then try to get into contact with Chaka Fatah to tell him about what I have been doing and try to persuade him to also be a advocate for water preservation. I also wish to inform him on the problem that we are now living with. 

There are many other organizations that are involved in helping with water preservation all over the US and it is my wish to get these organizations more well known also because they to have the same goal I wish for everyone to have. To save our water because before we know it our water will be gone.

Tajh Jenkins

December 9, 2010

Blog Post #4

 Communication

The process for banning virtual child pornography has become somewhat stagnant over the last couple of years. When I contact an organization, I want to be able to have an impact on making virtual child pornography, or child pornography in general, a topic that the government takes more notice of. In making my first approach, I want to start off making direct contact with local organizations in Philadelphia or in the state of Pennsylvania. In order for me to meet people and start speaking with them, I have to find them. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare is a good place to start. I can come in contact in the DPW in a variety of ways. They already openly welcome feedback, questions, comments and concerns, through their “contact us” hyper link on their website. So, being able to express myself to them should be easy.

            I am willing to communicate with them, my concerns, plans and actions that I would like to take against virtual child pornography. If I can get their attention, then I would like to openly discuss solutions to make it illegal, and too make stricter laws against it. Since 2005, the DWP has released a “Child Abuse Annual Report” each year. The 2010 edition hasn’t been released, but the 2009 edition has plenty of information for me to begin with in terms of contacting the many organizations across the state that have a say on virtual child pornography and child porn in general.

             After I start becoming more familiar with organizations locally about the topic, I might be able to start reaching people on a more national scale. In blog post before, I talked about wanting to contact the authors who wrote the “Guidelines for Policy Makers on Child Online Protection”. The authors of these guidelines are people from across the country who have attempted to ban virtual child porn, and who are well instilled with everything that is related to online child safety. Rather than contacting the authors, I might want to take it a step further and write a letter to Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure. He is the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

 I’m not really much of an outspoken person. To come in contact with these resources I could send emails, create a Facebook page, make phone calls, write letters and start a petition. If I’m am lucky enough maybe my efforts could get me to take it a step further and make personal visits with these resources and other decision makers. If I could find other people who are passionate about putting an end to this situation than I would be in a better position to succeed, Hopefully I can effectively use my tactics to a great advantage and put virtual child pornography on the governments radar.  

  Recent News: The DREAM Act has recently passed the House but was put to on hold until possibly next week or maybe longer in the Senate because the fear of a filibuster held by GOP.

    To help lobby for my legislation I am going to write a personalized letter to GOP explaining why the DREAM Act is important and why they should vote. GOP is the Republican National Committee with the chairman being Michael Steele. A personalized letter will truly show him how important the DREAM Act is from a student's perspective. 

             Along with my personalized letter I would hope to get some of my friends involved with this topic as well and for them to write letters to GOP in order to persuade them more because many students are writing about a topic in a way related to them. Hopefully the letters will be mailed out before the next week. If I can’t get the letters mailed out my alternative would be phone call explaining instead.

       I also plan to keep updated with the Senators who are not going to vote using the DREAM Act twitter. I will try get in contact with them, whether I am able to meet with some of them in person or send them letters. It might be a little bit difficult to convince most of their minds at this point in time but it never hurts to try!

Blog Post #4

For Blog #1, click here

For Blog #2, click here

For Blog #3, click here

A lobbyist can spend months researching the issues they feel strongly about, and weeks researching the representatives that can make a difference, but until he or she gets involved, their actions are useless. 

Sincerely,

Taylor Valentine    

My lobbying assignment has much to do with the federal law making and a federal law would have to be made for my bill to become effective. After researching for the past three months it is evident that their is not a particular person against this law or their is not a particular person for this law. It is being handled on a schedule that would allow constant revising and opinions to be involved in the decision making.

As the process of this bill continues a person who may have been for the law may not be in another setting due to revisions made.

Idea:

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.

In the middle of this week I had sent an e-mail to The Humane League on December 8th and got a replied today (December 9th) and got really wonderful news on being volunteers to help notify the public on animal cruelty which was the issue of Aj and mine lobbying project. 

