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National Home Visiting Summit

Capitol Hill Advocate Visits at the 2025 National Home Visiting Summit 

February 12 - 14, 2025

Learn more about how you can advocate for home visiting priorities at the 2025 National Home Visiting Summit.

Hill Visits photo at the 2024 National Home Visiting SummitDuring the last National Home Visiting Summit, more than 100 attendees participated in Capitol Hill visits to educate their elected officials about the importance of home visiting for parents, children, and families in their home communities. As advocates prepare to join us in Washington D.C. from February 12 – 14, 2025, the Advocacy & Policy Community of Practice is excited to offer a suite of resources for advocates and all Summit attendees. Our vision is that advocates, home visiting professionals, parents and caregivers, and other home visiting champions will feel prepared, supported, and energized to engage in Congressional outreach during the 2025 Summit!

  • What: Home visiting advocates will meet with their Congressional leaders either in person while in DC, or virtually.
  • Why: Raise awareness about home visiting and the federal priorities needed to sustain and scale its impact on families and communities
  • When: Visits occur ideally Wednesday, Feb. 12th 9am – 3pm, or later in the week (consider flying in on Feb. 11)

In the months leading up to the Summit, the Advocacy & Policy Community of Practice, in partnership with Start Early, is offering a suite of resources to prepare advocates to engage their elected leaders on Capitol Hill. This includes training materials, networking opportunities and individual TA to support participants to effectively communicate with members of their Congressional delegation in February.  Jump to the resources below including our Advocacy 101 series.

This also included a virtual webinar that the CoP hosted on Oct. 1, view that webinar recording here. In-person Summit attendees will indicate whether they plan to participate in Capitol Hill visits when registering for the 2025 National Home Visiting Summit. Early bird registration is open through Oct. 31. If you have already registered but did not indicate your interest in participating in Hill Visits, you may modify your registration.

Register Now

Questions? Please reach out to us at Advocacy@StartEarly.org.

Hill Visits at the National Home Visiting Summit

Learn more about Hill visits for in-person attendees February 12-14 at the 2025 National Home Visiting Summit in Washington, D.C.

Virtual Consultation & Strategy Session

Jan. 14 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. CT

  • To further support and learn from your visits while in Washington, D.C., the Advocacy & Policy CoP will host a Capitol Hill Visit Consultation & Strategy session for those that are interested in receiving in-person consultation and assistance prior to your visit.
  • A “Live from Washington” federal strategy update will provide critical context about the latest developments in Congress and how to tailor our home visiting advocacy to the environment (and attention spans) on Capitol Hill.
  • This session will provide tools and tips for navigating your Capitol Hill Visit and provide an opportunity to ask any final questions before meeting with your representatives.

Completing Hill Visits

Summit attendees and CoP participants schedule and complete their own Hill visits during the Summit between 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. ET on Feb. 12.
Advocates can also schedule visits throughout the Summit through Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.

Debrief Post-Summit

Hill Visit Debrief Virtual Session: Post-Summit

  • After the Summit, we’ll reconvene to debrief our in-person and virtual meetings with lawmakers. The Advocacy & Policy CoP will discuss next steps for sustaining relationships with lawmakers, and support follow-up to any questions that arose during meetings with legislators. Stay tuned for registration details.

Advocacy 101 Series

Check out our Advocacy 101 series featuring five short, engaging videos with information and tips on building relationships with elected officials, crafting a message, planning a visit (real and virtual!) and making your visit successful.

Messaging with Conservative Lawmakers: January 2023 Webinars

Build Parent Advocacy Skills

We encourage you to consider how you might engage parents and caregivers in your home visiting advocacy. State teams who have included parents in past Hill visits have seen the power of parent voice in action. Parent advocates are able to provide a first hand-account of the positive impact of home visiting on themselves, their children and their families. While there are tremendous benefits of having parents participate in advocacy visits with Congressional leaders, there are also key considerations from financial support, coaching and preparation, and logistical challenges that state advocacy teams should consider and address. The Advocacy & Policy Community of Practice will be building a brand-new guide on parent and caregiver advocacy in Hill visits, and we can’t wait to share it with you at our upcoming webinar on October 1.

Start Early is pleased to offer a limited number of scholarships for parents and caregivers to attend the Summit and participate in Hill visits. To qualify for free livestream registration as a home visiting parent/caregiver, you must currently receive services as a parent/caregiver with a home visiting program. Limited funds for parent/caregiver in-person registration, travel and honorarium are available. Please email Events@StartEarly.org for more information.

Advocacy Training for Parents

This advocacy training series features short videos that highlight the skills parents bring to the table as powerful advocates and elevates opportunities to grow as leaders in advocating for home visiting.

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