I have decided that I would write a letter for the communication choice. In the letter I explained who I was and why I was writing to them and for what purpose. I have decided to write to mayor Michael Nutter who vetoed the bill in June 2011. In the letter I expressed to him how I am a supporter of the sick leave bill and that people who have to take care of a sick family member for a few days or take a day off for maybe people who has lost someone recently, these people should be payed.    I explained that I think in the work place of businesses people forget that outside of work the people who work for them have lives outside of the office, they have children and husbands and families that they need to attend to sometimes and I think that people lose the humane part of themselves while working and worrying about money.

        The first step in writing the letter was to figure out who i could write to that could make a difference, when I did research one people who could make a difference that I could get into easy contact with and the first person I thought of when I decided was Mayor Nutter he is the Mayor of Philadelphia and he has also vetoed a bill for it so that made it even more easy I knew that in writing to him about the issue that he would care because he was already involved with the situation. The next step in making contact with the the mayor. 

        The second step is sending out the letter and hoping that it gets to the right person at the right time. The whole point in trying to make contact with someone directly in the system is to get some sort of result on the issue that you found interesting or hopefully someone can contact me back letting me know specifics on what is to come with the sick leave bill in the future so that I can be more updated on my topic.
 
        What I hope will come from m contacting the mayor is for him to know that there are people that are outside of legislation who do pay attention to what is happening in our congress and our government and there are people who know the importance of the future things that are going to take place today for tomorrow. I hope that when he gets this letter he responses with positive feedback and is more then impressed with the project that we have been working on for the past months.

Since I am working with the curfew scene in Philadelphia, I needed something or someone that would help me with lobbying this problem. Overall the main point is to try and get the law switched for 17 year olds to be out later then ten at night. To have this happen I need to get the council members of Philadelphia to join me and this lobbying quest. I will be doing various things to try and get this done, for example I will be sending the council members emails about different facts on why the age restriction should be brought down to 17 and older. Then I can also sign up for a membership with NYRA who also will help me promote my case on curfews.



After I am done with those emails to the council I plan on getting teenagers who are 17 and work to sing a potation that shows that they work. This can help in a lot of ways because if get enough people to sing this potation maybe something will be changed in the law. I also plan on getting a rally of Philadelphia residents to come out and protest against this law since the money can be going to something else, such as after school programs. Also if you want to be a member and fight for your rights sign up here.

Natalie Sanchez

To communicate my lobbying action to the decision makers concerning after school programs in Philadelphia, I decided to call the two women in charge after school programs in Philadelphia and e-mail the president of the After school Activities Partnerships (ASAP), Marciene Mattleman. In my e-mail to Marciene Mattleman, I let her know my purpose for contacting her and asked her a few questions about how after school programs worked: 1.) Where do funds for after school programs come from in these times where a lot of the money dedicated to school programs are being cut? 2.) What does it take to run/establish an after school program? 3.) What can I do to support or help out the after school programs that already exist in Philadelphia? No only did I e-mail Ms. Marciene Mattleman, but I also took an extra step and called the one of the two women that are in charge of the after school programs in Philadelphia, Ms. Iris Howard. I found her information on the Philadelphia City Council’s website. She did not respond my phone call yet, but I left her a message with a short summary of my purpose for calling and gave her my contact information for follow up. I am still waiting for a response from both of these contacts. 

I was originally just going to contact my local recreation building, as they offer after school programs for the neighborhood children, to lobby my cause, but I then decided to speak with the people who have more power over the decisions made about the school programs in our city. This way, I would get my point across in a more direct, personal, and stronger way. If I were to have contacted my local recreation center, I would have only spoken with one of the many heads of after school programs in Philadelphia; I would have only covered one out of the ten districts of Philadelphia. This would have gotten me only a fraction of the way into what I want to accomplish-more funding towards after school programs of Philadelphia. 

In order to follow up with my two contacts, I will wait for them to respond to my phone calls and emails. I have already taken the first step of speaking with them and introducing myself to them, now I just have to present my case to them. I will do this by finding other groups of people, possibly Philadelphia towns people, including children and parents who also want funding for after school programs in our city. I might take my lobbying a step further by actually visiting city council with other people with similar goals to mine, and actually speaking directly with Ms. Iris Howard and Anne Marie Dunne about funding for after school programs. I will have my lobbying partners present their personal experiences and reasons why they need these services, and will then present my reason for why it is beneficial to fund these programs. If this does not work, then I will need  a stronger voice to represent my cause and might have to contact my district council member, Mr. Frank DiCicco. If I can communicate my lobbying cause to him, he will have more of a chance of getting word to the other council members, and there might be more funding for after school programs. 

I feel that speaking to strong decision makers concerning lobbying topics is the most direct and strongest way to make progress. I feel however, that since we are high school students and since there are so many other different situations going on in city council, congress, and the supreme court that our lobbying causes are going to be overlooked. We would have a better chance of being heard if we join a group of people who have a similar cause as us or if we can get someone with a lot of power in government to represent us. Otherwise, we are all just numbers without a voice or representation. 

