Prepare for your meeting
Keep the goal in mind!
It’s always good to start with the end in mind. During meetings with Members of Congress and/or their staff, you will want to:
- Educate them about Healthy Families America and home visiting and the positive impact it has on children and families
- Share the national Home Visiting Coalition’s MIECHV reauthorization priorities
- Build new relationships or strengthen existing ones
- Make yourself an available resource on home visiting-related issues
Collect Relevant Information
- Learn what you can about the Member’s existing work on child and family issues, especially those most impacted by Healthy Families America and home visiting, such as maternal and child health, child development and school readiness, child maltreatment, and economic self-sufficiency.
- Compile relevant data and information. This may include the number of families served in your state through Healthy Families America or home visiting programs more broadly, and any state-specific outcome data or reports. If you are representing a local HFA program, you should be prepared to share how many families your program serves, some characteristics of the families served, and, if available, any local outcome data.
Draft your Agenda & Develop and Practice Your Key Points
Drafting an Agenda
- Review resources linked below to get inspired!
- Review the Sample Congressional Meeting Agenda.
- How would you describe HFA and home visiting and its impact?
- What MIECHV recommendations do you want to highlight?
- How will you provide information to support them?
- Write down the key points that you want to make and your supporting information. Practice making your points succinctly.
- Depending on how many people are attending, you may need to strategize how to allocate the time. For example, if one person is doing most of the talking, they may be able to have 2-3 key points. But if several people are planning to speak, they should each plan to make one key point.
Resources for developing your key points
MIECHV Overview & HFA Talking Points
The MIECHV program is a federal grant to states, territories, and Tribes that supports evidence-based home visiting for families and children from prenatal period through kindergarten entry. While the program’s ability to impact maternal and child health outcomes is clear, the current funding level limits its ability reach to vulnerable families. Only 3% of current and expectant parents benefit from the program.
Evidence of Effectiveness
Research over the past 30 years has shown positive results and sustained impact with HFA families in geographically and
racially diverse communities experiencing various amounts of stress and challenge. HFA has positive findings in all eight domains examined by the HHS Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review.
Resources from National Home Visiting Coalition
For Families who are Advocating: Strategic Sharing
Sharing your story is a very meaningful and effective way to inspire change. Your personal experiences can educate and influence others, while building your advocacy and parent leadership experience and skills. To be effective each time you share your experiences, it’s important to be strategic in the information you decide to share with others to ensure your voice is heard, while your well-being is protected.
The Day of the Meeting
- Review your key points, supporting information, and data one more time!
- Be confident that you have an important perspective that your Members of Congress need to hear in order to make informed decisions!
- If you are an HFA program, use this opportunity to invite your Senator or Representative for a site visit.
- Dress for success! Whether in person or virtually, dress like you are attending a business meeting.
Next Steps
Follow up after your meeting
Want to contact us?
Interested in learning more about our home visiting programs or helping transform childhoods and communities? Get in touch—we’ll respond as quickly as we can.