How to celebrate Park Advocacy Month
May is Park Advocacy Month here at California State Parks Foundation and we want to make sure you know how you can advocate for parks this month, and year-round. Participating in government should be easy, and throughout this article we’ll give you a few tips on how to make your voice heard in the halls of the state legislature.
Find your legislator
If you don’t know who your legislator is, head over to
https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ and simply type in your address. The site will instantly pull up your state Assemblymembers and Senator. This is the first step to making your voice heard because these two people represent the interests of you and your community in Sacramento.
Check out our advocate resources page
Government can seem daunting at first, but it’s actually quite simple once you familiarize yourself with the process. We created https://www.calparks.org/advocateresources for our members to learn a little bit about the advocacy process. We have articles about Park Advocacy Day, the proposed 2022-23 California budget, and more!.
See which bills we are following that help state parks
Head to calparks.org/legislative-agenda to see which bills we are following as they move throughout the process to become law. The page shows each bill’s status and whether we support or oppose it, as well as an option to read more.
Sign a petition
We frequently provide opportunities for park champions to contact their lawmakers using petitions. Sometimes these petitions are in support of a specific bill, but they can also be simply urging lawmakers to support certain types of legislation or resource allocation. Go to https://www.calparks.org/act-now to see which petitions are currently available and sign your name. Our advocates and members have successfully helped us push forward many pieces of legislation to help state parks.
Join us at Park Advocacy Day for our State Parks Fair
On May 17, 2022 from 11:00am to 3pm we will be hosting a very special State Parks Fair in Sacramento on the Capitol Lawn. This gathering will bring parks to life, allowing visitors to interact with and learn more about the value of California state parks. Booths will highlight different park partners and ways to get involved. Sign up at https://donate.calparks.org/event/state-parks-fair-with-rei/e400343
We hope this article showed you how to raise your voice to make a true difference in your community. We all have the power to make a positive difference for our state parks. If you have any further questions on advocacy, please don’t hesitate to email advocacy@calparks.org.