AAS Seeks Volunteers for Communicating With Washington Program

All politics is local. The AAS needs members to communicate the importance of astronomical research to their elected representatives.

Nearly all of the congressional staff surveyed in a 2010 study (PDF) said that in-person constituent visits have “some” or “a lot” of influence on an undecided Member of Congress, more than any other influence group or strategy.

The AAS currently seeks volunteers for its Communicating With Washington (CWW) program. The goal is to have one or two astronomers visit Washington every week that Congress is in session and to visit every Congressional office, the Congressional science committee offices, and the White House — specifically, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) — over the life of the program.

Volunteers conduct in-person visits to the Washington and/or home district offices of their elected representatives. The AAS reimburses necessary and reasonable travel expenses for volunteers who are selected and fully comply with program guidelines. Sign-up closes on Thursday, 1 August, for visits between 9 September and 13 December.

Please consider signing up today!

NOTE: CWW is open to AAS members only. If you haven't already done so, you'll need to sign in to our website (see the "Sign in" link in the top right corner of the page) before you can submit the sign-up form.