Quick Start: 60 Seconds
Find your officials, pick your issue, choose your channel, personalize a template, send, and follow up.
Start Here (links open in a new tab):
- ☑️ Find officials (context-rich): https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/
- 🏛️ Official .gov directory: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
- 🖥️ Open SOLAR Script Generator: /advocacy#contact-congress
- 📖 Review SOLAR Position Statements: /advocacy#position-statement
- ⚖️ Read SOLAR's RECON stance: /advocacy#recon
💡 Pro Tip
Personalize to rise to the top Staff prioritize short, specific, local messages. Add your city/ZIP and one lived-experience line.
Find Who Represents You
Use these trusted tools for federal, state, and many local offices.
Direct Lookups (final links):
💡 Pro Tip
Match your ask to the level Local councils handle ordinances; states handle registry law and conditions; Congress handles federal funding and national standards.
Drafting Messages That Work
Keep it short, clear, respectful, and local.
The 7-Part Structure (email/letter):
- 👤 Introduce yourself (role + city/ZIP).
- 📝 Make one clear ask.
- 📖 Cite 1–2 facts from credible sources.
- 👥 Add a lived-experience line.
- 🏘️ Explain community benefit.
- 📩 Request a reply or staff call.
- 📬 Include contact details (mailing address for Senate letters).
Message Checklist:
Choose Your Channel
Both Phone and Email/Letter work—pick what fits the moment.
📞 Phone is fastest before votes; be concise and repeat your ask.
✉️ Email/Letter leaves a durable record; include a return mailing address for Senate letters and link only 1–2 sources.
Phone vs. Email/Letter:
📞 Phone
Pros: Immediate, easy to log, great pre-vote
Cons: Brief, less detailed, no paper trail
✉️ Email/Letter
Pros: Detailed, citable, easy to forward
Cons: Queue delays, variable forms, longer to draft
Issues & SOLAR Position Tie-Ins
Target your ask to one topic. Here are five high-impact issues plus SOLAR's signature RECON stance.
- ⚠️ Residency Restrictions — push families into homelessness, do not reduce harm. [DOJ SMART 2018]
- 📖 Evidence-Based Reform — treatment, prevention, risk-based. [SMART 2015; Sentencing Project 2024]
- ⚖️ Retroactive Expansions — unconstitutional, destabilizing.
- 🏘️ Reentry Supports — housing, jobs, family cut recidivism. [CSG Justice Center]
- 📊 Transparency & Data — evidence, not myth, drives policy. [SMART SOMAPI]
Targeted Ask Checklist:
RECON: Register Every Convict Or None
SOLAR's signature advocacy position: if public safety requires registries, then all convicted individuals should be registered—or none at all.
- ⚖️ The Principle: Registries single out sex-offense convictions despite lower sexual re-arrest rates than other crimes.
- 📊 The Evidence: BJS 9-year follow-up shows sexual re-arrest rates below those of property and drug crimes.
- 🚨 The Hypocrisy: Other crimes with higher reoffense rates do not have registries.
- 🌐 The Demand: Equal protection requires either Register Every Convict Or None.
Quick Reference & Shortcuts (Tear-off)
Open these in a new tab while you draft.
Sample Templates (Ready to Copy)
Customize these as starting points.
📞 Phone — Residency Restrictions:
"Hello, my name is [NAME] … oppose blanket residency bans … research shows no benefit, only instability … thank you."
✉️ Email — Evidence-Based Reform:
"Subject: Support evidence-based reform … Dear [TITLE] … treatment, prevention, individualized risk …"
📄 Letter — RECON:
"Re: Register Every Convict Or None … current system is discriminatory … BJS 9-year data …"
Tips for Impact
Simple actions that amplify your voice.
Impact Checklist:
Final Thoughts
✅ Consistency Be respectful, specific, and local.
📖 Evidence Limit to 1–2 authoritative sources.
📅 Follow-up One polite follow-up matters.
Sources & Offline Alternatives
Verified resources and alternatives for those with internet restrictions
🔍 Lookups & Contact
📖 Evidence & Best Practices
- DOJ SMART — Residency Restrictions: Case Law Update (2018)
- DOJ SMART — Recidivism of Adult Sexual Offenders (Przybylski, 2015)
- BJS — Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: 9-Year Follow-Up report page
- BJS — Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: 9-Year Follow-Up PDF
- The Sentencing Project — Responding to Crimes of a Sexual Nature (2024)
- CSG Justice Center — 50 States, 1 Goal
- Congressional Management Foundation — Communicating with Congress (PDF)
- U.S. Senate — Contacting Your Senators
- UC Berkeley Library — Tips for Contacting Officials
📚 Offline Alternatives
- 📚 Local public library: staff can help with lookups & printing letters
- 🏛️ District offices: call local office for addresses & best contact method
- 🗳️ Town/county clerk: provides council/board contacts and meeting schedules