ACTION PLAYBOOK:

Contact Your Local Officials

Let’s take action.

  • Urge your mayor or city council to apply for a Solar for All grant.

    1. Find their contact info

    2. Send an email

    3. Make a phone call

    4. Tag them on social media

    5. Report back

    6. Ask a friend to do it too

Or back to the Action Plan ☀️

1. Find your local officials’ contact information

For this action, you’ll need email addresses, social media handles, and/or phone numbers for your local officials.

Find who represents you. America has over 19,000 municipalities, so there isn’t one central database of everyone’s local representatives. You can use the usa.gov database for local officials at the county level and for large cities, but you won’t find smaller towns on the list.

If your city councilor and mayor doesn’t show up on usa.gov, Google: [name of your city/town] + mayor. That should yield an easy result. Next, Google: [name of your city/town] + city council. For small towns, you might have a uniform town council that is not subdivided by district. In that case, you can contact any city council member you want.

If you live in a smaller town, you might find a page like this:

In larger cities, your council is likely subdivided into city council districts. Look for something like this district finder on the site for Phoenix, AZ:

Write down the contact information. Once you have the name of your mayor and one city council member, try to find an email address, phone number, and/or social media handle on the municipality’s official website.

2. Send a personalized email to your local officials

Edit the template below in a blank email to your mayor and city councilor about applying for a Solar for All grant. You can use the same email copy for both, but send them separately. Please bcc advocacy@climatechangemakers.org so we can track our impact.

Make sure to customize the sections in brackets and carry over the links (they’re an important part of your message!), and save a copy of your email to use as a phone script. Then, return to this playbook.

Template below ⬇️ or click here to populate a new email

Please bcc advocacy@climatechangemakers.org so we can track our impact.

SUBJECT: Help expand solar access in our community

Dear [MAYOR OR CITY COUNCIL MEMBER],

My name is [NAME], and I’m your constituent in [YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD]. I am reaching out to bring your attention to an opportunity that holds immense potential for our local area, particularly in disadvantaged communities. The EPA has launched a $7 billion "Solar for All" grant competition eligible to state, local, and Tribal governments, and it plans to make up to 60 awards.

This initiative aims to foster access to affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy for millions of low-income households across the nation. The competition aligns with our [CITY/TOWN’S] commitments to sustainability and reducing energy costs [EDIT DEPENDING ON YOUR CITY’S CLIMATE GOALS]. 

The grant application deadline is October 12, 2023. I encourage [CITY/TOWN] to get involved by submitting a joint application with other municipalities or in partnership with the state government. This program is guaranteed to lower electricity bills by at least 20% for our most disadvantaged constituents, contribute to a healthier environment, and catalyze job opportunities in the ever-expanding clean energy sector.

To truly maximize the impact of this opportunity, it is crucial that we leverage the most rigorous best practices in low-income solar program design. This ensures that we can provide the greatest possible benefit to disadvantaged communities, promote widespread adoption of solar, and ultimately contribute to a more equitable clean energy future.

In this regard, I wanted to share a helpful compilation of resources that includes vital information about the grant, policy design guidebooks, and enlightening case studies that can inform our application and implementation strategy.

I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your positive action to ensure our [CITY/TOWN] engages with this grant opportunity. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss further.

Sincerely,

  • To craft a personalized message and increase the likelihood of a response, find out where your city falls on the spectrum of climate ambition. You can use a Google search or a browse city initiatives on the official website. If you have Twitter on your phone, you can click the search icon in the top right corner of their profile pages to scan their Tweets for keywords. Once you find more information to help target your message, use it to customize the template above.

    ➡️ If your mayor and/or city councilors are already climate champions, thank them for their ongoing work before asking them to build on it by helping you advocate to Congress. For these folks, you should also mention that you’re volunteering with Climate Changemakers!

