SHRM’s Government Affairs department launched a new member advocacy initiative in 2010. Referred to as the Advocacy Team (or A-Team), this member-involvement program seeks to establish a SHRM advocacy leader in each of the 435 congressional districts throughout the country.
In brief, these leaders, known as
Advocacy Captains, will be responsible for establishing a relationship with their federal legislator locally within the congressional district in which they reside. The A-Team is being rolled out in a series of target states launched each year over the next five years.
Ten states plus one pilot state were selected for 2010, with another 10 identified for 2011.
- The 2010 target states were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, with California as a pilot.
- States targeted for 2011 are Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
SHRM’s Government Affairs staff has been conducting in-person and online training sessions for each A-Team target state, educating SHRM members about how to establish and build relationships with legislators, while also sharing SHRM’s stance in regard to policies that impact the HR profession. Sixteen in-person and online sessions were hosted in the 2010 target states. Another 150 SHRM members participated in the first session for a 2011 target state (Texas) in early December.
Thus far, nearly 250 SHRM members have volunteered to join the A-Team as either Advocacy Captains or HR Advocates. We expect these numbers to increase dramatically throughout 2011 as more sessions are held for the 2011 target states and we redouble our efforts in the 2010 target states.
For more information about the A-Team, please click HERE. To sign-up for the A-Team, please click HERE.