“What are we doing to build the fighting force we need?” she asked. “Are we going to be ready to do battle when Congress takes up the issue again, perhaps as early as next year?”

Almost every speaker today has made the same point, she noted. What’s needed are two kinds of activists, and they need to work together. Grasstops are the face and voice of the network. They speak out in the media. They write op-ed pieces. They make the case at public meetings. And they work with lawmakers, in the state capitol and in Congress, to craft law.

These out-front advocates are critical, Jacoby went on, but they can’t do it alone. They need numbers – large numbers – of employers and other voters backing them up behind the scenes, writing and calling lawmakers to make their views known.

The good news: these two different types of activists augment and support each other. The grassroots shore up the grasstops, putting political muscle behind the talking points. And the grasstops make it easier for the grassroots to write and call, blazing the way and testing the message for the troops filling in behind them.

“The challenge we face,” Jacoby concluded, “is how to build this two-tiered army. How do we work together to get it done?”

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD TOGETHER

Participants wrestled with the question for the rest of the session. What more do state-based coalitions want and need from the national federation? What more are they prepared to do – in what ways are they prepared to ramp up their efforts? And how can the network, DC- and state-based, come together to go to the next level – to prepare itself for what lies ahead, both in the states and in Congress?

• Coalitions need more help with messaging: media talking points, op-ed templates, model letters to legislators and more.
• Coalitions need more and better factual ammunition: economic data, “myths and facts,” more frequent mailings on substantive matters, a better RESOURCES page on the IW website that makes the latest economic studies and other material easily available.
• As part of its effort to help coalitions with messaging, IW has launched a Speakers Bureau and hopes more coalition members will participate. How it works: IW provides talking points and media training for any employer willing to speak to the press and put a human face on the need for larger legal labor force.

BETTER COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION 

• IW can and should do a better job of communicating state coalitions’ success stories.
• IW should become the convener of center-right pro-immigration groups nationwide.
• There should be a MEMBERS ONLY section on the IW webpage, a place to share tactics and strategy beyond public view.
• IW could strengthen the network by requiring more of state-based coalitions, possibly asking them to help support the federation financially. Contributing financially would give partners a greater sense of ownership in the common effort.
• IW is creating two committees and hopes coalition members will participate: a Policy Committee to discuss legislative ideas and a Political Committee to track and grade members of Congress.
• IW is preparing a national campaign – to be launched in spring 2009 – to refocus Congress on the need to fix the immigration system, and it is counting on state coalitions to partner in the effort.

• The federation and state-based groups need to work together to reach out to customers and suppliers.
• The federation and its partners need to work together to reach the grassroots electronically – co-branding messages pushed out through state networks that draw potential activists into a central database.
• More coalitions should take advantage of the capability IW already makes available: a state-of-the-art database service employers can use to write to legislators, both in their states and in Washington.

To learn how you can help and to take action today,
visit our website at ImmigrationWorksUSA.org.