Learn more about your legislators.

Who are your Senators?
Who represents your district in the House of Representatives (home and school)?​
What is their party affiliation?
What are their Committee assignments and do they hold a leadership position within the Senate or House of Representatives?

* For your reference this is the link to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce: https://edworkforce.house.gov/committee/subcommitteesjurisdictions.htm; this is the link for the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee: https://www.help.senate.gov/about/members; Senate HELP subcommittees can be found here: https://www.help.senate.gov/about/subcommittees.

Visit the NCSS Action Center’s “Find Officials” section to view the legislator’s:

• contact information and find links to their webpage, Facebook and other pages;
• personal background information;
• committee assignments; and
• staffer titles and names.

To access visit: https://www.socialstudies.org/advocacy/actioncenter; type in your zip code in the “Find Officials” box; click on the magnifying glass search icon and a list of legislators will appear; select a legislator’s name to access their information.

Legislator’s Webpage – Using the url link provided via the NCSS Action Center, you can easily access the legislator’s webpage, and find out more information on:

• personal tidbits about the member;
• what bills s/he has introduced;
• what issues s/he has spoken about;
• recent legislative accomplishments; and
• their position on our issues in Title II and Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
• Make sure you know who you will be meeting with – find out what their function is in the legislator’s office on the list of staffers found by accessing the “Find Officials” section at the NCSS Action Center.

Alternatively, you can determine who your Members of Congress as follows. To find your House of Representative visit: http://www.house.gov (enter your zip code at the top of the page). A listing of all Representatives can be found at: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml. To find your U.S. Senators: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

Have Talking Points Ready and “Leave Behinds” Prepared

Before you go into the meeting, it is important to have not only your talking points prepared, but also your “leave behind” materials. Leave behind materials are a good way to provide Congressional offices with additional details and information on issues that you may not have had time to cover during your meeting. You should also bring any information on what is going on in your classroom, school, district or university relative to social studies education.  Be sure to print out multiple copies of the talking points and leave behind materials to bring with you.