Write a letter advocating for some change. Take a stand on some issue that affects your community and write your appropriate public official asking them to do something about it. Be very specific about what you want them to do and why. Be sure to do your research for this so your representative will take you seriously. Consider finding some piece of legislation proposed or introduced but not yet passed into law and write in support of that. Or find some piece of legislation that is law and write demanding that it be changed or amended. People you might choose to write to include: your Congressperson in Washington DC, your State Assemblymember or Senator in Sacramento, your City Councilmember, your City’s mayor, or some other community official with the power to make the change you want to see.
The total length of what you submit for this assignment needs to be at least three pages (1-inch margins, 12-point font, and double-spaced). Keep in mind, 2.5 pages is not at least three pages. What you submit for this assignment will include the text of your actual letter plus a supplemental report that you won’t mail to your representative. Most public officials will already know a lot about the issue you’re writing about. You don’t need to tell them things they probably already know. So, your letter can be relatively short. But what you submit for this assignment should be directed to a general audience who might not know as much as your public official. Your supplemental report should explain the issue to a general audience. Submit both the letter and the report as a single document that’s at least a total of three pages in length (not 3 pages each), not including your Works Cited page, which you should also include. Use your best judgment regarding how much information you should include in the letter and how much you should include in the report, but it’s generally best to be succinct when writing public officials whose time is limited.
Your letter must present a clear argument, advocating for a specific solution to a clearly defined problematic issue. You’ll be asking your official to do something – to take some action – and you need to make it clear to them what you want them to do and why. And if you’re asking them to increase funding for some program, defend why limited public funds should be spent on your issue and not the countless others that might be worthy of the funds.
More details regarding the report: What you should include in the supplemental report depends on what you’re writing your letter about. You should do some research into the issue you’re writing about. Your research will tell you things that the recipient of your letter already knows, so you don’t need to include everything you’ve learned in your letter. But assume that the audience for your report is the audience of your peers who don’t know much about the issue you’re writing about. Use the report to bring them up to speed on the issue. In your report, you can consider including things like this:
How are you approaching the issue? An issue is a question, and the way we ask a question determines its range of possible answers. An ‘answer’ to an issue is a position about how it ought to be addressed. So, ‘how you’re approaching an issue’ means ‘how you’re asking the question’ means ‘how you’re defining the problem.’
Consider the history of the issue (how its definition has changed over time and how it has affected people historically).
Consider how the issue affects people – past, present, and future.
Consider the issue “from an intersectional approach” – that is, consider how it affects persons made uniquely vulnerable by societal power structures.
Upload your letter and report with a works cited page together as one Word doc or PDF file. (The works cited page does not count as one of the minimum three pages.)
What I’ll be looking for:
Is the issue adequately defined?
If you’re addressing a complex issue (like homelessness, for example), how have you addressed it manageably? (Tip: choose a specific issue that’s not too complex.)
If you’re addressing a complex issue, what specific aspect of the complex issue are you focusing on?
Are you addressing it from “an intersectional approach”? (not necessary, but a bonus!)
Is the matter addressed to the correct official (given where you live), at the proper level of government?
Is the request for action specific?
Does it advocate or oppose a specific piece of legislation, proposed or passed?
Or does it introduce a well-researched novel solution to an issue?
Is there a clear argument as to why your representative should do what you want them to do?
What is the likelihood that the representative will consider the request worthy of attention?
Is the letter well-written, articulate, and does it demonstrate consideration of all sides of the issue?
Is it clear you’ve “done your homework” on the issue?
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