Health Advocacy Letter to an Elected Official

Obtain the name of your U.S. representative, senator, governor, state, or local representative and write a letter to one of them addressing either a particular public health legislative priority for your particular town, city, or state, or one of the Healthy People 2020 health objectives https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives that interests you and you would like for them to support.

You can look up your local government officials at https://www.usa.gov/local-governments state legislators at https://www.congress.gov/state-legislature-websites; your US Senator at www.senate.gov; your Representative at www.house.govand your governor at https://www.usa.gov/state-governor

Hint: if you are wondering about public health priorities where you live, you could search for the state affiliate of the American Public Health Association to see if they have produced a list of priorities similar to what was shared about Maryland’s public health priorities: prescription drug affordability, lowering blood lead action levels for kids, increasing the sale of age for tobacco products.)

Follow tips from the guest lecture on advocacy:

Keep it brief (not to exceed one page)

State who you are and what you want up front

Hit your three most important points

Personalize your letter and relationship with the health concern and/or relationship to the official

You are the expert (after all, you are almost finished a semester of “Introduction to Public Health”!)

End with a short but powerful ending that summarizes the need for addressing the health issue

Thank the official for his/her time and interest in the matter