Engaging with your Elected Officials for TDM Week

TDM Week is fast approaching and it is important to begin strategizing requests to your mayor and/or governor to sign a proclamation declaring September 16-20 TDM Week in your municipality or state. While proclamations have no binding legal authority, they are still a critical tool in raising awareness of TDM strategies by demonstrating that our elected officials support accessible, efficient, and sustainable modes of transportation. It can also create a glidepath for TDM policy down the road by sparking conversations amongst government officials, employers, industry stakeholders, and transportation activists.

To ensure your request is submitted with sufficient time, ACT encourages you to send it in 90 days before TDM begins. For this year, that is June 18!

Reaching out 

If you are invested in seeing your mayor or governor sign a TDM Week proclamation, you may be wondering what steps can you take to advocate. Unless there are instructions on the website, call them! The process will vary from office to office depending on who you are reaching out to, and by calling you can inquire what this process looks like and get the contact information of the staffer you should submit the TDM Week proclamation to. Remember, it is never too early to reach out. This is a process that can sometimes take months on the government side, and the earlier you can get this on their calendar the better.

Next steps

Submitting the proclamation along appropriate channels to the appropriate contact is a great first step, but where should you go from here? “Out of sight, out of mind” is a very real phenomenon in government with new issues coming up every day and things getting lost in the shuffle. If you emailed the proclamation to a contact in the office, consider emailing them again. Following up never hurts, and it is a good way to show you are invested and dedicated.

You can also consider sending a letter from your ACT Chapter urging your elected officials to include your state or municipality in TDM Week. The key is to maintain a presence and relationship with the office as much as possible. Not only will this aid in efforts to get TDM Week recognized in 2024, but it could expedite the process in 2025 as well.

TDM Week is a great event to illustrate the process behind advancing TDM policy. This is a collaborative process carried out not by a handful of individuals, but rather by a large collective of good actors dedicated to providing accessible, efficient, and sustainable modes of transportation for everyone. 

TDM Week aims to engage with decision-makers and key stakeholders, so buy-in at the local and state levels is critical!

Resources 

If you're planning to submit a TDM Week proclamation, ACT is here to support you throughout the process. With any questions or for help getting started, contact Zach Calderón at Zcalderon@actweb.org.

TDM Week 2024 template proclamation

Looking for a list of TDM Week 2023 proclamations? Visit this link to view them.