Here the emails: 

“Good Morning, My name is Leeann Nguyen and I am a student at Science Leadership Academy and I was wondering if you had any projects available for volunteers coming up? I know that this email is a little surprising because it came out of nowhere. I'll give you a little background to why I am asking, I’m a senior and I am taking an American Government class and as an assignment we have to do a lobbying project, I am lobbying about animal cruelty and I had came across The Humane League and saw that you are a project coordinator, and so I was wondering if it was possible to attend a project or a meeting? I’m really dedicated to this issues and hope that it is possible. Thank you for the time and consideration about this email and have an amazing day!

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen  

Responses.

Hi Leeann,

“Thanks for reaching out to us! I have sent your email along to our volunteer coordinator, Lydia. She can help you learn about the different volunteer opportunities that we have. Lydia is CCed on this response.”

Take care,

Sally Andersen

Now this is Lydia

Dear Leeann,

“I coordinate volunteers for The Humane League of Philadelphia. Thanks so much for expressing interest in The Humane League. Below, I've listed our most common ongoing activities for which we need volunteers; perhaps one or more of them would be of interest to you for your assignment. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 (By the way, consider attending our upcoming Holiday Party this Sunday, December 12th! It would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the Humane League and its work to help animals)”

Thanks again!

Lydia Chaudhry
Volunteer Coordinator, The Humane League of Philadelphia. 

Amazing right! The projects that she had suggested to me was getting colleges, high schools and restaurants aware of vegetarianism, promoting vegetarianism of MYSPACE and the holiday party. So, as of now I am going to discuss with my partner in going to see them and actually get hands on with this issue. :] 

I would like to directly contact organizations that deal with the public transportation safety issue. First, I will deal with the smaller organizations. Then, I will learn more about the more influential people who have the authority to alter and initiate laws. I would sit in on public meetings, if there are any regarding the issue. I will ingest the plans/topics/concerns, and discuss solutions. Currently, I consider discussing the issues with Philadelphia School District students a necessary step. I stated in an earlier lobbying post, “Police have determined that most crimes that occur on SEPTA transportation usually take place during afternoon hours especially during school dismissal time. Therefore, most of the crimes trace back to high school students.” It would be helpful to contact and collaborate with people who have been working on the issue and who share concerns similar to mine.

In my previous lobbying posts I mentioned some groups that are essential to resolving the issue and have been working in communities to raise awareness. I do not necessarily see myself speaking in front of a group of people to express my take on the issue. However, I am more than willing to work “behind the scenes” and help to organize a public event or the like. My next step in this process is identifying the members of these community groups, their group goals and initiatives, etc. My hope is that collaborating with these groups will lead to a set proposal.  The proposal might be viewed and considered by Mayor Nutter, Commissioner Charles Ramsey, and anyone who takes this issue seriously. Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey are officials who I do not think will overlook the issue.

The first organization that I will attempt to collaborate with is the SEPTA Community Affairs Unit.

The Community Affairs Unit Address & Contact Information:

1234 Market Street
4th Floor
Philadelphia PA 19107

Email the Community Affairs Unit
(215) 580-5747 | Telephone 
(215) 580-5789 | Fax

Considerable Communicative Tactics:

·      Letters to the editor, editorials, and commentary

·      Phone calls to the targeted decision maker

·      Faxes to the targeted decision maker

·      Emails to the targeted decision maker

·      Personalized letters and postcards to the targeted decision maker

·      Personal visits with the targeted decision maker

    •    I will also make a Facebook page and an anonymous survey to ask my friends if these things above were to happen do they think they would be a part of it.

