Did you know that Congress is in session less than half the year? On average, the House of Representatives is in session 147 days each year, while the Senate meets for 165 days. Enshrined in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, this time is intended for elected officials to interact with constituents, host town halls, campaign, and engage in local business community outreach. During congressional recess (also known as summer recess or August recess), lawmakers head back to their respective states or districts and continue their work there.
During congressional recess, CAI encourages members nationwide to directly connect with members of Congress, state legislators, and local officials and their staff to deepen relationships, clarify policy needs, and make a lasting impression that shapes legislative outcomes. Your outreach is especially critical during this period as Congress will be considering future legislative and appropriations priorities impacting your community upon its return from recess in September.
CAI created a new August Recess Advocacy Toolkit to provide CAI members with the information and guidance necessary to engage with members of Congress while they are back in their communities. Advocacy Ambassadors – CAI’s most dedicated group of advocates and leaders – had early access to this toolkit. Do you want to be among the first to receive exciting tools and resources from CAI to help you recruit, organize, and motivate other advocates? Learn more about CAI’s Advocacy Ambassador program and join today.
Here are a few simple tips for advocating during the August recess and CAI resources to assist you and your associations with these efforts:
- Get to know your elected officials. Use CAI’s legislator lookup tool to identify your elected officials and find their contact information. Once you find your elected officials, reach out via phone or email to tell them why you support community associations, and why this housing model needs to be a priority for them. Click here to message your legislators.
- Connect on social media. Social media advocacy is an essential tool for mobilizing communities and homeowners, amplifying impactful messages, and engaging directly with other decision-makers. As an advocate, you can use social media to communicate with your legislators when advocating for legislation supporting the community association housing model. Learn more about social media as an advocacy tool and use CAI’s Guide for Effective Advocacy to make your outreach as impactful as possible.
- Attend town halls or public office hours. During August many elected officials attend state and local fairs, festivals, and other grassroots events. They also hold public office hours at their district offices. Attend these events, introduce yourself, and explain why the community association housing model is critical to their district. Information on such events can be found on your federal legislators’ websites or social media.
- Schedule in-district meetings with your members of Congress. Personal visits with a legislator are the most effective method of advocating your issue. Reach out to your legislator’s office to request a meeting in the district office. You can meet with them alone or plan with other CAI members to visit the district office together. Use CAI’s Guide to Personal Visits with Legislators to help make your visit a success.
- Invite elected officials to visit your community. At community events, elected officials can get to know their constituents, experience their local community spirit, and learn what issues are important to community associations. Inviting elected officials to visit your community is an easy way to foster relationships with lawmakers and their staff and spread the word about CAI and its resources. If your community is hosting an event during the summer, tell CAI about your event so we can help invite elected officials to attend.
- Stay updated on CAI’s legislative advocacy work. Review the legislation that CAI is currently tracking in each state and federally and visit CAI’s Action Center to see what current campaigns are running on the federal level and in your state that impact community associations.
- Connect with your local CAI chapter to see what events are being held in August. You may be able to invite an elected official. Find your chapter.
Visit our website for key data and talking points to guide your advocacy. Explore CAI’s advocacy priorities and public policy positions and data from the Foundation for Community Association Research. Check out the Homeowner Satisfaction Survey results to learn more about why people overwhelmingly love living and working in community associations.
Get involved today. Contact CAI’s Government and Public Affairs team directly at government@cainonline.org for support making a positive impact during the August recess and beyond.
