Thank You Note to Congressional Offices

Please thank the Congressional staff that you met with during the Grassroots Fly-In! You may find a draft thank you note below for guidance. Customize the thank you email by adding any relevant information and/or details from your Capitol Hill meetings, and then to the Congressional staffer you met with. This will show appreciation and reinforce your advocacy. If you were on a team, the team leader may send one thank you note on behalf of the group. If you are the sender, please cc the other members of the team on the email.

Sample Subject Line: Thank You and Follow Up from 6/15 Meeting 

Dear [Name of Staffer/Representative/Senator]:

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me [and additional participants] on June 15th regarding policies to protect children online and invest in youth mental health research. We are heartened by the interest Congress has shown in these issues and hope your office will lend support to the proposals we discussed during our meeting, listed below. 

[Co-sponsor / Become an original co-sponsor] of the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1409). APA Services is working to identify co-sponsors for this legislation in the Senate, and original co-sponsors for companion legislation in the House, which we hope will be introduced soon. This request would create a duty of care for social media platforms to mitigate risks and increase safeguards for child and adolescent users, as well as facilitate research on social media’s effect on youth. This legislation is important – research demonstrates that adolescents’ exposure to online discrimination and hate predicts increases in anxiety and depressive symptoms, among other mental health harms.

Join [Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) / Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)] in introducing legislation to authorize additional funding for youth mental health research. Specifically, this proposed legislation would authorize $100 million /year for 5 years for a research initiative at NIH to improve youth mental health. This is a critical time for the nation’s children and adolescents: the suicide rate for young Americans ages 10 to 19 increased by 40 percent from 2001 to 2019, while emergency room visits for self-harm rose by 88 percent. Science is needed to lead the way out of the youth mental health crisis.

[Please add in any additional information regarding local needs that you may have mentioned in your meeting.]

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions or require more information. We look forward to continuing to work with you to address the mental health needs and online safety of the next generation.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to meet with your office. 

Sincerely,

[Name/Title]

[University/Institution]

[Address]

(Phone: XXXX)