Contacting your city representatives

Advocacy > Local initiatives > Sharing your story > Contacting your city representatives

City Councilman Bennie Shobe | Image courtesy Lincoln Journal-Star

Contacting a representative is simple – all it takes is motivation and a few minutes.

Contacting a local representative is a great way of getting more involved with our democracy – it only takes a few voices to make a difference.

Benefits

Free

It doesn’t cost anything to reach out to or speak with an elected representative.

Easy

Sharing your view with a representative can be as simple as making a phone call or sending an email.

Impactful

It only takes a few voices to make a difference at the local level – but a change in a local policy can make a big difference.

More information

Methods of contacting a representative

There are a variety of methods of reaching out and contacting a local representative – the method you choose depends on your preference, the representative you are looking to contact, the message you are wishing to share, etc. Some common methods of contacting representatives include the following:

Phone: a phone call to a representative’s office, either leaving a voicemail or leaving a message with a personal staffer/secretary (look online for representative’s office phone number)
Email: sending an email to an individual representative or group (look online for representative’s email)
Social media: direct messaging a representative on social media (varies between representatives – some prefer that you use other methods)
Letter: sending a letter to a representative’s office (either hand-written or typed)
Office: stopping by a representative’s office to either speak with the representative or leave a message with a personal staffer/secretary (look online for office hours)
Meet: request to meet using one of the above methods (in-person or virtually)
Attending a City Council meeting: visit the SustainLNK page “Speaking at a City Council meeting” for more information!

Information to include

The information you want to include when contacting a representative depends on the message that you are wishing to share. In general, it is important to introduce yourself, explain what you’re contacting about and your stance on the issue, and what actions you would like to see them take (how you want to see them vote, how they talk about an issue, etc.).

Office-specific information

Some representatives – such as the City Council – can be contacting individually, or as a group. Visit the links below for more information on contacting particular Lincoln representatives.