By: Teila Allmond

The goal is to develop awareness about the fact that SEPTA is not only reliable but doesn't live up to the expectations for the price that we pay. Recently prices have been raised but along with that, so has the pay of the workers. I would also like to discuss what possible techniques to reduce the price to ride SEPTA, with my representative. First, i sent an email to Joe Sestak explaining my point.

Congressman Joe Sestak,

            My classmate and I are working on lobbying the affordability and reliability of our local means of transportation, SETPA. We are both high school students that attend Science Leadership Academy in Central Philadelphia therefore we ride SEPTA quite often. Besides this, we are also traveling to sports games our friend’s houses so we’ve experienced almost every aspect of SEPTA whether bus, trolley, train or el. This requires us to rely heavily on the idea that SEPTA will work consistently and be a means by which we can travel effectively and at the same time not destroy our pockets since our budgets are quite low. It would be wonderful if you could give us feedback on this topic. Thank You Sir.

Teila Allmond and Aimee Leong,

Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia.

We haven't received a response yet.

Obesity, Nutrition and Physical Activity In Philadelphia

Put simply, a lack of money prevents residents from purchasing food for a healthy diet resulting in a third of the city’s adult population to be overweight and 57-percent of Philly’s kids, reports the Daily News.

The Lobbying Project

I am lobbying against obesity caused by misinformed and uneducated citizens in the Pennsylvania area. My motivation for investing and influencing the public policy comes from the reported obesity weight in the United States which stands at 147 million people on average. It is a problem that has been viewed at over the  course of  50 years and continues to expand rather than ceased. My plan is to  begin small ( in Philadelphia) and  after improvement   has been made, I am going to broaden my lobbying project to the state of Pennsylvania for better accomplishment.

Goal:

1. To help create  sustained media campaigns to promote healthy food choices and increased physical activity in the Philadelphia area.
2. Change the affordability of fresh, healthy foods in communities
3. Host interventions to inform the public about some healthy choices that they could make to improve themselves

The Main Supporters

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

OAC ( Obesity Action Coalitio)

The Main Opponents

The Philadelphia media and supermarkets, stocks, and salesmen.

Pending Legislation Dealing With American Obesity?

Pending legislation's includes states receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18 , then report the information to the state government. After, the state government would report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis.

Background Information

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, sixty percent of Pennsylvania adults are overweight.

Representatives

1. Giridhar Mallya, Director of Policy and Planning, Giridhar.Mallya@phila.gov, 215-686-5230
2. Nan Feyler, Chief of Staff, nan.feyler@phila.gov, 215-686-5206

Know their districts: Philadelphia

How has my legislator voted on my issue in the past?

They have created  Communities Putting Prevention to Work and Centers for Disease Control. A grant of 20 million has been in affect for Philadelphia  since February 26th 2010  for funding opportunity for health departments to implement sustainable

What do you and your representative have in common?

1. We both suggest that the persuasive media is implemented for positive correlation in the citizens health.
2. We are working on educating  the public about nutritional content and food choices
3. Eliminate some of the violence and  grant  the opportunity of of walking and biking in the city with safety, to create a easy exercise mechanism

Sources :

 http://www.phila.gov/recovery/HSS_PrevtoWork.html http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blogs/stimulus_tracker/2010/03/philadelphia_gets_healthy_slice_of_anti-obesity_funds.html

http://kdka.com/aom/Pennsylvania.Obesity.Rates.2.378994.html

http://www.votesmart.org/search.php?search=pennsylvania&x=0&y=0

Election day questions:

1. What motivated you to come out and vote?

My mother because she told me to come out and vote since I wasn’t doing anything with my sorry life .

2. What would you like to see changed in our political system?

Less charter schools .

3. Do you vote in every election? (How regularly do you vote?)

I just started voting November 2nd 2009.

4. Do you know why we vote on Tuesday?

Because people have to work on Monday.

