CT Nonprofits Week Memo to Exhibitors, continued Page 2 of 3
MEMORANDUM
Date: March 26, 2012
To: All Confirmed Exhibitors: CT Nonprofits Week at the Capitol - April 2012
From: Julia Wilcox, Senor Public Policy Specialist ()
Re: CT Nonprofits Week at the Capitol 4/16 – 4/20/12: Confirmed Date Assignments and Preparation
I am very pleased to once again, confirm that your organization has been selected to participate in CT Nonprofits Week at the Capitol, April 16- 20, 2012! (You received your original confirmation on January 16, 2012.) The following document was developed as a tool for use in the promotion of your agency’s participation:
® CT Nonprofits' Week at the Capitol - April 2012 - List of Exhibitors
Please note that CT Nonprofits has extended an invitation to all members of the CT General Assembly. In addition, the event has been listed in the CGA Calendar & Legislative Bulletin for the past several weeks.
CT Nonprofits Week at the Capitol provides the 100 ORGANIZATIONS exhibiting over the course of two, one-week sessions (February & April), with an opportunity to collectively highlight the variety of work that nonprofits do to enhance the quality of life for all citizens of our state. Individually, it is a time to educate policy makers and the public about the work of your organization and its important impact.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, or for additional information. I will be in contact again as the date nears. Please feel free to share with us any publicity / coverage of the event that results from your efforts to promote your participation. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAREFULLY & PRINT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
NECESSARY FOR ALL EXHIBITORS:
® SET-UP: Plan to arrive by 9:30 AM to set up for the 10:00 AM-2:00 PM exhibit. Please plan to stay the full time.
® TABLECLOTH: Each participant is provided with a 6 foot folding table by Legislative Management. They are scarred and not particularly attractive, so a tablecloth is required.
® STAFFING: The table must be staffed at all times, with no more than 3 people per table due to the space (2 is ideal).
® LEGISLATIVE CONTACTS: Members are expected to contact their legislative delegation regarding visiting the exhibit and/or meeting that day. Meetings are particularly useful:
o Senate Member contact info: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/Senate.asp
o House Member contact info: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/House.asp
o All members of the CT General Assembly can be reached by US Mail as follows:
NAME
Legislative Office Building
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
o If you are interested in saving on postage and labels, but want to invite all members of the General Assembly to visit your exhibit, you can drop unlabeled/un-posted invites at the Mail Room in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) on the 1st floor on left as you approach the concourse. There are 187 members of the General Assembly in total and the Mail Room staff is happy to deliver one invite per mailbox.
® Promote your participation in the event through existing organization publications, local media and word-of-mouth.
® State-funded members will be asked to promote CT Nonprofits cross-sector public policy priorities in a simple manner, likely a handout.
OPTIONAL:
® Encourage staff, clients and/or friends of your organization to come to the event and schedule meetings with their Legislators. The ‘Citizen’s Guide’ to the Capitol is very useful: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/citizen.asp
® The League of Women Voters conducts tours of the Capitol regularly. If you are considering having a delegation of staff, clients and/or friends of your nonprofit visit you at the event, consider arranging a tour: http://www.cga.ct.gov/capitoltours/
® The Center for Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) offers a very useful free download called “Make a Difference in Your Cause: Strategic Nonprofit Engagement in Legislative Advocacy” as follows http://www.clpi.org/images/stories/content_img/Make_a_Difference_RG[1].pdf
® It is always effective to have influential Board Members and/or friends of your organizations come out and support you via a meeting or call to local legislators.
® You are encouraged to contact your local press/state-wide press with a press release that details your participation in the event (enough so that they can run the release alone if need be…similar to writing your own article). Sometimes your legislator’s staff may be willing to assist in this if it might result in positive press for the legislator too.
THINGS TO KNOW:
® The exhibition takes place in the concourse between the LOB and the Capitol.
® Participants are fully responsible for their own handouts, displays and power-cords, etc. No materials may be hung on the walls of the concourse and the full display must be contained within the table.
® Weather cancellation policy: if the Legislative Office Building is closed, the event is cancelled.
