December 11 Continuing Resolution Activation Toolkit 

How To Use The Advocacy Toolkit

No form of advocacy is too small. Nor do you have to be a policy expert or seasoned advocate to partake in advocacy. Just five minutes of your time can make a big difference.

This guide serves as your go-to resource for advocacy related to the December 11 Continuing Resolution (CR). Our goal is to work with Congress to add language in the CR that safeguards Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 funding for programs that support housing and homelessness programs.  

This guide serves as your go-to resource for the December 11 CR campaign. It will help you:  

1. Understand the problem, the policy solution, and what is at stake for your community 
2. Learn how to set up and conduct effective meetings with your Members of Congress 
3. Access talking points, materials, and advocacy tools to strengthen your outreach 
4. Identify the right messengers and stakeholders to help make the case 
5. Use local data and stories to demonstrate the impact in your community 
6. Follow up strategically and build support over time 
7. Prepare for the National Day of Action on November 18

As always, it remains critical to localize each policy issue by leaning on both personal stories and community-specific data points from your Members’ district. Do not be afraid to point directly to how these issues impact their constituents and communities. 

What You Need To Know About The Continuing Resolution

How You Can Advocate

1. Identify Your Members of Congress

2. Build The Local Case – Make the Issue Local  

Prepare 3–5 data points about how your community will be impacted:   

• Share why you care about this issue and how it impacts you 

• Number of CoC-funded programs/projects  

• Number of people/households served in permanent housing   

• Number of people who could be affected by funding disruption – landlords, jobs, law enforcement, healthcare system, etc.   

• Number/type of housing units at risk  

• Local impact on veterans, families, older adults, youth, people with disabilities, etc.  

Constituent(s) + Person With Lived Experience + Local/Community Leader + Subject Matter Expert = Ideal Team When Meeting With Your Member

3. Engage Your Members’ Offices  

After you have the local impacts and constituents ready, complete at least one congressional action. If you are able to do more than one, this is the recommended order:  

1. Ask to schedule a meeting with Member and/or staff on the National Day of Action on November 18.
2. During recess, meet with Member and their staff in district   
3. Call their offices   
4. Email their offices  
5. Setup a site visit for Member and their staff   
6. Coordinate with recruited messengers so they are connecting with the offices  
7. Organize roundtables with local partners and invite Members and staff to attend   
8. Attend town hall meetings hosted by Members and pose questions   
9. Post publicly and tag Members  
10. Setup virtual calls with testimonials that speak to the issues   
11. Ask allies and organizational partners to do the same  
12. Co-author op-ed/letter to editor in local newspaper on the issues

For advocates who have an existing congressional relationship, the goal should be a direct conversation with staff rather than simply sending an email or calling.  

Ask your House Representative to sign on to a bipartisan letter led by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (NY-02, R) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15, D) urging the THUD Appropriations Subcommittee to protect the continuity of existing Continuum of Care (CoC) grants. The letter asks the Subcommittee to include renewal authority in the first available Continuing Resolution (CR) or the FY2027 THUD Appropriations bill if the current litigation remains unresolved after December 1, 2026.

Your congressional offices can view and sign onto the letter through Quill. Copy and paste this link to share with your Representatives:
https://quill.senate.gov/letters/letter/40163/opt-in/view/850a6452-ec85-46dc-abec-d17c1d063d79/

(Note: you won’t be able to access their internal system, and the link will only work for members and their staff. Instead, you can view the letter here.)

If your congressional offices have questions about the letter, please direct them to MK Sowers, Legislative Director for Rep. Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) at MK.Sowers@mail.house.gov.

Now is the time to reach out to your House Representatives and urge them to sign onto this important bipartisan letter. Securing renewal authority is critical to ensuring communities can continue providing housing and services without disruption.

4. Prepare For the November 18 National Day of Action

Here is a checklist to get you started:   

• Schedule meetings for Nov 18 congressional offices in advance  
• Collect local data and impact analysis   
• Identify 2–5 constituents with different strengths  
• Bring with you the resources provided by the Alliance  
• Recruit people with lived experience where appropriate 
• Bring others to the campaign and coordinate with them to do the same  

5. Before and During the Meeting 

Remember, a meeting is not the campaign. It is the beginning of a relationship.  

Before the meeting  

• Research the Member and staff 

• Identify relevant committee/legislative interests 

• Determine your ask 

• Identify the constituent messenger  

• Prepare a 60-second story 

• Assign roles within the delegation  

During the meeting  

• Establish the local connection or as a constituent – “I live/work in…”  

• Tell the human story with data when possible  

• Explain the broader problem  

• Present the solution 

• Make the ask 

• Ask a question  (For example: “What would make this issue a priority for the Member?” That answer is intelligence you can use for future advocacy.  

6. After the Meeting 

Within 48 hours of your meeting:  

• Send a personalized thank-you note  

• Provide anything requested 

• Restate the ask  

• Offer to be a local resource  

• Record what you learned 

• Follow up again when there is a relevant development 

Sort congressional offices into four simple categories: