Proclamations are issued by the Office of the Governor in each state to provide recognition for special events or significant issues, like LIHEAP Action Month. The goal of a proclamation is to honor and celebrate events or to increase awareness of significant issues of importance to residents.

Below are the steps for requesting a proclamation and some tips that might help.

TIP: County Commissioners and city or town Mayors also may declare proclamations. This is an option for providers with local contacts to make a difference by having a proclamation issued for their community. Follow the same steps below, only on the local level.

When to start:

It is wise to start 30 days in advance or by July 1 to receive the proclamation in time for LIHEAP Action Month which starts on August 1.

Steps to receiving a Proclamation:

Typically, it takes less processing time to go directly to the governor's office than to work through the legislature for a proclamation. Many times, you can work with your state LIHEAP Director to connect with the Governor’s office. They often have a Communications Staff Person or Liaison to the Governor’s Office that can help you with this process.

TIP: A listing of those contacts for each state/tribe/territory can be found here:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap-state-and-territory-contact-listing

If not working with the LIHEAP Office, contact the Governor's staff and ask for the person who handles proclamations and declarations, or search the web for your state’s process.

Provide the suggested text for the proclamation to the staff person (see sample below). Also include the contact information and address for the person

who will receive the paper proclamation.

Ask for a timeline when the proclamation will be available.

Thank the staff person for their time and consideration, and offer to answer any questions that may arise about LIHEAP or Action Month.

TIP: Some states may prefer the term "declaration" rather than the word “proclamation,” which may require action on the part of the legislature. Use the term that is typical in your state.

After you receive the proclamation:

Send a thank you to the staff person at the Governor’s office who helped with the process and state that you look forward to working with the office again next year to continue to promote LIHEAP Action Month.

TIP: The contact person for resolutions may change from year to year in the Governor’s office, so be sure to reference the name of the person who helped during the last year when requesting a new resolution the next year.

Add the news of the proclamation to all correspondence on Action Month, including press releases, letters to the editor, newsletters, bulletins, etc. Tweet the proclamation using #liheapaction, #liheap, and #neuac. Post to social media. Also, send to NEUAC at so we can let others know about your good work through our Storify collection of LIHEAP Action Month events and news from across the country. This is a powerful education and advocacy tool!

You also can read the proclamation out loud at any events related to LIHEAP, or better yet, request that someone from the Governor’s office read the proclamation at kick-off events, provider open houses, etc. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the Governor chose to read the proclamation out loud personally? What a wonderful tribute that would be for the program.

TIP: Some Governor’s Offices will issue a press release for the proclamation automatically, others will not. It should be added to the draft press release provided in NEUAC’s Action Month Toolkit and shared to highlight the importance of LIHEAP during this month of advocacy and education on energy poverty.

SAMPLE TEXT FOR PROCLAMATION:

Whereas, the (provide the state or municipality) has long recognized the plight of low-income families and individuals in meeting their home energy needs; and,

Whereas, low income households spend a disproportionate percentage of their annual incomes on home energy bills; and,

Whereas, the United States Department of Health and Human Services developed the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 1981 to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs; and,

Whereas, this Program not only promotes energy affordability for low-income families, but also saves lives; and,

Whereas, the federal LIHEAP continues to provide a much needed service to a targeted population including the elderly, the young, and people with disabilities, families of veterans and others who have a financial need to heat or cool their homes;

Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved that I, (provide name of signer), (provide signer's title), do hereby proclaim the month of August, 20XX as:

National LIHEAP Action Month

in the (provide name of state, county, municipality) and encourage state and local providers to leverage state, local, and private utility resources to make each federal dollar work harder, and to heighten the awareness of energy poverty in communities throughout the state.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the (provide name of state, county, municipality) to be affixed.

Signed at the (provide location of signature) this (insert the date) day of August (provide correct written month), in the year Two Thousand and ____.

(provide the name and title of signer)