My Email:

Hi. My Name is Kimberly Yarnall, and I currently attend Science Leadership Academy. In American Government class we had to choose a topic in which we wanted to lobby. For my topic I picked transparency in food labeling. The changing of names and making it sound like it's healthy just with a different name, can lead to obesity. The diabetes rate is five times the average in Philadelphia than the national average. Diabetes and obesity link together and the change of food names can have a significant impact on the civilians of Philadelphia and their health. I was wondering if you'd consider getting involved in the issue. Making people more aware of the issue of transparency in food labeling and making people aware that changing food names, doesn't make the food any healthier. If more people get lobbied into this issue, I think it will help the health of the people in Philadelphia. It would really mean a lot. Please get back to me, thanks.- Kimberly Yarnall

Reply:

Thank you for contacting me via e-mail. This is an automatic response to let you know that your message was received.Your comments and concerns are important to me. Due to the high volume of e-mail I receive, it may take some time for me to thoroughly review your comments and respond. If your message was of an urgent matter, you may contact my office via phone or fax. Thank you for taking the time to write.Sincerely,Rep. Jewell Williams

____________________________________________

I can't tell whether my strategy was effective or not since I haven't received a response from my representative. I thought that the email I sent was straight to the point, but did a good job at explaining what I was trying to get Jewell Williams involved with. I chose the email approach because I feel it gives him more time to think, instead of bombarding him with questions. I hope he answers me so I feel like I'm making some progress.

Screen Shot of Reply:

Taniera Reid

Stop Funding Abortions: Communication - Blog Post #4

My Issue: I am lobbying to stop the prodigal spending of government dollars on abortions in the United States.

Communication: The ones I will be in contact with throughout this lobbying process will be the senators Joe Sestak and Pat Toomey, as well as Obama’s administration at a later date. The people listed above play a role in the issue I am lobbying against.

Tactics:  The tactics listed below are the tools that will aid me in the journey to getting my message across to someone of a higher authority.

• Letters to the editor, editorials and commentary.
• Petitions.
• Phone calls to the targeted decision maker.
• Faxes to the targeted decision maker.
• Emails to the targeted decision maker.
• Personalized letters and postcards to the targeted decision maker.

Steps: I am still in the researching process. I believe in knowing and understanding the law to its farthest extent before taking my issue to someone of a higher authority. One mishap in my evidence/documentation/information can make or break my argument. Having facts, details, dates, names and supporters will help my argument.

After the necessary steps are taken to gain all information,

I will begin to:

1.     Write up petitions

2.     Send emails

3.     Organize rallies.

My tactics will be executed effectively with the assistance of my teachers and mentors with substantial knowledge regarding politics and perhaps marketing.

My next step would be to recruit members to join my fight against the wasteful funding of abortions in the United State and enforce the Hyde Amendment across the nation. Recruitments will consist of others that believe in and are as passionate, if not more passionate about this issue as much as I. With more than one voice fighting for a good cause, we have a greater chance at being heard.

Using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and making groups regarding the funding abortion issue will help start off the recruitment process. This is an easy way to find out who in the world stands firmly behind the issue. 

  The progress for my bill (for those who forgot it is S.3921 for helping stop animal testing as well as testing on humans) has been nothing so far which has been very complicated in helping me. I have been thinking of ways to help communicate out this bill to help it get progress. After thinking for a while I was able to think of ways that work with today's world to help get this bill progress.

 Way number 1 is to start a twitter account made to get this bill support. Because twitter is a constant live feed it is easy to get information out there. It will also help get in contact with organizations and people who could help get the word out. This in turn can help build up a good following to help.

 Another way to help connect with people would be to link the twitter to a facebook page. On  there I could have information about the bill, why it is important and how to help. There would be a link out to a petition to people could sign if they are from Pennsylvania and also for the districts. For other areas I would have a area where they can create their own petition to send to their officials. 

 Lastly is trying to get through with more officials and people who could help. For this I simple need to arrange a better list. Also is figuring out the best ways to get through with each person or combination of ways to get through with people.This might be easier one the twitter and facebook are done because there will be more help with getting through. Hopefully this will all go through without a hitch to help.

I'd like to begin communicating my message by writing a letter to Larry Farnese and inviting him to discuss education policy in Philadelphia. I think he'll be able to answer some of my questions about the state of the public education system. In particular, I'll ask him about the success of the Imagine 2014 plan. Larry Farnese is involved with education funding, and helps decide which programs get the most money, but he's not directly involved with designing the curriculum. Hopefully, conversation with him will lead me to other people in power who have more to do with my particular cause.  I'd eventually like to pinpoint a specific piece of legislation that I can petition to have changed. If I'm successful, I may also write a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer. I'll probably draw on anecdotal experience based on my time at SLA to encourage people to get involved with education reform.

