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Legislative
Contact Teams
LCT Online Registration
(VCN website)
The Virginia Conservation Network and the Virginia League of Conservation
Voters are looking for dedicated individuals committed to improving environmental
laws and policies. In an effort to promote conservation advocacy throughout
Virginia, VALCV and Virginia Conservation Network are teaming up organize
Conservation Legislative Contact Teams or LCTs. Our goal is to identify
3 to 4 activists in each Senate and House district to serve as the LCT
for that legislator.
Conservation activists are always being asked to make phone calls or write
letters to their elected officials to urge their support of or opposition
to legislative proposals. Often though activists are reluctant to take
a more active, face-to-face role in citizen lobbying because they just
aren't comfortable in that role. They worry about whether they understand
the issues to be discussed even if they know what to speak with their
legislators about. Or they don't know how to navigate the protocol of
making an appointment and gathering like-minded colleagues to accompany
them on a visit.
Legislators, however, want to hear from their constituents. They want
to know that real voters in their districts stand behind the issues communicated
from VALCV, VCN and other conservation organizations.
No lobbying experience is needed to join one of our Legislative Contact
Teams - just a desire to influence public policy to benefit conservation.
Materials will be provided and opportunities to learn how to become an
effective lobbyist will be offered throughout the next year.
One of the benefits of strengthening personal contacts with legislators
is that legislators will become more knowledgeable and hopefully more
responsive to our issues. There are conservationists in hundreds of organizations
throughout the state. Our goal is to try to organize activists in a manner
that will help to coordinate our message and take advantage of a vast,
but until now, loose network of advocates.
Please consider becoming a part of our effort to bring the conservation
message home to every legislator by registering today for one of our LCTs.
If you can recommend some other conservationists who might be willing
to serve on LCTs, please pass that information along to us as well.
You can register for an LCT by email, fax, phone,
or on the VCN website: www.vcnva.org/lct.htm.
For additional information contact:
Suzanne Ankrum, VCN Program Coordinator
suzanne@vcnva.org or 804-644-0283
or Matt Zogby, VALCV-EF Program Coordinator
mzogby@valcv.org or 804-225-1902 / fax: 804-225-1904
The Role of the LCT as a Group &
Individual LCT Member Responsibilities
Power in Numbers:
What is an Legislative Contact Team?
An LCT is a group of citizen lobbyists in a Virginia Senate of House of Delegates district that specializes in advocacy for legislation that does a better job caring for our communities and protecting our air, water, and land. Now in its fifth year, our LCT program has organized over 300 volunteers throughout the state to make conservation a year-round priority for their legislators.
Making it Personal:
Every January, Virginia's legislators convene for a General Assembly session that lasts only a matter of weeks. Thousands of bills pass through the Senate and House of Delegates, many posing disastrous or hopeful implications for the Commonwealth's communities and natural environment.
Throughout the year, in Richmond and at home, legislators want and need to hear from their constituents. As voters from the officials' own districts, their voices rise above the rest. And reinforced as a team, our LCT volunteers hold their representatives accountable for their decisions like no one else can.
The benefits of joining:
 Trainings and forums designed just for LCTs: During the summer you will have the chance to hone your skills as an activist. At regional social gatherings in the fall you can join your fellow LCTs and your legislators to learn more about upcoming priorities for the legislative session and expand your policy expertise.
A preview of the General Assembly session including a fall packet of legislative priorities and issue Briefing Books.
Staff support for home district lobbying: We will help you arrange and prepare for a meeting with your team's legislators before he or she leaves for Richmond.
Visits to the General Assembly during the legislative session: We host an annual Lobby Day when our LCT members converge by the hundreds to meet with their legislators before the session is in full swing. We can also assist volunteers who wish to set up their meetings (or attend committee hearings) any time during the session.
A resource to save you time and energy: The journey of even one piece of legislation can be baffling. We help you stay up to date on the bills that concern you most.
Everyone is welcome to participate in the LCT program. The most important part of the program is not to burden yourself with a list of chores or to try to do all of them, but to feel empowered with the help VCN and VALCV-EF provide.
Not sure of your legislative districts?
Find out on the Virginia General Assembly's Who's My Legislator? website.
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