FEDAC Annual Meeting Combines Business with Pleasure

Once again the Education Leadership Conference offered another great opportunity for us to recognize and acknowledge the vital work and significant contributions that the leaders of the Federal Education Advocacy Coordinators (FEDAC) grassroots network are making to promote and advance education advocacy initiatives. The setting for this year's meeting was the recently renovated and highly regarded Roof Terrace Restaurant located in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In this most beautiful setting, which provided a panoramic view of Washington and the Potomac River, the FEDACs combined business with pleasure as they shared recruiting tips and techniques and discussed ways in which they could work individually and together across regions to accomplish their number one priority – growing the FEDAC grassroots network.

Always looking to provide advanced advocacy training opportunities to these education advocacy grassroots leaders, this year a special guest speaker, Joel Blackwell, President of The Issue Management Co., a media relations and grassroots lobbying firm, was invited to attend the FEDAC dinner meeting. Blackwell, author of “Personal Political Power” and former award-winning editor of the Miami Herald, applauded the FEDACs for their activism and offered a number of very helpful suggestions for accomplishing their recruiting goals and energizing the FEDAC grassroots members. Blackwell also emphasized the value and importance of supporting and being involved in other advocacy activities (e.g., town hall meetings, receptions, fundraisers).

The FEDACs also discussed the role of the newly established Education Advocacy Trust (501-C6 organization), which was just approved by the APA Council of Representatives. As was explained, the mission of the Education Advocacy Trust is to promote the mutual professional interests of psychologists in advancing education in psychology and psychology's role in education through advocacy activities, which are restricted because of the APA 501 (C-3). The FEDACs were urged to support the trust and to help get the word out about the one-time-only opportunity for APA members to contribute to the Education Advocacy Trust through the APA annual dues statement [For further information visit http://www.apaeat.org].

Several other psychologists actively involved in advocacy were also invited to attend this year's FEDAC dinner meeting: Steve Pfeiffer, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Association for the Advancement of Psychology (AAP), Jeff Baker, Ph.D., newly recruited FEDAC Campus Training Representative and recipient of 2005 Education Advocacy Distinguished Service Award, and Catherine Campbell, current Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Grantee, and also newly recruited FEDAC Campus Training Representative.

Following the annul dinner meeting, the FEDACs were treated to one of Washington's longest running productions, Shear Madness , which is performed nightly in the Kennedy Center Theater Lab.

Using the Media to Gain Support for Psychology:
Tips on Writing Letters-to-the Editor and Op-Eds

During the advocacy training session, ELC participants heard from two experienced media professionals and learned more about the “pushes and pulls” that go on each day in trying to get your story told through the media.

Erik Smulson, former Communications Director for Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) walked our advocacy trainees through the basic “dos and don'ts” of public or media relations. He gave them a first hand perspective about how a Senate office tells its stories through the media: holding press conferences; submitting op-eds; and writing and sending press releases. He spent a majority of his time focusing on the strong position that American Psychological Association (APA) members are in with regard to influencing the local press. He encouraged them to work with their Members of Congress to promote issues of importance to the APA by creating media opportunities.  Further, he emphasized how as psychologists in a community, they  bring a “legitimacy” to an issue and that they should take the initiative to share their expertise, their research or their viewpoints for stories in the local paper or to share their stories in their own voice (by submitting letters to the editor or op-eds).

Gina Acosta, Copy Editor for the Washington Post spoke about “Getting on the Editorial Page: A View from Inside the Washington Post.”  During her informative presentation, she provided a fresh perspective about the realities that face editors when determining which “Letters to the Editor” or Opinion pieces to print. She shared some basic rules to abide by when submitting letters or opinion pieces that can maximize one's chances of having their views printed. Those tips include submitting pieces that are both timely and relevant; not sending in submissions that are inflammatory; and ensuring that the writing is concise. Each day, editors are forced to make decisions from hundreds of letters and those that are most appealing will be the ones that are timely and concise. Also, she warned with the recent assaults on our mail system, that your best bet in having your letter or opinion piece considered is to submit via electronic mail. 

Both these speakers encouraged our ELC participants to recognize the media's role in advancing your agenda. They provided encouragement to get involved with the media both locally and nationally.

Advocacy Leaders Recognized for their Work: Luncheon Celebrates Distinguished Service on behalf of APA Education Advocacy

One of the events that everyone has come to enjoy at ELC is the presentation of the Education Advocacy Distinguished Service Awards and the Distinguished Congressional Staff Awards.

This year, Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) Chair, Cindy Carlson, Ph.D., presented the awards to Louise Douce, Ph.D. and Jeff Baker, Ph.D., as well as Congressional staff Adrienne Hallett and Pat Souders.

For more information on this year's awards click here: http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/elcarticle905.html.

Getting Ready for Hill Visits

APA Education Public Policy Associate Executive Director Nina Levitt, EdD, asked the 60 plus psychologists and psychology graduate students attending the 2005 ELC to urge the preservation of the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program's $4.5 million budget during their September 19th Hill visits, which totaled over 120 meetings with Congressional staff.

"Let your legislator understand the contributions of the GPE Program," Levitt advised. "They need to be able to justify its value," and noted that participants from institutions that have received GPE funding are uniquely qualified to share this information. For more information on the GPE Program go to www.apa.org/ppo/gpe.

Next, Jennifer Smulson, Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer in APA's Public Policy Office, urged psychology educators to share information on the Child Health Care Crisis Relief Act of 2005 (H.R.1106/S.537). Click here for more information http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/echccra.html.

Soapbox Consulting President Christopher Kush then proceed to put ELC participants at ease as he helped everyone prepare for their Hill visits. Through role demonstrations and role playing exercises, Kush emphasized the importance of staying on message.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. Honored at ELC

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), member of the powerful House Appropriations Labor-Health & Human Services-Education Subcommittee, was honored at a reception held during the September 2005 Education Leadership Conference.

For more information on the reception for Congressman Jackson click here http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/jackson05.html.

Another Successful ELC

Once again it was a very successful ELC; not only did participants have fun but they helped raise awareness of psychologies contributions and the need for federal support (funding). We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Back to Top^