Project Citizen: the Legislative Staff Connection

Legislative Staff Invitation [Introductory Message—to be tailored to the circumstances of each state and sent to appropriate staff by The Legislative Staff Connection coordinators.]

Project Citizen: The Legislative Staff Connection

Most legislative staff have encountered people who have strong feelings on issues but little understanding of how public policy is made. Part of the reason is that many students lack exposure to real world applications of civics and grow up with limited knowledge of the legislative process. The National Conference of State Legislatures, in partnership with the Project Citizen program at the Center for Civic Education, is working to change that.

The Project Citizen Legislative Staff Connection project invites you to get involved in helping young people understand public policymaking and the legislative process.

We are one of eight state legislatures that have agreed to launch this new pilot program to connect legislative staff with classrooms already involved with the Project Citizen program. Project Citizen is a national curriculum that teaches students to identify a community problem, research it, devise policy solutions, develop an action plan and present it all in a poster board portfolio. The course may be offered in elementary, middle or high school classes. These students come up with amazing ideas, creative solutions and in the process learn to work cooperatively.

You can be a part of this important and rewarding work. There's no need for you to be a policy expert on all topics, whether local, state or federal. You bring the expertise of taking proposals and working them through the policymaking process that legislators face every day. We ask you to help teachers and students think through the process and act as a resource for information and contacts that the kids might consider, volunteering about eight hours of time spread over several weeks. You can provide this assistance by phone, email or classroom visit. You and the classroom teacher will discuss and agree on the types of assistance that you will provide. There might also be an opportunity for you to comment on student portfolios or judge a Project Citizen hearing.

The objectives of The Legislative Staff Connection are to:

 Allow legislative staff an opportunity to share their knowledge with students and help young people understand the vital role of state legislatures in American democracy.  Match volunteer legislative staff with participating Project Citizen teachers and classes.  Provide teachers and students with a direct link to the [name of legislature] and a better understanding of the role of legislators and staff in the policymaking process.  Enrich the Project Citizen experience for students by bringing the expertise and knowledge of legislative staff to bear on the public policy problem that students are addressing.  Provide students with useful information and other potential contacts related to the public policy problem they are studying.

The classroom to which you will be assigned may be anywhere in the state. Different classrooms conduct Project Citizen at different times of the year, so it is not possible to predict in advance when you will be asked to provide this service. In the survey that we ask you to complete, you will be able to specify time periods when you are available to participate in this program. At the time of your assignment to a classroom, you will be free to turn down the assignment if it does not fit your schedule. Additional assistance beyond eight hours, such as, personal visits to classrooms or working with more than one classroom are optional. Your work on The Legislative Staff Connection is “pro bono," so you will not receive any additional compensation. [Time off to conduct this work and reimbursement for optional travel to the classroom is up to the policies of each legislative staff office. Insert the policies of your office as appropriate.]

We hope you will offer your time for this exciting project. We invite you to fill out a brief survey to indicate your interest in participating in the project. After collecting your information we will match you with a Project Citizen classroom and provide contact information for the teacher. Please complete the survey by ______.

If you should have questions or need additional information please contact ______, the state legislative coordinator for the program.