Sound the Alarm!
June 30 - July 7
National Week of Action to Fight AIDS

Let Congress know that now is the time to take action by:

  • Increasing funding for AIDS Housing
  • Federally funding syringe exchange programs
  • Increasing funding for global AIDS

Plan a Local Action

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Call Your Senator on July 7

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Steps & Resources to Organize Your Own "Sound the Alarm" Phone-a-Thon

Nine pretty simple steps based on our own experience and some advice circulating on the internet.

  1. Pick a location and time on July 7. Let us know when and where so we can help advertise it. For example, outside of a food court or cafeteria at lunch time, or at a commuter rail station during morning or evening rush hour, or outside at a shelter, needle exchange, or AIDS service organization.
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  2. Tell your friends, family, co-workers and everyone else you know about the call-in day. Contact local AIDS service organizations, housing organizations, syringe exchanges, recovery houses, immigration and global health groups, etc. Ask if they can make phone calls or take a shift at your phone bank. Post your event on facebook (and link it to the Sound the Alarm cause on facebook) so that the group can communicate with one another.
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  3. Make a sign for your table. Print out copies of the call-in script. Make sure the Senate switchboard number is printed on each script. Find 5-10 cell phones you can borrow for the phone-a-thon.
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  4. Call your local talk radio hosts and ask them to announce the call-in day and where you will be located for a few days leading up to the protest. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper announcing the call-in day and explaining the issues. Email the bloggers in your area and ask them to post a notice about the call-in day.
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  5. On July 7, set up your table. Make sure there are at least as many scripts as phones. Make sure to print the Senate switchboard phone number nice and big and all the scripts. Make sure the phones are charged. Then ask passers-by to make a 30 second phone call to Sound the Alarm: tell Congress to fight AIDS now!
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  6. Bring sign-in sheets to capture the names, emails and phone numbers of everyone who makes a call and/or says that they support what you are doing. You will then have a big list of people that can plan the next, much bigger and louder, event. Also bring handouts with one page of quick facts about why you are protesting in the first place.
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  7. Add your pictures, video and an after-action report to the Sound the Alarm cause on facebook, and send this stuff to the bloggers and reporters that you originally contacted, and to us. Ask them to post the photos, story and video.
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  8. Thank everyone who attended via email and phone, and set up a meeting to plan your next event. Now you have a list of people in your community that can help make the next protest huge. Encourage everyone to commit to bring at least one friend to the next protest.
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  9. Organize a carpool and go find a friend in your neighboring town or county and help them organize a protest there. You and your people are now veterans and should be able to keep the momentum going around your area.

Email us if you have any questions or want some ideas for locations, signs, etc.

Good luck!