Greetings, ISP Advisory Board, Council, Liaisons, and Friends:

Time for a quick message to you with some important reminders. I hope this busy time for the academics among us is providing some proof of your efforts to put policy in the minds of our students. If you are paying attention to your state legislatures, they certainly seem to be generating plenty of policy options for us to consider, debate, and influence.

1. The deadline for the 2007 ISP Contest is May 7. Please alert your faculty colleagues and your students and nudge everyone along towards finishing their entries....this year, the students are to submit their entries ONLINE to Kathy Byers (BSW) and me (MSW) as the directions on the website (www.statepolicy.org) indicate. I have already received one MSW entry, and it seems as if it will work very efficiently. But, past midnight on May 7, it will be too late.

2. April 27 is the deadline for San Francisco CSWE annual program meeting submissions for presentations, group discussions, etc. Go to their website for further directions and get your policy oriented session submitted. ISP will have a booth in the exhibition hall and will hold its annual meeting and planning luncheon in San Francisco. No auction this year.

3. The Missouri Assn for Social Welfare sponsored a student advocacy day at the State Capitol in early March with about 300 students from across the state. There was even an inner city high school represented. A short description of the event is available at the bottom of the document at: http://www.masw.org/policy/March%209%20LegUpdate%202007.pdf

4. Please continue to inform me of your tally of student visits to your state legislatures: here is the most recent and we are getting some good figures in albeit still short of our goal of 8,000. Too many zeros, so it must mean no one is reporting......send the figures in!

Alabama: 150
Alaska: 0
Arizona: 0
Arkansas: 0
California: 0
Colorado: 0
Connecticut: 0
Delaware:0
District of Columbia: 0
Florida:400
Georgia:375
Guam: 0
Hawaii:0
Idaho:40
Illinois: 0
Indiana: 600
Iowa: 0
Kansas: 0
Kentucky: 0
Louisiana:0
Maine:82
Maryland: 0
Massachusetts: 19
Michigan:350
Minnesota: 475
Mississippi: 11
Missouri: 300
Montana: 0
Nebraska: 185
Nevada: 0
New Hampshire: 25
New Jersey:0
New Mexico:0
New York: 0
North Carolina: 0
North Dakota:0
Ohio: 300
Oklahoma:0
Oregon: 12
Pennsylvania: 0
Rhode Island: 0
South Carolina:0
South Dakota: 8
Tennessee: 0
Texas: 0
Utah:0
Vermont: 0
Virginia:150
Washington: 0
West Virginia: 0
Wisconsin:0
Wyoming: 0

Total: 3507

5. Thanks to those who paid ISP dues so far. Remember, your dues support all of our efforts. And you are entitled to all videos we have produced. Let me know if you need any replacements. Free of charge to all members.

6. The ISP website now has over 92,090 visits accumulated. Please tell your students about it and make it a part of your assignments or a regular resource for policy. www.statepolicy.org

That is the news for now. All the best to each of you. Until May........Bob