Title X, the nation's family planning program, is a pillar of public health, ensuring access to high-quality family ...
Media Outreach and Social Media Promotion
Title X Works Title X, the nation’s family planning program, is a pillar of public health, ensuring access to high-quality family planning and sexual health care to an estimated 4.1 million women and men every year. Given the unrelenting political attacks on publicly funded family planning in recent years – despite a growing demand for care – and the fragility of other social safety-net programs, federal funding for family planning is more critical than ever. That is why, during August recess, we are asking for your help to protect the Title X program: tell Congress that the program needs additional resources, not just level funding, to help ensure the health of our country.
Make your voice heard on social media. Hashtag: #TitleXWorks Message: Title X is central to improving the public’s health and must be protected. Sample Tweets: •
Restore Title X family planning investments. Tell Congress and the White House #TitleXWorks. http://goo.gl/N5uDhf
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.@AMJPublicHealth research says Title X needs $737 million to fulfill the program’s mission. #TitleXWorks http://goo.gl/IKuCnn
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How does current funding for Title X compare to what’s needed to fulfill its mission? #TitleXWorks [Embed share graphic]
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What’s the state of Title X funding in YOUR state? http://goo.gl/pFIMO9
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Want to learn how #TitleXWorks in your state? Go here: http://goo.gl/pFIMO9
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How have budget cuts affected health care in your state? Find out: http://goo.gl/pFIMO9 #TitleXWorks
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Tell Congress #TitleX needs more resources to address #Zika prevention and control. Take action now. http://goo.gl/N5uDhf#TitleXCutsHurt
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Title X funding provides care to millions of women and men across the country. Find out how #TitleXWorks: http://goo.gl/JtuvSs
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6 in 10 women using Title X services say it is their usual source of care. Tell Congress #TitleXWorks. http://goo.gl/N5uDhf
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Every $1 spent on publicly funded family planning saves $7, per @Guttmacher. Tell Congress #TitleXWorks [Embed share graphic]
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Title X prevented 1M unintended pregnancies in 2014. Let Congress know #TitleXWorks http://goo.gl/N5uDhf
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Title X is the only dedicated source of federal funding for family planning. Tell Congress #TitleXWorks http://goo.gl/N5uDhf
Sample Facebook posts: •
The recent House proposal completely eliminates Title X, and the Senate proposes level-funding or flat fund the program, respectively. If these proposals become law, they would undermine the publicly funded family planning network’s capacity to provide essential health care, including contraception, counseling, sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, and breast and cervical cancer screenings for an estimated 4.1 million women and men. Now is the time to tell Congress: #TitleXWorks http://goo.gl/N5uDhf
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In the face of recent budget cuts, family planning services and supplies provided through Title X-funded health centers continue to prevent unintended pregnancies improve public health, and save billions in taxpayer dollars.
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The Title X family planning program is one of the most effective, results-driven investments we can make in public health. #TitleXWorks
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Flat funding for the Title X program is still $31 million less than the program’s funding height in 2010 and significantly less than the $737 million needed to fulfill the program’s mission, according to new research. http://goo.gl/IKuCnn
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Recent research states that Title X needs $737 million to help ensure services are provided to women in need of subsidized family planning care. It currently receives $286.5 million. http://goo.gl/IKuCnn
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Did you know that in 2013, services provided by Title X-funded health centers helped women avert 1 million unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 501,000 unplanned births and 345,000 abortions? In 2014, the Title X network provided 988,000 Pap tests, 1.3 million breast exams, nearly 5 million STD tests, and 1 million confidential HIV tests. #TitleXWorks
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Tell Congress to put patients over politics and fund Title X now. http://goo.gl/N5uDhf #TitleXWorks
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For 4 out of 10 women who turn to safety-net family planning, it is their sole source of care. [Embed share graphic] #TitleXWorks
Share Graphics All of the following images are available on NFPRHA’s Facebook page and ready for you to download and share on social media.
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Social Media Tips Social media is an important communications tactic that can help raise visibility of your advocacy activities. Below are a few pointers to help get you started. •
Know your audience. Begin to follow and engage with people and organizations that are within the sexual health field and doing interesting things on social media. Cross promote others’ social media content on your platforms. Women are more likely to make health decisions for their family, and they’re more likely to go online for health information than men.
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Make it personal and actionable. Providing your audiences with compelling information that is one click away will improve the likelihood that they will take action.
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Encourage sharing. Make it easy for people to share your advocacy messages by using sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If you want people to retweet, make sure your tweets are less than the 140 character maximum.
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Plan your work. Create an editorial calendar for the week ahead of resources and social media content to share with your networks.
Sample Op-Ed/Letter to the Editor Note: The below opinion piece is around 285 words. Please consider using this sample for a letter to the editor (250-300 words) or adding more
context/detail for an opinion piece (450-700 words). Check the outlet’s your newspaper’s word limit requirements before submitting. You may be able to find that information online. Suggested Title: Family Planning Deserves our Support Teen and unplanned pregnancy and birth rates have reached a historic 40-year low, thanks, in part, to increased access to contraception and other family planning services – much of which is supported by Title X, the nation’s family planning program. Unfortunately, United States Senate appropriators have called to level fund the program. In fact, it is the sixth year in a row that the program has received no new funding, despite the growing demand for publicly funded care. And the House’s proposal to
completely eliminate the Title X program is absurd. Ideologically driven attacks like this seriously compromise the network’s capacity to provide essential health care, including contraception, counseling, sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, and breast and cervical cancer screenings that an estimated 4.1 million women and men rely on every year. At a time when we are finally making progress toward reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy and improving health outcomes, some in Congress want to go back in time rather than invest sufficient resources for a program that ensures all women and men have access to the basic preventive health care they need. [Add local perspective here about the impact of cuts across the network.] It is particularly troubling that even as the country faces a looming public health crisis resulting from the Zika virus, Congress has failed to provide any additional resources to support the very provider network that is being called upon to address the risk of women who may be seeking pregnancy. Title X-funded providers need more support to make the clinical and administrative arrangements necessary to ramp up Zika preparedness and response efforts in [name of city, state] and in communities across the country. Congress should show common sense and appropriately fund Title X. I urge [MOC] to support proactive policy that strengthens the Title X family planning program and the millions of patients it serves.
[Name] [Title, Name of Health Center] [City/State]
Tips for Writing a Letter to the Editor Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper is another effective way to share your opinion about why cuts to Title X are harmful to the public’s health. Letters to the editor are usually submitted to a media outlet in response to a relevant news article. The letter should address the issue and provide your perspective on how to solve the problem or offer suggestions for change.
The following are tips to remember before you draft your letter: •
Keep your letter short and to the point. Newspapers typically limit letters to 150-300 words. However, opinion pieces can be up to 700 words. Check your local newspaper’s submission guidelines, usually found online on the editorial page or lettersto-the-editor page. This is often the page where you can find how to submit your letter. Newspapers provide an online form or provide an e-mail address. If you send your letter via e-mail, include the letter in the body of the message. Do not send an attachment.
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Make references to the newspaper. While some papers print general commentary, many will only print letters that refer to a specific article. When drafting your letter, open with a specific reference to a recent news story, editorial, or previous letter.
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Be accurate. Support your letter with facts, statistics, citations, or other evidence. You don’t have to include references in your letter, but have citations ready if your newspaper’s editor asks for them.
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Optimize the chances for your letter to be published. Elected officials carefully monitor newspapers to gauge local opinion. Mentioning your senators or representatives by name, and stating the specific legislative action you would like them to take, can guarantee that your letter will catch the attention of your members of Congress.
