VAOA

The Virginia Association for Online Activism is an online repository for letter templates and information on becoming politically active in Virginia

Not sure where to start? Check out our opportunities page!

There is often low community involvement in and education on local and state advocacy due to the nationalization of politics, high political polarization, low morale and lack of sense of community, and community understandings of advocacy as being a major commitment. Moreover, there is a misconception that engaging in politics can only involve voting and protesting. Additionally, many local organizations face redundancy of efforts, either due to other local organizations attempting to address similar issues or because a local organization in another locality has already created messaging and undertaken research around an issue.

The purpose of VAOA is to offer the public a way to direct the public to solutions of their choice. Solutions are community-focused and community-generated, either from local organizations or local individuals. Solutions could be letters to local officials, email templates to city managers, public safety announcements to be used included in neighborhood newsletters, or call scripts to local businesses. Not all changes necessarily need to be legislated or need to be legislated immediately. Displaying messaging behind these types of changes reduces the barriers for getting involved in politics and local advocacy, as local politicians and leaders deserve to hear from community members of many different perspectives and backgrounds. Additionally, the public may also view who generated solutions and become more familiar with local advocates or organizations. VAOA is currently focused on highlighting opportunities for local advocacy in Charlottesville, VA and Richmond, VA.

Please let us know of any opportunities to further make this website more useful by reaching us at virginiacommunitysolutions@gmail.com

HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE:

  1. Navigate to vaoa.org/issues
  2. Filter by category. What’s most important to you?
  3. Find a specific issue that speaks to you.
  4. Edit the document, replace all highlighted text and maybe add why the issue matters most to you.
  5. Print it out and mail or send through other means.
  6. Come back and do the same thing again when you have time!

Bonus: Look up your politicians. You can check out whether they’ve been taking money from monopolies by searching for their name in the “Search vpap.org” window on the upper left. Click on the “Donor” button that appears under their name.