A National Housing Trust Fund to Build and Preserve Affordable Housing
A Common Sense Solution That Will Help Working Families

Mobilizing Your Organization – Five Action Items
Organizational support is crucial to the passage of national housing trust legislation in Congress. As an activist in your organization(s) we need your help.

Endorse the Campaign
Please endorse the Campaign as soon as you can. We are building a list – we need you!

Write a Letter to Your Senator or Congressperson
We have a sample letter for you to use that should be in your packet. Please write this letter right away and then follow it up with a call to your Congressperson’s housing staff person. Establishing a firm relationship with this person will help you with all of your work. Getting your Congressperson on as a co-sponsor will greatly help the Campaign. Call any of the people below to get some assistance with deciding who you should target first out of your Congressional delegation.

Getting Other Groups to Write to Your Congressional Target
The more people who call and write your Congressional target, the better. Do you have 5-10 groups that always support your work that you can get to send in their version of the sample letter with just a phone call? Are there more powerful groups that you have wanted to approach? This can be a great opportunity to cement relationships and help move your Congressperson to co-sponsorship of the trust fund legislation. Don’t forget to have them fill out the endorsement form and send it in.

Letters to the Editor
One of the most well read section of the newspaper is the “letters” section. Identify members of your organization to write letters and send them in before March 20th. Draft several letters (the Campaign staff can help you). Approach others and ask them to consider signing one of your drafts or to write their own letter. Remember, newspaper editors will more likely publish a letter if it is relatively brief, less than 150 words. (See Suggestions… in this packet.) Not all letters will get published, so recruit several people.

Mailings
Does your organization have a mailing going out to your membership? If so, include a piece on the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign. The Campaign staff will be happy to assist you in adapting sample newsletter inserts for your organization.

Thanks for your help and your dedication. People like you really make a difference!

For more information or to get involved: Laura Barrett, CCC, 314-645-5915, 314-645-2017 fax, Irbrrtt@aol.com, Drew Astolfi, NPA 312-243-3038, 312-243-7044, fax, rew@nationaltraining.org, Buck Bagot 415-788-7983 x5, 415-956-6880 fax, buckb@devinegong.org, Randy Shaw, 415-771-9850, 415-771-1287 fax thc@igc.org