Detail your plan for communicating and report in on the steps you conducted, reflect on the process, effectiveness, etc.

I planned to communicate with my state rep and then I had to honor of meeting him through my church. State Rep Ronald Waters was highly interested in my plan and asked me to draft a doc to explain the details I wanted to focus on for my lobbying assignment. 

Attached are screen shoots of a e-mail I've sent Mr. Waters and I am a waiting a response from him momentarily. Mr. Waters expressed interest in helping a young man of my stature and hopefully including multiple other state reps and senators in my lobbing assignment to contest to my change.  

We do not have any specific elected officials that support this cause. But their is a ton of public support from people who report it and the SPCA. For every animal in danger, there is a news story on it. The people who are pretty much opposed to this are thous who could care less about a animals life. The was an act made for animals it was the AWA (Animal welfare act). We need an official who will listen but also for the SPCA to try hard in the animals defense. The biggest allies we have in this are the SPCA who have been helping animals for a while now. We can coordinate with the SPCA to help us talk to officials so we get animals better treatment. Everyone has the potential to be influenced since this is such a big topic the easiest to influence would be people who are willing to listen or people who are already trying to protect animals from such cruelty.

We need to protect animals like this dog from being abused, this is what influence us to notify the public and volunteer to help care and fight from there freedom and their love. These animals want to be love and we want them to love us.

It difficult to volunteer under the age of 18 but we are determine to find a location. There are many locations that people can choose to help like Morris Animal Refugee, SPCA, PAWS, Pet-smart, and some many others. Their are a number of points in which we could try to rally people with us. For example we could try “writing letters to the editor”. See what we mean is a person could write to a news firm and ask them to help spread the word.They might just put a post in the paper if a person bugs them to death with it they may even us this blog it self.

But a person cloud also write straight to the top at the government and they could be nice enough to give what they are writing a chance and actually state it at a meeting. “Phones and Faxes to the top” are basically just like.And are even more alike the letters because their all doing the same thing. They are asking to get to someone who has the power to help them get their point across. Same with an e-mail they have the same point making plan just go straight to the top and evade all the boring parts like the waiting. “Personal visits with the targeted decision maker.” that help because person good straight to the head, state his case, make it convincing, and see what the head person thinks.

NO ANIMAL SOULD BE HANDLE LIKE THIS!!

I figured that for this portion of my lobbying process, a direct contact would be most useful.

I went online and looked up the contact information for my representative, Chaka Fattah. 

I called his office and left a message with my contact information, hoping that I would get a reply.

I also looked up his email and sent an email introducing the issue I'm lobbying for.

"Hello,My name is Alexandra McGrorty, I am a Philadelphia high school student attending Science Leadership Academy and a constituent of Pennsylvania’s Second Congressional District. I am contacting you because in my American Government class, I am lobbying an issue that I feel is important. I am trying to garner more support and political backing for my topic, and since you are my Congressional Representative, it seemed logical to contact you.

In the media recently, there has been a lot of attention about the Corn Grower's Association petitioning to have the name "Corn Syrup" changed to "Corn Sugar". While this is seen, by many, as not being much of an issue at all, I find it incredibly wrong. I am lobbying for transparency in food labels. I believe that, as consumers, every citizen should be informed of exactly what they are ingesting, and all products should be clearly labeled. Nothing should be changed, especially not for aesthetic's sake, like in the case of corn syrup. Making products sound healthier without attempting to actually make them healthier just sounds like a lie to me. And I believe that we should be concerned with the health of this city, especially.

According to Temple University's Head Chair of Podiatric Medicine and Orthopedics Kathya Zinszer, “Philadelphia’s rate of diabetes is five times higher than the national average,yet diabetes is one of the least understood chronic diseases." This, along with the obesity rate, are reaching epidemic proportions. If consumers are more well informed as to what exactly they are ingesting, it could act as a preventative measure to stop this serious issue. It could also help reversal efforts. However, if consumers are blindsided and uninformed, it will only make issues even worse. This is why I would like to have your support with this issue.