5. Where have you encountered the highest amount of ad campaigning?

Print

6. What was the most memorable campaign ad that you have

encountered?

None

7. Are you always sure of who you are going to vote for when you walk

into the booth or are you still deliberating?

Im always sure.

8. What changes do you hope to see in Philadelphia as a result of this

election?

I don’t know

9. What impact do you feel that your vote will have on the election?

A small impact , Im pretty sure if I would have passed on  voting it wouldn’t have mattered.

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10. Did you learn about voting in school? If yes, did that impact your

willingness to vote today?

No.

Direct action strategies

Letters to the editor, editorials and commentary.

To demonstrate high grass root powers , I believe that the most effective thing to do would be have each district of Pennsylvania paint murals of what they see everyday as a example of what could be improved.  To be even more effective each block can prepare a paper of reasons why there should be new motivation and education programs for healthier living.  Doing this will allow multiple people to not only learn the problem personally but to inspire them to help. The legislators will be able to target the obesity issue with a better well thought  out plan.

1 . Murals - The murals will represent the people, the  unhealthy environment, and the consumer price index that the people wish to change.  This creative piece will cover domination and make the strategy personal .

2. The letters-  The letters will explain the murals literally and include personal opinions and experiences from the people of Pennsylvania. This literal piece will help recruit the legislators and force multiplication.

3. Fund Public Classes - Specifically  classes for children . These classes will address the current generation because  it has been estimated the health care costs attributable to obesity are greater than any other health condition.

I am lobbying for two bills. The first act is the Healthy for Healthy Schools Act of 2009, sponsored by Blanche Lincoln. This aims have nutritious school meals that meet dietary guidelines. I have emailed Blanche Lincoln the following message.

To United States Senator Blanche Lincoln:                                 Hi I’m Emma Connell. I am currently attending Science Leadership Academy and for my American Government class I have been assigned the task to lobby for an issue. I decided to lobby for something that affects me and many other kids all across the nation: this issue is school lunches.  I currently focused on lobbying for the Healthy Food For Healthy Schools Act of 2009, proposed by you Blanche Lincoln. So far the Act has been introduced on September 8th, 2009 and reviewed by the committee and has been referred to the committee of agricultural, nutrition, and forestry. But even if the Bill does get passed many schools aren’t up to date with kitchen standards. Although, the United States Department of Agricultural can offer nutritious foods, schools  still won’t have the materials to cook nutritious food and instead unhealthy food such as chicken nuggets and pizza will continue to dominate school meals. How do you plan to fix this problem? Are there any issues you are having with this bill?

I also emailed people supporters and non-supporters of the School Meal Enhancement Act, which strives for a higher percentage of kids to receive free or reduced school meals. I focused on this act because if the Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act of 2009 gets passed this will allow for nutritious food to be available to a larger percentage of kids. I emailed supporters of the act such as Joe Sestak and Robert Brady. I also emailed representative Jim McGovern who is against the bill. In my email i asked him why he is not in support of the act and if there is anything that can be changed in the bill, that would get him to support the School Meal Enhancement Act.

To Joe Sestak and Robert Brady:                                                 Hi I’m Emma Connell. I am currently attending Science Leadership Academy and for my American Government class I have been assigned the task to lobby for an issue. I decided to lobby for something that affects me and many other kids all across the nation: this issue is school lunches.  I currently focused on lobbying for the School Meal Enhancement Act proposed by Joe Sestak.  So far the School Meal Enhancement Act has been introduced,  referred to committee, reported by committee, and has been presented to the House of Representatives who earlier proposed voting on a Senate-passed version of the child nutrition bill. However, 106 House Democrats addressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi  and said they were no longer in support of the Senate version. Instead they called for their own House bill, which does not contain the food stamp cuts. Further debate and discussion on the bill will not take place until winter 2010.  I was curious if you knew anything about the date( s) for debate and discussion of the School Meal Enhancement Act. I was also wondering if you have enough support of the Act and if you do need support, how do you plan to gain support of democrats against the bill. Would it be by reducing how the act cuts into food stamps? If there is anything I can do please let me know.

