Washington Week

Introduction

Public Allies invites program graduates to apply for the opportunity to participate in three exciting days of lobbying and advocacy training, strategy development, and meetings with elected officials on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.  Washington Week 2009 is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2009 (travel day) through Friday, February 13, 2009 (final session and travel day).  

This year represents the fourth consecutive year in which the Public Allies National Office will convene selected Public Allies alumni, local site directors and our national board of directors for Washington Week.  Our goal is to (a) help raise the visibility of Public Allies, (b) continue to cultivate relationships with elected officials from Public Allies’ local congressional districts, (c) boost the lobbying and advocacy skills of our staff and alumni, and (d) further develop Public Allies’ government relations strategies.

This fully subsidized opportunity is open to one alumnus from our Albuquerque, Chicago, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Delaware, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, New York, North Carolina, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, NC, San Antonio and Silicon Valley sites.

Background

Public Allies strives to be an organization that supports the continued development of its alumni.  Our value of continuous learning, coupled with our desire to provide ongoing leadership development experiences for our program graduates, makes Washington Week an important initiative for us.  We see Washington Week as an investment, that we hope will result in increased visibility of Public Allies, continued engagement with elected leaders, and an increase in alumni organizing activity.

During the 2008-2009 program year, Public Allies is committed to:  1) passing a new national service bill that will create opportunity for accelerated Public Allies growth and 2) more effectively tracking our alumni by achieving a 80% data accuracy goal.  We are seeking to increase our communication with alumni and better understand this key constituency group.    

Ideal Applicants

Based on our past experience, ideal Washington Week participants possess the following traits and interests:

  • Are interested in supporting Public Allies’ government relations efforts, and can commit to working on developing long term strategies.
  • Can confidently articulate their Public Allies experience with legislative staffers and others, as it relates to their leadership development and their ability to bring about social change.
  • Are currently working in a field or on projects that will be strengthened by lobbying/advocacy efforts.
  • Have a strong interest and ideas for organizing Public Allies’ local alumni bases over the next 12 months.
  • Understand key local community issues, and can articulate the value of Public Allies’ leadership in building socially just communities.

To Apply

Interested alumni should:
- Log into www.publicallies.org with an Alumni account
- Click on "Alumni" and then click on "Washington Week" for the application

If you do not have an Alumni account, contact meriloug (at) publicallies.org