With a record number of participants—83—the Alliance held its 10th annual Advocacy Day on Thursday, March 4. Alliance members participating in this year’s Advocacy Day visited 104 House and Senate offices and represented a record 26 states, as well as the District of Columbia.

(At right: Advocacy Day participant Ana Gil-Garcia, representing the Fulbright Association, with Illinois Senators Roland Burris and Dick Durbin.)

The events of Advocacy Day kicked off on the morning of Wednesday, March 3, with an Advocacy Day Training Session. This lengthy and in-depth training was a new addition to the Alliance Advocacy Day agenda last year: while a brief prep session typically preceded Advocacy Day in the past, Advocacy Day 2009 was the first time the Alliance conducted a detailed and lengthy training. Last year’s extended training came as a result of participant feedback, and this year’s session was expanded even further to reflect excellent suggestions from last year’s participants.

Christine Schulze, Alliance Board Chair and Executive Director of Concordia Language Villages, Lynn Shotwell, Alliance Board Vice Chair and Executive Director of the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP), and Michael McCarry, Executive Director of the Alliance, facilitated the interactive training session. McCarry noted at the outset that the Alliance had encouraged member organizations to send staff members who had not participated in advocacy before—and that this training, while useful to any advocate, was designed particularly with newcomers in mind. When McCarry asked the 63 training participants if they had attended Advocacy Day before, only a smattering of hands raised, reflecting the Alliance membership’s success in drawing new (and often young) staffers into our advocacy.

After an icebreaker activity (Capitol Hill Bingo), the training delved into such topics as the federal exchanges budget and the appropriations process, the structure of a Congressional office, becoming an effective advocate for international exchange, and building relationships with Congressional offices for the future. The final hour of the session asked participants to put theory into practice with role-play exercises. Five groups of two participants faced off with different personalities they might encounter on Capitol Hill, including the Congressional member him/herself (Christine Schulze playing ‘Senator Joanne Lieberman’), the knowledgeable staffer with tough questions, “the Note-Taker” who knows nothing about exchanges, “the Budget Skeptic” who is against any additional funding, and the staffer with one minute and one foot out the door. The training facilitators took turns playing these roles, challenging participants to adapt and think on their feet. 

An issues briefing followed the training session and unpacked the details of the Alliance’s ten 2010 position papers. The large number of position papers each year is due to the broad and diverse interests of the Alliance members and, in leading the briefing, McCarry stressed that participants need only talk about the issues that are important to them. The position papers covered such diverse issues as the congressional budget and appropriations items, the Exchange Visitor Program, exchanges with Eurasia, high school exchanges, and visa policy and process matters. A paper advocating for the beneficiaries of the G.I. bill to be able to use their awards for study abroad was a new addition this year.

The morning of March 4 began early with a prep breakfast meeting and strategy session held at the National Association of Realtors building, in its top floor meeting space with a view of the Capitol. At the breakfast, state delegations had an opportunity to plan their collective advocacy pitches before descending on the Hill. Congressional meetings started at approximately 9:00-9:30 a.m. and continued into the early afternoon.