NPAction Update
Vol 4, Issue 1
1/13/2005

Welcome to first edition of the NPAction Update for 2006.

In This Issue:

*Featured Article*
Using Symbols to Make Your Point: Tennessee Group Sends Jug of Polluted Water on 400 Mile Boat Trip to State Capitol
Faced with the threat of severe environmental damage from expansion of mountain top removal strip mining in Tennessee, Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), a grassroots organization, came up with a unique way to get their message out and bring their issue to the top decision-maker- the Governor. In July 2004 they launched a 400 mile, 16 day boat trip from the mountain headwaters to the state capitol in Nashville to carry a "message in a bottle" - a jug of water and sediment from mining runoff that represents potential for future statewide environmental damage. Click here to read more.

*Related Article*
Working with the Media
The attention decisionmakers pay to your issues may depend upon the attention paid by the media as well. Good advocates regard the media as deserving as much attention as working with elected officials and working with the grassroots. There are three reasons: politicians pay attention to the media (it provides a way to check the community pulse); media can be used to reach other voters; and misinformation that appears in the media needs to be challenged. The article also features links to tips on writing letters to the editor and press releases. This is an excerpt from Part 2 of the OMB Watch publication So You Want to Make a Difference. Click here to read more.

*Featured Link*
The Communications Consortium Media Center is a public interest media center dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations use media and new technologies as tools for policy change. The website's media tips and training section features sections from their book Strategic Communications for Nonprofits including: a guide to placing op-eds and letters to the editor in the top 100+ newspapers in the United States by circulation; working with families, working with the media; and moving messages with public service advertising.

*"Steal This Code": Put NPAction on Your Site*

NPAction invites organizations to share our tools on their websites. Just copy the HTML code from our site, and you're ready to go (but when you steal the code, just let us know!).

"Steal the Code" today
http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/600/1/1988

*NPAction Update Archives*
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/210/
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