Thank you for your consideration,

Alexandra McGrorty

Science Leadership Academy "

I'm still waiting for replies from both of these contacts, and I hope that I can get some much needed attention as far as labeling transparency and the FDA regulations, because they directly effect my life and the people in this city. 

In previous blog post, I mentioned the cuts in school safety because of the economy, which turned out to be completely detrimental for safe schools. When researching the safe schools union it took me about an hour and half to this site: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/safety/bullying-prevention/bullying-policy3. Which is the “The Office of School Safety” page. On this site they talk about the process we take in order to keep our schools safe. There was not much.

So for my next step I want to contact some of the leaders of the this part of the school district, and the try to share some of my ideas, and raise the awareness again.

Recruiting

Another main component of this campaign is to make it grow outside of SLA. So I have been looking for students from other schools to help spread awareness in their schools. It is still in the process of growing but I do have students who are willing to help.

The process is going slow and very difficult since Bob Casey and co. are very difficult to get in touch with. The educational board meetings do have some effectiveness to the process of hearing the problems from adults and students but I think it could go an extra step. I think the most effective way to try and change this NCLB act and lobby against it is to find a way to set up an appointment at a meeting with educational officials. Start off slow and show alternatives,surveys, statistics, etc to show that something has to be done and then while the lower ranked officials start to see in groups this effective campaign and presentation, the grass roots of word of mouth might take place where it becomes very public. Another good idea, off of this is to call news companies up to cover the story and hear more about the process and things being said in these town hall meetings for this act to be reformed. Hopefully overtime we can set up a meeting with the head official like Bob Casey jr.

First Step- Make a facebook page about standardized testing.

Second Step- Little video explaining why its bad, funny make it go viral. (hopefully)

Third Step- Start challenging officials to debate on NCLB.

My project for this period is culinary arts. I love to cook but have never really dabbled in the world of baking. Please bare with me through this experience because I am still learning all the skills required to be a successful baker. I will choose at least one recipe a week and post it on this blog. I hope you enjoy my baking and are inspired to bake yourself. 

So far the process of Lobbying for non standardized education has been okay. It is still a little difficult to find supporters and people in office who are strongly against it. I will now start looking closer to home for people instead of researching people in congress. 

"Mar Adentro", una película se trata la vida con el nombre Ramón Sampedro.  Ramón es un hombre tetrapléjico como quiere morir.  La problema es el no puede mata mismo porque sus condición.  En la película el tiene una abogada esta intentando regalar lo el derecho de muerte.  Ella esta no afortunado pero muchas personas visitó Ramón y una mujer con el nombre Rosá, ayudó Ramón morir porque ella quiere Ramón.  Mar Adentro es muy controversial porque la película esta preguntando después nosotros nacemos es vida una derecho, obligación o privilegio y el impacto eutanasia es con sus familia.  Para mi, yo estoy de acuerdo Ramón y Rosa deseo regalar Ramón muerte.  Vida es un derecho y no persona necesitan vivir cuando ellos no quieren.  Constantemente escucho personas hablan sobre el mundo no tiene recursos para la población y nosotros estamos intentando parar una persona como no quieren vida, ridículo. La película es muy conmovedora y cuando yo miro eso yo quiero llorar porque a Ramón todos días el esta viviendo con no dignidad.  En mi opinión todos personas como no apoyo eutanasia necesitan mirar.

La película "Mar Adentro" se trata de la vida de Ramón Sanpedro y su vida como untetrapléjico infeliz. Hace la pregunta: ¿Debe religión influye en los temas legales? No estoy de acuerdo con la decisión de Ramón pero yo respecto el decisión. No querría negar Ramón el derecho estar feliz, estoy en contra de mantiene vivo en un hombre que está sufriendo. Me gustó la película un poco pero era muy triste y no querría mirar a "Mar Adentro" otra vez.