2024 SCD Policy Forum

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The SCD Policy Forum brings together sickle cell advocates from across the country for a two-day federal advocacy event. This event is hosted by Sick Cells and the Sickle Cell Community Consortium.

  • Day One features educational sessions on federal advocacy and provides an opportunity to discuss sickle cell disease (SCD) policy. This day includes:
    • Workshops to practice your elevator pitch 
    • Breakout sessions to meet and practice mock meetings
  • Day Two features the Virtual Hill Day. Advocates have the opportunity to meet with their legislators and educate them about SCD issues and policy recommendations.

Click the image below to view and download the 2024 Program Book

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Day One Recordings

Recordings of each session are available on the Sick Cells’ YouTube Channel. Click the button below to view the recordings.

Watch the Policy Forum Recordings

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What to Expect

Our organizations worked hard to host the most comprehensive advocacy event for SCD to date. The goal of this event is to bring together SCD advocates from across the country to:

  • Build awareness of federal opportunities for SCD, and
  • Educate legislators on funding and policy interventions that support the needs of SCD Warriors and the SCD community as a whole.

Together, we created various materials in order to assist in the preparedness and efficiency of all attendees:

1) Mail-out Materials. The hosts mailed attendees an event packet containing the following hand-outs for the event: Branded Agenda, Federal Priorities One-Pager, and advocacy toolkits.

2) Virtual Hill Day Platform. The event featured a web-based platform for advocates to use during their Virtual Hill Day appointments. Advocates can access their schedules online, receive notifications and reminders, and connect with ease to the virtual meeting room.

Before the meetings, advocates can customize talking points to refer to during meetings, read legislator bios and information, and upload one-pagers or materials to be shared with congressional staff.

3) Office Hours. To ensure that all advocates feel comfortable ahead of the Virtual Hill Day, we hosted office hours outside of normal business hours. This time was used to answer questions and walk through talking points for the virtual meetings.

4) SCD Federal Priorities One-pager. This important toolkit highlights the most important talking points advocates can bring to their legislators. It also functions as a leave-behind resource for the Hill staffers and legislators. Click the button below or the FY25 Legislative One Pager in the Resources section to view and download the toolkit.

Download the One-Pager

Resources

We created the following resources to help you advocate:

FY25 Legislative One Pager

Share Your SCD Story Worksheet

Tips for Meeting with Your Legislator Virtually

 

Event Sponsors

This event was sponsored by the following organizations. Thank you for supporting our work.