-Thank you

Not only did I send out emails but I also made fliers and posted them around the city. On the flier the two bills pending for legislation and the issue of unhealthy school meals is addressed. I have links for people to go to and vote in support of both bills.

Below is proof that I emailed people and pictures of my fliers posted.

Today I emailed PA state representative, Daryl Metcalfe and asked about his views on anchor babies. This is the email I sent to him:

Daryl Metcalfe,

Thank you for your email.

I personally receive and read the communications that are sent to this address.

I appreciate the time that you have taken to contact me. 

If your message expresses your view on legislation or a specific policy, please be assured that your input will be considered.

You will be contacted by one of my staff if you have sent a constituent service request or have shared a concern that requires further action by my office.

Serving the 12th District,
Daryl Metcalfe
State Representative
Pennsylvania House of Representatives

I think I will email him again soon on the steps of making this aware to others and also how would I effectively present this information to others without starting a fight or arguement

In the middle of this week I had sent an e-mail to The Humane League on December 8th and got a replied today (December 9th) and got really wonderful news on being volunteers to help notify the public on animal cruelty which was the issue of Aj and mine lobbying project. 

Here the emails: 

“Good Morning, My name is Leeann Nguyen and I am a student at Science Leadership Academy and I was wondering if you had any projects available for volunteers coming up? I know that this email is a little surprising because it came out of nowhere. I'll give you a little background to why I am asking, I’m a senior and I am taking an American Government class and as an assignment we have to do a lobbying project, I am lobbying about animal cruelty and I had came across The Humane League and saw that you are a project coordinator, and so I was wondering if it was possible to attend a project or a meeting? I’m really dedicated to this issues and hope that it is possible. Thank you for the time and consideration about this email and have an amazing day!

Sincerely,

Leeann Nguyen  

Responses.

Hi Leeann,

“Thanks for reaching out to us! I have sent your email along to our volunteer coordinator, Lydia. She can help you learn about the different volunteer opportunities that we have. Lydia is CCed on this response.”

Take care,

Sally Andersen

Now this is Lydia

Dear Leeann,

“I coordinate volunteers for The Humane League of Philadelphia. Thanks so much for expressing interest in The Humane League. Below, I've listed our most common ongoing activities for which we need volunteers; perhaps one or more of them would be of interest to you for your assignment. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 (By the way, consider attending our upcoming Holiday Party this Sunday, December 12th! It would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the Humane League and its work to help animals)”

Thanks again!

Lydia Chaudhry
Volunteer Coordinator, The Humane League of Philadelphia. 

Amazing right! The projects that she had suggested to me was getting colleges, high schools and restaurants aware of vegetarianism, promoting vegetarianism of MYSPACE and the holiday party. So, as of now I am going to discuss with my partner in going to see them and actually get hands on with this issue. :]

My lobbying assignment has much to do with the federal law making and a federal law would have to be made for my bill to become effective. After researching for the past three months it is evident that their is not a particular person against this law or their is not a particular person for this law. It is being handled on a schedule that would allow constant revising and opinions to be involved in the decision making.

As the process of this bill continues a person who may have been for the law may not be in another setting due to revisions made.

Idea:

Sending out emails to me is not effective. I would have to send out hundreds of emails to people who would not have the time to personally message me back in time to finish this project or not knowing if the person that replies to it is actually the person written to. Instead I would like to create a 30 second PSA or commercial with people from all ages and race groups that have been convicted served their time but cannot vote to say "I made a mistake but Ive changed" with a quick profile of the person running by on the screen with their age, race, what they did and how long ago. 

After making this video I would then:

• Publish on a public blogging site.
• Share the link with a News Station.
• Publish on SLA's blogging site.
• Send the link to the Washington Post
• Send the link to the congressman who introduced the law.