You know that the actions of legislators and government agencies impact your job, industry, community, and nation. The challenge is staying on top of the more than 140,000 bills, regulations, and other government actions proposed each year. Now, AIHA has a new solution for you—a tool that will make it easier for you to connect with your state and federal government officials: AIHA's new Grassroots Advocacy Center.

In addition to connecting with federal and state officials, the Grassroots Advocacy Center enables you to easily research federal or state legislation, either by bill number or keyword.

However, you don't have to do this on your own. When you sign up for alerts, you'll receive messages containing custom opportunities to connect with policymakers on high-value issues affecting workplace and community health and safety. Our messages to you will say "Action Alert" in the subject line, so keep an eye out for those keywords.

While we can't tell you exactly when each Action Alert will be sent to you, we can tell you that they'll be timed to maximize your influence with policymakers, so it's important that you respond as soon as possible when you see each alert.

Of course, you don't have to wait for an Action Alert. You can take action right now. Here are three steps I recommend for increasing your influence with policymakers:

1. Visit AIHA's Grassroots Advocacy Center.
2. Enter your preferred email address and ZIP code into the boxes under "Sign Up for Alerts" on the right-hand side of the page, then click the arrow button and enter your information on the following page.
3. Send a message to your policymakers. First, you need to refresh the page. You will have two options: either take action on an Action Alert we have set up or enter your ZIP code in the box under "Find Officials," click the arrow button, and select the officials you'd like to contact. (Clicking on their names brings up a window with useful information about each official.) The "Compose Message" button allows you to write an email to your official. You can select the subject and message that's right for you.

The Grassroots Advocacy Center is a critical component of AIHA's mission to protect workers and their communities. Volunteers are the heart and soul of AIHA, and we need your help to make our Grassroots Advocacy Center a success. Please take a moment to join today and encourage your colleagues to do the same by posting on LinkedIn or the social media platform of your choice. Here's a model social media post you can tweak and make your own:

"Hey, everyone, I just signed up for AIHA's new Grassroots Advocacy Center, and I encourage you to do the same. The more people who sign up, the greater our impact will be! Sign up now by visiting https://www.aiha.org/advocacy."

Thanks for your help advocating for public policies that protect more workers and their communities!