I focused on one website that allows me to fight back against my city's curfew. The main point I am trying to do is make sure that society knows about the curfew law. I am trying to convince my council members in my area that curfews does cause an effect towards teens. The website I decided to work off of is basically a site that allows kids/teens to fight back against curfews laws. It also allows those who are fighting against to recognize and take more notice on the overall constitutional issues. I decided to apply to this membership in order to take action of curfew laws.

First I applied for membership and now have my own profile which, helps me promote my lobbying case on curfews. 

Next the site provides different forums and discussion from kids all over who disagree with the curfew law as well in their city. From this I will be able to spread out to kids how we can help convince council members in our community I will be able to post and create my own forums where I will be able to add people in and I will be able to promote it on Twitter or Facebook any social networking site that teens use. I will be able to become apart of the issues and join different forums and discussion.

I plan to create a forum and allow all to join and allow them to share their opinions on curfews. I will be ​asking their support to assist me in this overall lobbying topic about curfew and having them help me write a letter to my representative about our overall opinions of curfew. We will be trying to convince them about all the positives on the curfew law. How much of an impact it has on us and what it is we are willing to give. I will introduce them to the forum so they will be able to see the overall thoughts of kids from all over. I will send them the post over email in order to get their attention.

FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Vs. Cooper.

Question: What did congress mean by actual damages?

The issue:  The issue is do mental and emotional injuries count and actual damages under the privacy act of 1974?

 

Cooper sued:  In 2007 Cooper sued the federal government saying the three agencies in safe pilots intentionally violated the privacy act when they sent his records to other agencies trying to cause him embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress

 Privacy act no. 5 U.S.C

 

Cooper’s rational:  he felt as though people knowing his HIV status would have a bad effect on his job and his being gay would affect other aspects in his life.

 

CASE:  This case was about a man named Stanmore Cawthon Cooper was private airplane pilot since 1964 and when you are a pilot you get a flying certificate and to legally be able to fly a plane you have to follow the rules set by the FAA which is a pilot has to have a valid up to date “airman certificate” and this means the you have to let the FAA know if you have any illness or disabilities or surgeries you have had or have currently. This became a problem for cooper because in 1985 he was diagnosed with HIV and he knew that he would not be able to get his certification to fly with this on his records so he decided that he would stop flying. Then in 1994 with this he had to give in his medical information again but this time he chose not to give the information on him having HIV. This time because he did not tell them about his HIV he received his flying certificate and for ten years he was flying for ten years each year still keeping this information hidden. Copper eventually got caught when one his health started getting worse and he applied for SSA (social security Administration.) for long term disability. and when he applied he told the SSA the he had HIV with the understanding the everything he puts in the application is private and confidential in order for them to see if they find him eligible. He was found eligible and received the benefits from SSA for a year during this year his health improved drastically and he no longer needed the benefits so he drops the SAA he was receiving. In 2002 and agency named DOT (department of transportation came out with “Operation safe Pilot” which was an investigation to find unfit people with pilot certificates and this agency was partnered with the SAA so during the investigation they went through the list of people who were pilots and cross examined their information to make sure everything matched up and while doing this they found that Cooper had been lying and not telling them about his HIV status.  Because he lied to the government in 2005 he was found guilty on 3 counts of false statements to government agency. He pleaded guilty to one count. His pilot certificate was revoked. No decision has been made but Copper is fought to get his pilot certificate back and he did after careful consideration the FAA reinstated it for him.

            It seems as though in the year 2011, the immigration amnesty bill has lost some of its importance. The outlook for immigration legislation during the 2011-2012 debate seems to be getting worse as time goes on.. However, in July 2010, it was announced that 81% of citizens voted in support of the bill. As for the votes of the elected officials, it seems as though it is split down the middle. The bill has been voted on countless times and nothing has really moved us forward. There is a policy for immigration amnesty however it has not changed since 2007. It covers what is expected of undocumented workers currently in the US, border security, employment verification, the guest worker program, permanent residence through the Point System, and other things.

            There is only one non-profit immigration outreach center that is available for people who support immigration amnesty to have on their side to try and get the bill passed. The most important people in this issue are the congressmen and women. They are the ones going back and forth about the situation and the President is just sitting there waiting to sign the bill because he’s already down for it. In order to help try and pass this bill on to the President I would have to convince most of the congress that this isn’t a bad idea.

 

The other people who are working on this are all of the pro-immigration organizations. I think I could work with them. I would just have to make sure I know exactly what I’m talking about, which I do. I could also influence other people with family overseas who would love to come over to the US. They know what it’s like to have their family rejected for no reason just as much as I do. The more support we get, the more likely congress is to give in.

This has been going on for years, the first amnesty day was in 1986 and I’m hoping it isn’t the last. It’s been 25 years and we still can’t get it together. The only key date I could find was March 12^th, 2011 when Utah passed their amnesty bill.

