District Day in New Haven, CT

Post by Katherine Jones, ServeNext New Haven Organizer:

Eleven AmeriCorps Alums, staff, and supporters met at Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro’s office today. I was able to speak with the Congresswoman briefly in the hallway as she was on her way to a meeting. I thanked her for her support of national service and I urged her to meet with her fellow members to push that H.R. 1 not be passed in the Senate as is. I informed her that it was District Day all over the country and she was very happy to hear that citizens were standing up for AmeriCorps. She informed me that she was very sad to see the vote get passed because she is proud to see Americans serving their country.

After talking with Congresswomen DeLauro the 11 of us went upstairs to meet with her staff member Maura Davis Saccente. She thanked us for coming in and was very appreciative of all the information we gave her. Each of the 11 supporters were able to go around and speak about their experiences with the program and why it shouldn’t be cut. A few questions were asked regarding the outcome of the bill and the likelihood of it passing. Maura gladly answered all of our questions and again thanked us for coming in. She stated she will give Congresswoman DeLauro all the information we gathered, info sheets and petition, and was happy to have the information so that the congresswoman could speak about it in Congress.