VCC Spring 2021

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S pring 2021 8 Lobbying without a Lobby from page 7 Virtual Lobby Day By Reed Senter, Amber Handon and Hannah King What is your lobby day? Reed Senter: The Speech-Language- Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) hosts our annual lobby day during the General Assembly session. We use this event to facilitate interaction between our membership and their legislators. Our members get a brief overview of the legislative process, and then they have the opportunity to connect with their representatives about the issues that are important to them. What does a normal lobby day look like? Amber Handon: In past years, SHAV's lobby day was broken into three parts: The first portion allowed all SHAV participants to gather to hear from SHAV board members and our lobbyist. During this time information was shared about issues, materials were distributed, an orientation of the capitol building given and action plan created. The second portion of the day provided participants the time to visit legislators. Participants went in small groups or individually talking with legislators and legislative aides about the issues that impacted audiology and speech- language pathology. The final portion of the day allowed all participants to debrief, sharing celebrations as well as obstacles from the day. What did a virtual lobby day look like? Reed Senter: We’ve held virtual lobby days for the past two years. Just like our in-person event, we start off by giving our members a “government refresher” on the inner workings of the legislative process. This year, we shared an “Advocacy Toolkit” for our participants to take notes about their representatives and key legislative targets. Our virtual events provide us withmore opportunity to explore specific bills that are relevant to our professions. This past year, we addressed about a dozen bills and issues. As we presented issues at the local, state, and federal levels, we placed our participants into breakout rooms to encourage discussion about the issues and bills that were important to them. What were the positives and negatives of virtual lobby day? Reed Senter: Obviously, it’s a real shame that our virtual event doesn’t give our members the chance to meet their representatives face-to-face, which was the main appeal of our in-person events. We encourage our members to reach out via phone or email, but it’s not the same as sitting in the same room. There are some notable advantages, though. Participation in virtual lobby days is much higher than in- person attendance was, especially among students pursuing our field. Between that and the extra time to discuss bills and issues, there’s the potential to develop a strong sense of civic engagement and a deep understanding of the ways legislation impacts speech, language, and hearing issues. Amber Handon: The virtual access to our lobby day increased participation and involvement of both our professional and student members. For all, the elimination of travel allowed for an increase of access and it allowed people to join, for the amount of time that their schedules permitted. The virtual platform also allowed for participants to utilize resources and links, such as the legislative information system while also communicating with stakeholders. Given the added benefits, nothing can replace the benefits of being in-person when it comes to collaboration and relationship building. We look forward to incorporating the in-person component to our lobbying efforts. With the experience in both in-person and virtual lobby days, which do you prefer? Reed Senter: I want to say both! In-person advocacy may promote more personalized interactions with legislators, but virtual lobby days allow us to engage more of our membership in the advocacy process. I hope that our virtual lobby days are here to stay, even when in-person advocacy is feasible again. I believe that having virtual and in-person events would provide a complementary experience to help take SHAV’s advocacy efforts to the next level. Amber Handon: I agree with Reed, our members can expect to see an integration of both platforms as we move forward to future lobby days. By incorporating the in-person and virtual aspects, we are able to broaden the involvement of more members and increase our visibility and voice amongst the legislators and other stakeholders. The combined approach better supports advocacy year round, and not just advocacy as a singular event. Reed Senter is a speech-language pathologist, specializing in school-based services. For the past year Reed has served as the Vice President for Governmental and Professional Affairs for SHAV. Amber Handon, MEd CCC-SLP is a school-based Speech-Language Pathologist serving students and families in Charlottesville City Schools. Amber previously served four years as SHAV’s VP for Continuing Education and then a presidential Term. Hannah King is a rising Junior at Virginia Commonwealth University studying Political Science and Sociology. She has been with David Bailey Associates since September 2019. literally scattered from NorthernVirginia to Big Stone Gap.We are used to things moving fast—a bill might be amended, for better or worse, just minutes before a crucial vote. Electronics and road trips simply do not lend themselves to split second decisions in the way that shoe leather and physical strategies do. We can do what they do in Britain: stand on soap boxes and yell, but that has come into disfavor with a lot of people here, and there are entirely too many competing soap boxes. We have some bright spots to look forward to: the end of masking and distancing, and the completion of a new GAB. Speaking for lobbyists, that means accessibility, big hallways, conference rooms, and, yes, lobbies. Ken Jessup is a member of the Board for the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired, and a retired lobbyist. handon king senter 888-729-7428 • shavoffice@shav.org • shav.org V V