People Power Through Petitions

A petition is a statement regarding a particular issue that many people can sign to prove that they share the same concerns, agree with your position, or are interested in learning more about the cause. Remember that petition signatures are not votes, but simply express a general interest in your cause. Petitions serve as a very effective way to gain the attention you need to affect change. We’ve seen a rise in online petition websites that enable petitioners to quickly and easily spread the word about an issue. Even if the petition doesn’t result in a tangible outcome, petitions are a demonstration of group strength!

Here are 11 easy steps to informing the public and garnering interest:

  1. Identify the message you want to deliver or what you want to accomplish with your petition. Some ideas may include: urging lawmakers to declare one day of the year as “Clean Up Our Town Day”, getting schools to offer population and environmental education, building a new park in your neighborhood, establishing a no-meat day in the cafeteria once a week, etc.
  2. Choose whether you want your petition to be an online or paper petition. Online petitions are easy and great for broad issues, but paper petitions may be more effective for changes on a local scale. To cast an even broader net, you can create both an online and a paper petition!

(If you use an online petition, there are many sites to create your petition step by step, such as change.org or thepetitionsite.com. For paper petitions, there are online templates you can download and customize to fit your cause).

  1. Give your petition a title. Then write a brief statement outlining the reason for your petition. This statement should appear at the top of every page of signature so that people know what they are signing.
  2. Identify the authority or agency that will receive your petition.
  3. If using a paper petition, leave enough space for names, signatures, addresses, and emails. Number the lines so you can easily total the number of signatures you have.
  4. Brainstorm with others to find people to sign your petition: schoolmates, friends, neighbors, teachers, relatives, etc.
  5. Share your petition, either by distributing copies of your paper petition or sharing the link to your online petition. Make sure everyone is prepared to explain your petition and answer questions.
  6. Ask people to sign your petition. Be polite! Remember, some people will not agree with you and will not want to sign your petition. Just move on to the next person! Online petitions can be distributed via email and social media, or you can have a tablet/laptop ready for people to sign if you go door-to-door. If you take your petition door-to-door, NEVER go alone. It’s always better to go in pairs.
  7. If you chose to do a paper petition, when you are done collecting signatures, photocopy all of the pages of your petition. Put the copies away for safekeeping. You may need them later if your petition is lost, or needs to be verified.
  8. You may want to contact or call your local television station or newspaper and tell them about your petition. Many local newspapers like to do stories on young people making a difference. Let the media know when and where you plan to deliver your petition.
  9. Deliver or present your petition to an official who has the power to act on your ideas.