® Directions, Parking & Unloading: It will be necessary to unload/load from the 15 minute parking spaces next to the Armory. Please bring a hand-truck if necessary. The Capitol Police limit visitor parking to the first floor, rooftop, or basement of the Legislative Office Garage. (Visitors are allowed to pull into the first floor and park in any lined parking spot, UNLESS directed elsewhere by security.) If visitor parking is full, there is additional parking at Forest Street with shuttle buses running. Directions to the LOB and the Forrest Street Lot are on pages 2 and 3 of this memo, as well as info re: parking and Capitol Police restrictions.
Directions to the Legislative Office Building (LOB): 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford
From 84 E - Take the Capitol Ave exit (EXIT 48) and make a right off the ramp and proceed past the LOB. Immediately past the building, take the first right and proceed past both the building and parking garage beyond it. Continue to the back of the garage to enter for parking. Connector walk-way goes from roof top level of garage to third floor of LOB.
From 84 W - Take the Asylum Street exit (EXIT 48) and turn right at the light onto Asylum St. At YWCA turn left onto Broad St. and immediately past Armory, take the first left and then another left at the end of this short access road. Continue to the back of the garage to enter for parking. Connector walk-way goes from roof top level of garage to third floor of LOB.
From Rt. 44 - Take Asylum Ave. from North Main St. in West Hartford. At intersection where the Hartford Insurance Group headquarters building is on the left, take a right onto Broad St. and proceed through 2 stop lights past the Hartford Courant Building (on right) and State Armory (on left). Immediately past Armory, take the first left and then another left at the end of this short access road. Continue to the back of the garage to enter for parking. Connector walk-way goes from roof top level of garage to third floor of LOB.
From 91 N & S - Take Capitol Area exit (EXIT 29A) and proceed through rotary at the end of a long exit road. Go half way around the rotary and merge off (Bushnell Park on the right.) At the light take a left, keeping the Capitol building on your right. Pass the I-84 entrance ramp and the LOB on your right. Immediately past the LOB, take the first right and continue to the back of the garage to enter for parking. Connector walk-way goes from roof top level of garage to third floor of LOB.
CAPITOL POLICE-PARKING REGULATIONS
Limited parking facilities make it impossible to guarantee parking for members of the public attending meetings and functions at the Capitol and LOB. Parking in the garage for the public is on a space-available basis only. During the legislative session, Capitol Police officers greet visitors and direct them to available parking spaces reserved for members of the public.
Cars parked in inappropriate areas will be ticketed, and vehicles that present a hazard to public safety will be towed.
Parking is not permitted in the ‘cut out’ area in front of the LOB. This is a fire lane for emergency vehicles and is also used as a discharge area for students visiting the Capitol. Please do not park in this area even if you are “just running into the building for a minute.” The 15 minute parking is located on the south side of Armory Road Extension (in front of the Armory park side).
The south and west areas of the Capitol are for reserved parking and for vehicles with a Capitol grounds permit. A section of the north driveway is reserved for public parking only. Signs clearly identify where the public parking ends and the permit parking begins. Parking regulations will be enforced. Call the Capitol Police at 240-0240 for further information.
VISITOR PARKING
Capitol Police direct visitors to the first floor of the Legislative Office Garage. When this area fills, visitors are directed to available rooftop parking. When the roof is at capacity, officers direct visitors to a specified area in the garage basement. Once all public parking is at capacity, additional visitors are provided with a map to the Forest Street lot and a list of shuttle times from there to the Capitol complex and back. Forest Street shuttle buses for visitors begin running to the LOB at 6: 25 A. M. The Forest Street lot closes at 6: 05 PM, and the last shuttle leaves the west side of the LOB at 5: 52 PM.
Note: Paid parking is available in the Oak Street garage, located at the corner of Oak Street and Capitol Avenue across from the LOB. Street parking MAY be available on Hungerford Street (park on the side of the street as designated by signs), and other side streets.
Directions to the Forest Street Lot from the Parking Garage
Coming from the garage entrances, go straight to the light after the stop sign.
Turn right onto Capitol Avenue.
Go 9 traffic lights and turn right onto Forest Street
(Note: First right after crossing under the railroad bridge is Forest Street.)
The Parking lot is the first driveway on the left.
Lot C, State of Connecticut, DPW is marked with a blue sign.
90 Brainard Road ♦ Hartford, CT 06114 ♦ Tel: 860.525.5080 ♦ Fax: 860.525.5088 ♦ www.ctnonprofits.org