    ➡️ If your mayor and/or city councilors appear neutral or disengaged on climate, now is your chance to engage them. You should also mention that you’re volunteering with Climate Changemakers.

    ➡️ If your mayor and/or city councilors is a climate obstructionist, it’s even more imperative that they hear from you. (Tip: in this case, don’t mention Climate Changemakers or even the word “climate” at all). Policy issues at the city level are the least politicized among traditional party lines. Mayors and city councilors don’t have the same set of political incentives that members of Congress do, and it’s usually quite easy to find common ground. Stick to data about the area (not national statistics) and your personal story about living in the area.

    It can also help to find some city-specific climate impact data to help illustrate how cities will bear enormous costs and therefore need the federal government to act. This should be particularly resonant with cities because they run very tight budgets and often need federal assistance.

    • Climate Costs 2040 shows projected taxpayer costs in specific cities.

    • This interactive map shows your city’s projected average temperatures and weather in the year 2080.

3. Make a call

Call the number(s) you found listed on the website. Use your email from Step 2 as a call script! You’ll want to identify your constituent status, be concise and specific, and demonstrate authenticity. If they don’t pick up, don’t worry—your voicemail will be documented. (And if you prefer to leave a voicemail rather than talk to a real person, call after hours!)

4. Tag your mayor and city council member on social media

Public amplification of your message can grab the attention of policymakers and elicit a response. Turn your personalized message into a social post, being sure to preserve the specific ask. Remember to tag their handles!

If you’re stuck, check the Solar for All Issue Briefing for an example post.

  • Letting others in your network know that you’ve taken action is a great way to scale your impact. Consider using social media, email, texting, etc. to amplify the action you just took and invite others to join you. If you’re in the Climate Changemakers Slack, post about your experience to help motivate others! Below is sample language you can adapt and customize:

    I just contacted my city council and mayor about expanding solar energy in our city. It’s really empowering and a lot more accessible than it seems. Here's the playbook! https://www.climatechangemakers.org/preview-local-officials-solar

5. Report back!

If you receive a response from your local officials, please report back to advocacy@climatechangemakers.org or send a message to a staff member in the Climate Changemakers Slack. You can simply forward email responses or send a screenshot. This enables us to more accurately track our collective impact.

It's useful to learn of any barriers for your city or town. For example, local officials might be reluctant to apply because they lack the staffing capacity to process the reporting requirements for federal grants (it’s a lot of work). Anything you learn from their response is valuable, so please report back! We’re trying to grease the wheels to deploying climate solutions, so the more we know, the more effective we can become as connectors and advocates.

Did you get an enthusiastic response from your local officials? Awesome! Consider sharing your response publicly in the Climate Changemakers Slack #wins-and-shoutouts channel —other changemakers may find it motivating and inspiring. We’re normalizing civic action on climate, and it starts with talking about it.

6. Ask a friend to do it too

Network effects are powerful. Persuading friends and family to take climate action is a crucial step toward changing cultural norms and making real progress. Now that you’ve taken this action, send a note to a friend along with this playbook asking them to send an email or make a call to their city officials. Simplify the process for them by forwarding your own email as a model and the contact information you found if they live in the same city. And if your friend ends up taking action, don’t forget to let us know! (See Step 5).

  • A great way to take this step to the next level is by considering which city officials you’d want to target and inviting a friend to take action who also happens to be their constituent. If you're campaigning for a policy change in your own city, it's strategic to involve another local resident to amplify pressure.

    However, if a different city is the focal point for your policy solution, try to choose someone who lives there. Picture a scenario where San Francisco hasn't yet banned fossil gas in new construction, unlike Oakland and Berkeley. It seems likely that San Francisco will follow their lead. At the same time, in Salem, Oregon, where your best friend lives, a city council vote on this issue is imminent, and it's become highly contentious and politicized. In this case, your San Francisco friends can wait—text that Salem bestie immediately!

Thank you for taking action!

Cue confetti 🎉

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