We’ve made a few updates on our documents, namely our Advocacy Letter to Congress and an email note to send to your Reps health legislative assistant.. Here is the Letter to Senators.
Today’s the last day before the Introductions! Let’s get to work!
May 2025 Agenda: House Resolution gets re-introduced on May 16, 2025:
- Find your Rep. in Congress (softedge advocacy software has a great public resource page)
- PHONE the Washington DC office, and field office closest to you to request their support for the 2025 DIPG Awareness Resolution. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-6) is the lead sponsor for the resolution and her health Legislative Assistant managing the sign-ons is William Seabrook. This is information that they will appreciate. When you call your Member’s office, also ask for the name and email address of their health legislative assistant, making step 3 easier and with more options. Write it down. (email is usually [email protected])
- SEND: Your note (here is a template word docx which you may modify with your story or replace) and ttach to your email Our Letter to Congress Contains our advocacy letter, the resolution text, and endorsements page. Attach this document pdf to your email to your Reps health legislative assistant for whom you received the email address in step 2. I suggest sending your story with this note and attachment, and ALSO using your Reps website (usually, but not always lastname.house.gov) where they always have a portal where you enter your address and you can send them a typed message, or copy/paste what you wrote in the email to your Reps legislative assistant, however you wish.
- Our official Letter to Congress includes the resolution’s endorsements document and the Text of 2025 DIPG Awareness Resolution which you can access here separately. Jack’s Angels leaflet gives a background on this advocacy campaign… For simplicities sake, in sending an email to your Reps health legislative assistant, simply attach our letter because it has all the documents rolled into one.
A way to bypass if you are unable to get the health legislative assistant, the Legislative Directors names (email: [email protected]) are available at this interactive map.
You increase the odds of your making an impression and inspiring them to act with each point of contact, phone, personal email, website email. Repeat! Done.
UPDATE:
The Senate 2025 DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Resolution is hopefully to be re-introduced shortly also! We’ve had notice that Senator Fischer (R-NE) is the prospect for co-leading the introduction with Senator Reed! We are seeking of course as many supportive cosponsors as possible:) Advocacy Actions:
- Find your Senators, their contact info, their websites
- Call their DC office and one of their field offices requesting they support the Senate DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Resolution. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is the lead sponsor and Jill Boland is his legislative assistant managing this effort and who is the contact for signers-on.
- Thank and ASK This Resolution has passed by Unanimous Consent 6 times, each year since 2019, so most Senators–except the new ones!–have already supported it. It’s good to thank them and ask them to be ‘an original cosponsor.’ ASK for their Health Legislative Assistant’s email address.
- EMAIL also the health legislative assistant with a brief letter asking for the Senator’s support, and give Senator Reed’s assistant’s information, Jill Boland: [email protected]. You can send the same email request through the Senator’s website, for added probability of contact.
- Helpful documents to include: Here is the 2024 Resolution text, which is to remain unchanged except the date. Resolution Endorsements document | Here is DIPG Advocacy Group’s letter to Senators which includes the bundle of docs. You can use to back up your letter, or on its own.
- As always, it’s YOUR STORY, your heart’s request, which matters most and is the MOST powerful.
Jack’s Angels Leaflet You can also use this to accompany letters and documents, and/or use the text from any part that supports your words and intentions.
For context, history, and background info, here is the 118th Congress Press Summary. This year’s introduction for the House Resolution will be a little different, in that it is designating May 17, 2025, and not May 17 in perpetuity. Rep. Dingell’s office may have decided to do this due to House Leadership’s unwillingness to have the resolution brought to the House floor, and this way, it gives her an opportunity to introduce it each year, not just once but twice per Congress, to raise more awareness. Debbie Dingell continues to artfully use the resolution to gain support and more funding for important childhood cancer legislation.
A little more background…
This information below about the supporters of each successive DIPG Awareness Resolution can be found at govtrack.us…just for ease’s sake, you can see the supporters of each one here on a pdf. H. RES. 404 in the 117th Congress had the most cosponsors, 220. We worked very hard for that. In 2023 I began taking leave from advocacy work…but we still had a nice show of initial cosponsors for the 118th.
114th Congress 115th Congress 116th Congress 117th Congress 118th Congress