#[email protected] Campaign:

Muslims living in the United States are often times marginalized and left with no voice to represent. Therefore, we are launching #[email protected] campaing to increase the number of Minnesota Muslims and minority communities in getting their voices and issues heard by their elected officals. We are targeting 1000 Meetings scheduled by May 2018. Most immigrants and minoirty community members in our state do not get a chance to meet their elected officals which results in having no voice at the state capitol. We are going to change this by getting you and others to see how easy and effective this proccess is. We will help you with the steps needed to get a meeting scheuled and the impact it will have on you and your family and community. 

#[email protected] #MNLEG

Why meet with your local representatives and legislators?

Meeting with your local legislators can have numerous benefits many of which include voicing your concerns regarding local legislation and community affairs, the opportunity to become involved in the political process, and establishing healthy relationships between the Muslim community and your representatives. This opportunity will allow the you to engage with your representatives and project your concerns, reforms, propositions, and ultimately make a difference within your community by becoming more civicly engaged. 

 

Why? Civic Participation is important to American Muslims

• Your participation in public affairs protects Muslims and promotes a better society — reducing discrimination, poverty, helping to make quality medical care easily accessible, and defending everyone’s civil liberties.
• If you are not present to give your opinions, your ideas will never be heard.
• Bringing your Islamic character to civic life supports such universal ideals as strong families, protection of the weak, and the promotion of justice.
• You live here. You pay taxes here. It is reasonable to work to ensure that these taxes are spent for the public good.
• CAIR’s research reveals that people who know Muslims personally tend to have better views of Islam. By participating, not only do you aid your cause but you also allow others to interact with you and put a human face on a faith that many people in America do not understand.
• Muslims have many friends who similarly wish to reform things we see as harming society—drugs, gambling, disintegration of the family, questionable use of our superpower status. Choosing to disengage from the process abandons these friends and the Islamic principle of promoting what is good.
• It is our duty to give our leaders sincere advice. We should support public figures who prove themselves trustworthy and a benefit to the nation. We should vote to remove them from public office when they do not.
• Criticism without action toward improving a situation does not produce respect or results.
• CAIR’s activism model ensures that the time you have available can be put to productive use. Most action alerts take less than five minutes of your time. Your contribution is then magnified because it is joined with similar efforts by thousands of other people of conscience.

 

 GET STARTED BY REGISTERING 

After registering you will get a full details of how to set up a meeting sample email and general information. Once you set up a meeting let us know how it went. Take a picture or two. More INFO see resource below

 

Resource: 

How to meet with your local representatives and legislators

Scheduling meetings with your local representatives and legislators is easy and simple. Many times your representatives are willing to meet with their constituents in order to hear the needs of their communities. Here is how you can start scheduling meetings with one of your lawmakers the next time he or she is in your home district or state.

Step 1: IDENTIFY YOUR FEDERAL LEGISLATORS

• Visit http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and enter your ZIP code including the last four digits.
• Go to your Representative’s website and look for the contact information for their district office locations.
• Find the district office closest to you – this is the office you want to visit. For U.S. Senators (you have two):
• Visit http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and look for the two U.S. Senators from your state.
• Go to each Senator’s website and look for the contact information for their district office locations
• For each Senator, find the district office closest to you – these are the offices you want to visit.

Step 2: CALL THE DISTRICT OFFICE CLOSEST TO YOU

Find the lawmaker’s office closest to you and try to your best to meet with the actual legislator rather than the legislative aide. If your legislator or representative is not available you always have the option of meeting with their legislative aides, assistants, or any other staff member that works closely on issues pertaining to judiciary issues. They will report back to your local legislator or representative and inform them on the concerns you brought up during your meeting.

Scheduling these meetings can either be done one of two ways. Either by phone or by email.

By phone:

Call the phone number of the lawmaker’s district office that is closest to you, and ask to speak to the scheduler. Then say, “Hello, my name is____. I am a constituent, and I would like to meet with [YOUR LEGISLATOR’S/REPRESENTATIVE’S NAME] while he/she is home on recess. When might I be able to do so?” The scheduler may ask you to email them with all of your information including your name, the reason for why you want to meet, who will be attending the meeting, and if you are with or represent any organizations. If so, email the scheduler the information that they request from you and follow up with phone calls until you get a meeting set. Sometimes, you can request or schedule a meeting online by visiting the lawmaker’s website and filling out and submitting an electronic form. You can find your U.S. Representative’s website online at http://www.house.gov/representatives/. You can find your U.S. Senators’ websites online at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

By email:

The Honorable [First name of legislator] [Last name of legislator] [Lawmaker’s district office address]

Attention: [Name of scheduler]

 Dear [Representative or Senator] [Last name]:

I am your constituent and was asked by [name of scheduler you spoke with] to submit this request to meet with you in your [name of city where district office is located] office to discuss sentencing reform issues. I will be joined by [list of people who will be joining you, if any].

The best dates for me to meet are [fill in several dates and/or times]. I will contact you shortly regarding the possibility of scheduling this meeting. In the meantime, you can contact me at [phone number] or [email] if you have any questions.

Sincerely, [Your Signature]

 

 

 

Register

[First name] [Last name]

[email address]

[Phone number/mobile number]

[Home address]