 

 

Because of budget cuts Philadelphia school nurses have been cut. So there for there is less care for students with serious heath needs. A lot of neighborhoods with poor health care insurance really depend on a school nurses to help those children who can’t go to the doctors. These nurses that work in the schools have the same education as a nurse in a hospital. So trying to cut back really didn’t do much for the school district but really harm it more. The district already eliminated 47 school nurses in June, leaving just 230 to address the complex health needs of 161,000 students in both public and private schools. Now the district wants to lay off another 51 nurses (10 percent) of what we have now, by January 1, 2012 , SAD !

 

Acting Superintendent Leroy Nunery and Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch, also announced a significant reduction in school nursing services. By January 1, 2012 schools will know what has been cut with the new budget cuts. So by them doing the budget cuts they plain to save 10 million dollars but at the same time they are trying to do something that will harm something else. It’s no winning here because if they keep the nurses them they are losing money but if they fire the nurses then they are losing people that are needed in the school the most if something goes wrong. Now its bad enough that we don’t have full time nurses but to get rid of them all together are just going to harm the school district really.

 

I think that if you really want to make a difference then you need to be at one or more of these meetings that they are having disusing budget cuts on school nurses and teachers and so much more.

 

District Budget Hearings:

 

The District is hosting several community meetings for the public to weigh in on its proposed 2011-12 budget.

 

•            Tuesday, May 3, at 6 p.m., Meredith Elementary, 725 S. Fifth St.

•            Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m., Dunbar Elementary, 1750 N. 12th St.

•            Monday, May 9, at 6 p.m., Conwell Middle, 1849 E. Clearfield St.

•            Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m., Catherine Elementary, 6600 Chester Ave.

•            Monday, May 16, at 6 p.m., Fitzpatrick Elementary, 11061 Knights Rd.

•            Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m., Ellwood Elementary, 6701 N. 13th St.

 

Here are more topics that are becoming a big issue because of the cut backs for schools. Please google each one to see what is really going on I bet it will shock you big time the cut back are out of control. 

 

- More news stories on the topic, compiled by The Notebook

-District: 3,800 positions may be eliminated The Notebook blog

District Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch presented the 2011-12 District budget and outlined likely areas for cuts if the District funding situation doesn’t change.

 

- What gets cut, what gets spared The Notebook blog

- Phila. schools to see 16 percent layoffs The Inquirer

- Philly schools may cut nearly 1,300 teachers AP via Bloomberg Businessweek

- School District Calls for Big Budget Cuts Roxborough-Manayunk Patch

- Philly School District Plans 3,820 Job Cuts NBC Philadelphia

- DN Editorial: Killing charter reimbursements could be deadly to school district Daily   News

- A token of school cuts’ disaffection: End of free bus rides Daily News

- District budget slashes deep: Nearly 4,000 could lose jobs The Hall Monitor blog

- Phila. schools may cut jobs to close budget gap 6 ABC

 

web sites used to help with finding all information above:

 

 http://www.thenotebook.org/blog/114364/today-src-planning-meeting

 

http://phillyschoolsearch.com/2011/04/28/say-goodbye-to-full-day-kindergarten-philadelphia-and-much-more/

 

http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-16/news/30524912_1_school-nurses-nursing-services-substance-abuse

 

In order to pursue my issue, I need to convince my senators to back the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. The main resource I've been using is the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families website, which is a preexisting group lobbying for the bill. It describes itself as "an nationwide effort to pass smart federal policies that protect us from toxic chemicals." The website has various ways to get involved in the campaign. My first step as a citizen lobbyist was to join the site. Now, I receive their update emails. I also have participated in various ways they are advocating for the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011:

• They ask people to send an email to their state legislators about the act. Their website has an interface to make the sending of these emails easy. However, the email is not personalized. Instead, it relies on the celebrity status of Jessica Alba, who has become the face of the campaign. I still feel that this effort is a good idea if it attracts high enough numbers. In addition to participating, I am going to ask others to also fill out the form, using Facebook.
  
  

• In a similar, and more personal, effort, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families asked its members to upload a holiday family photo, along with a brief message to senators about why toxic chemical control is important to us. I joined this effort as well, uploading a photo of myself with my little brother and the message "I want my little brother to be safe from harmful chemicals! Please cosponsor the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. Happy holidays." Although this action is much more personal than the letter, a single person's actions do not mean much. I plan to ask friends to also send in photos.
  
  

I also plan to call my senators about the act, and leave a message asking them to cosponsor the legislation. I will ask my friends to do the same, and have written a sample script to make the process easier. I wrote one of these scripts for a call to Bob Casey, and one for a call to Pat Toomey. I tried to use my previous research into the senators' interests and values to inform the writing of my script.

Generally, I am focusing on getting many people to participate in the emails, holiday cards, and phone calls. Because I cannot vote yet, I doubt that even a strong message coming solely from me would have much impact. However, a large number of people always have more influence than just one.