In August 2019, the Texas CASA Public Policy team sent out a survey to Legislative Advocacy Team (LAT) chairs to solicit input about how they operate and what Texas CASA can do to best support them. The results were extremely informative and have great insight into how we can improve legislative advocacy in the network.
All of the LATs responding to the survey attended CASA Day at the Capitol in 2019, and 78 percent had weighed in on the network’s legislative priorities before the 86th Session. The average LAT size was seven members, with the most members being 15 and the fewest being three.
LAT chairs expressed a desire to build legislative knowledge within their groups, and develop their teams’ skills on communicating effectively with legislators. Suggestions for improvement on Texas CASA’s end included more in-person trainings, better call quality and more varied scheduling on the bi-weekly video calls, as not all can do lunch-hour meetings.
Thank you to all the teams who participated in the survey! LAT teams are a key to Texas CASA’s success, and the victories of the 86th Session would not have been reached without you. The Texas CASA Public Policy team will continue to look for ways to better support the LATs, and is always open to suggestions.
There is also a lot in the works right now! We’ve released a Texas CASA Community-Based Care Guide. In addition to two webinars this fall on different policy issues, soon we will release a web-based LAT training resource. The Public Policy team will also be conducting six regional policy trainings from November through April. We will keep you updated on those dates and locations.
Please reach out at [email]publicpolicy@texascasa.org[/email] with any questions, concerns or suggestions.