NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATORS
The ACTE National Policy Seminar (NPS) provides an excellent opportunity to learn the basics of influencing federal decision makers, specifically on legislation related to career and technical education, including agricultural education. Join CTE professionals at ACTE’s National Policy Seminar to engage on key education policy topics, hear best practices for influencing federal policy related to CTE advocacy and messaging, and participate in Capitol Hill visits.
Questions related to the ACTE National Policy Seminar may be directed to Alissa Smith, NAAE Chief Executive Officer.
We are planning an agricultural education track as part of the upcoming 2023 ACTE National Policy Seminar (NPS). The ACTE NPS provides an excellent opportunity to learn the basics of influencing federal decision makers, specifically on legislation related to career and technical education, including agricultural education.
To emphasize the importance of NPS and to encourage more participation from NAAE members, NAAE will be paying the registration fee of one NAAE member per state to attend and participate in NPS. Each participant will be responsible for his/her own travel, lodging, meals, and incidental costs. We encourage state agricultural education associations to assist with the travel, lodging, and per diem costs.
NAAE will have an agriculture-specific session during the morning breakouts on Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. You may review the entire program for the NPS online at http://www.acteonline.org/nps/. Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 28, at 2:00 p.m. for the free NPS orientation webinar, which will be recorded and available to watch on-demand after March 1 at your convenience. Please check the ACTE NPS website for registration information for the webinar. There will be a special First Timer’s Q and A beginning at 5:00 p.m on Sunday, March 19. The opening general session will begin at 9:00am on Monday, March 20.
Registration – NAAE will pay the registration fee for one NAAE member per state to attend the NPS. Your state’s representative must register through NAAE; please do not register through ACTE. Please complete the online 2023 National Policy Seminar Registration form. Please return the registration form to NAAE no later than Friday, February 10, 2023. If you have already registered directly with ACTE, please notify NAAE as soon as possible.
Travel – Each NPS participant is responsible for making his/her own travel arrangements. The meeting will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202. There are two Marriott hotels in Crystal City; be sure you come to the Crystal Gateway Marriott. The closest airport to the downtown Washington, DC area is Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA). Other airports that serve the Washington, DC metropolitan area include Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). Transportation from IAD and BWI to downtown Washington, DC can be expensive; so, DCA is the preferred airport. The Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) is served by the National Airport MetroRail (subway) station (blue or yellow lines). The Crystal Gateway Marriott hotel is served by the Crystal City MetroRail station (blue or yellow lines). You can find details on the Washington, DC MetroRail system here: http://www.wmata.com.
Hotel Information – To book your hotel information at the host hotel, please the information below. You are welcome to secure housing outside of the host hotel, however you will be responsible for travel to the Crystal Gateway Marriott which host all of the sessions.
Crystal Gateway MarriottNPS Schedule Including the Ag Ed Track – During ACTE’s morning block of breakout sessions, starting at 11:30 am, NAAE will continue to provide Ag Ed specific issues to prepare you for your hill visits with congress members. Please be sure to be in attendance.
The NPS Agenda can be found at this link. We encourage you to participate in all NPS sessions and activities, including the Hill Visit Prep that will occur on Monday afternoon. This will provide you the opportunity to interact with other CTE professionals from your respective states.
Capitol Hill Visits – Tuesday is dedicated time to meet with your Congress members. It is your responsibility to schedule the visits with your Representative and your two Senators. You may get to see your elected officials or you may get to see legislative assistants only. Please do not be disheartened if you do not get to see your elected officials. Staff members are the workhorses on Capitol Hill. You can trust them to listen to your message and deliver it to their bosses. An attachment is included to give you some tips on scheduling your Capitol Hill visits. Please do not take this opportunity lightly – be sure to visit your elected officials while you are in Washington, DC for this event. The two purposes for you to come to this meeting are: 1) to learn more about being a person of influence with your elected officials, and 2) to visit your elected officials to ask them to support career and technical education, especially agricultural education.
Some states plan Capitol Hill visits in state groups – so you might want to check in with your state’s CTE leaders to see what plans are being made for state group Capitol Hill visits. It is fine for you to do individual visits as well; you can determine what is best in your own situation.
Questions – If you have questions regarding the schedule for the NPS, the registration process, travel and/or lodging arrangements, or any other matters regarding your participation in the NPS, please contact Alissa Smith at the NAAE office by calling (859) 967-2894 or (800) 509-0204 or by sending an e-mail to asmith.naae@uky.edu.
We look forward to seeing a good turnout of agricultural educators and NAAE members at the 2023 ACTE National Policy Seminar.
