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Take Action

One voice speaking the truth is powerful. Hundreds or thousands of people speaking out together can change the world.

For years, nonprofit organizations like Advocates for Youth have used email action alerts to call on and empower people to urge policy makers and others whose decisions affect our health and rights – from politicians in Washington to television executives – to do the right thing. Action Alerts are effective not just on a national level but on a local level. But we need your help – you know best what’s going on in your state, in your community, and on your college or high school campus.

That’s why with Amplify’s Action Center you can create your own Action Alerts.

Has your college campus recently made condoms more difficult to access? You can inform your fellow students and ask them to email the Dean asking to reverse the decision.

Is your school board making a decision about what sex education curriculum will be taught in your schools? Inform your community and ask them to email board members supporting comprehensive sex education.

Did your local paper run an op-ed against same-sex marriage? Ask your community to email the editor speaking out in favor of equal rights for GLBTQ people.

In these cases and many more, creating your own Action Alert is a great way to mobilize your community on an issue you care about – and to make your network of online activists even larger!

The Basics

An Action Alert is a letter an organization sends to supporters calling on them to take action to influence decisions and policy. Supporters are asked to send a pre-written letter via email to a target (the person or group you are trying to influence). They may have the opportunity to add their own story or comments to the pre-written letter. So, a finished Action Alert includes both the Alert Email, sent to potential supporters or allies; and the Letter to the Target, which supporters will send to the target.

You fill out an online form providing us with the target(s) contact information, a draft of the Alert Email, and the Letter to the Target. We enter it into our system, and then send you an email with a link to send out. We can also send the alert to Advocates’ youth activist network if you’d like us to. It’s as simple as that!

Let’s Get Started

Check out the step by step example below – or go straight to the form to get started!

First, identify your purpose and your target.

As an example, let’s use the “school board making decisions about sex education curricula” scenario. The purpose is to convince the school board to select comprehensive sex education; and the target(s) are the members of the school board.

Second, write your Letter to the Target. You might say:

Dear School Board Member,

As a resident of [your town] I urge you to support comprehensive sexuality education. Comprehensive sex education gives young people the information they need to prevent pregnancy and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Comprehensive sex education has been proven effective. Abstinence-only programs are based in ideology rather than science and have repeatedly been proven ineffective. Please support comprehensive sex education for the students of our community.

Sincerely,
(Name)

If you aren’t certain what to say to back up your position, consult the Issues section on Amplify [link] for great information on the issues, or contact Joe for assistance.

Now, write the Alert Email. This email should include:

• Who is the Target for your campaign and why it’s important to contact them
• What you would like the Target to do
• Any brief info about your issue you think people need to know

You might say:

Dear activist,

In two weeks our school board will make a decision about what sort of sex education our public schools should have – comprehensive sex education or abstinence-only programs. Let’s let them know that we have the right to honest sex education. Abstinence-only programs censor teachers from providing us with all of the info we need to protect our health and save our lives! It’s important that you contact the members of school board and urge them to choose comprehensive sex education for the students of our community.

Submit the form, and you’re done! We’ll email you a link to your Action Alert soon!

So, are you ready? Click here to create your own action alert.