Responsibilities of Arkansas Citizens First Congress Member Organizations

The Arkansas Citizens First Congress (CFC) is most effective when our member groups are actively engaged.  We depend on one another.  Lots of hard work and dedication achieves the gains we make.  By working together we can spread the workload so everyone can make a difference but no one gets overwhelmed.  If your group joins the CFC, we ask that you make the following commitments:

1. Commit to propose resolutions only on issues that your group is actively supporting.

Realistically, we can only pass bills in the Arkansas General Assembly that are actively supported by our groups.  Although there are lots of reforms that we would like in Arkansas, groups should only propose resolutions that they are working on.  Call us if your group has an idea for a resolution and needs some help developing it.

2. Commit to work on the CFC’s priority issues with your legislators at home in your district and at least once at the Capitol in Little Rock during the legislative session.

We only win our issues when we show legislators that we have strong grassroots support from across the state.  This means encouraging your members to make phone calls and meet with your legislators to support the Priority issues that the CFC selects.  During the session, the CFC hosts lobby days where we invite legislators to lunch and attend committee hearings to see what’s really going on in the Capitol.  We provide workshops on how the policy process works, on developing lobbying strategies for issues and on engaging more of the community to support your goals.  Let us know if we can help, but you are the power in the coalition.

3. Commit to active participation in caucus meetings.

The statewide convention of the Arkansas Citizens First Congress is not the only time our groups get together.  To win on our issues we have to meet in individual caucuses to work out strategies for moving issues through the legislature.  We need involvement from our member groups to be effective.

4. If your resolution is selected as a priority issue, commit to taking the lead on that issue as we advance it in the General Assembly.

The group who proposes a resolution knows it best.  If a resolution is selected as a priority for the CFC, then we need the proposing group to commit extra time to help with strategy, lobbying, and gaining general support for the issue.