UCS Town Hall Toolkit

The UCS Town Hall Toolkit is a guide for advocates to hold Members of Congress accountable through public engagement. It outlines strategies for finding and attending town halls, provides a framework for preparing and delivering questions, and offers specific sample questions focused on opposing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), protecting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and defending various tax credits and grants within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

• Town halls are identified as a critical advocacy tool because they create direct pressure on lawmakers to respond publicly, unlike emails or phone calls which can be filtered by staff.
• The toolkit urges constituents to demand accountability regarding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, which it characterizes as an illegal entity overriding Congressional authority by freezing funds and dismantling agencies.
• The document provides specific legislative targets for protection during budget reconciliation negotiations, including the 45Y and 48E tech-neutral investment and production credits, the 25D residential clean energy tax credit, and the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grants.
• The toolkit emphasizes the need to protect the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from budget cuts, restructuring, and the privatization of weather data, noting that its data is essential for hurricane tracking and wildfire alerts.
• Advocates are advised to use specific tactics to increase impact, such as recruiting multiple people to ask about the same issue to signal broad concern and recording responses to ensure accountability.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (n.d.). UCS Town Hall Toolkit. https://ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/science-network/UCS-Town-Hall-Toolkit.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. UCS Town Hall Toolkit. n.d. https://ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/science-network/UCS-Town-Hall-Toolkit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=UCS Town Hall Toolkit |url=https://ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/science-network/UCS-Town-Hall-Toolkit.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientistsnducs, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{UCS Town Hall Toolkit}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, url = {https://ucs-documents.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/science-network/UCS-Town-Hall-Toolkit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }