(518) 813-4383 [email protected]

Services

Government Relations / Civic Outreach
Elk Street Group specializes in government relations. This is our core service, the one from which all the other services we offer originate. We know how to communicate with elected officials, their staff, and equally importantly with the unelected and often overlooked (but extremely influential) government bureaucrats who ultimately are needed to sign off on key government decisions.
Elk Street Group also has extensive knowledge of, and experience in, civic outreach campaigns. Mobilizing non-governmental agencies as well as regular citizens to assist us in advocating for or against a measure is often a vital factor in the success of our efforts. Elk Street Group can design a civic outreach campaign that will successfully engage the targeted groups and individuals to enlist their aid in achieving our clients’ goals. Elk Street Group’s vast network enables us to get a running start by saving time regarding researching what groups or individuals to approach. Elk Street Group will provide you with the insightful, rapid, and effective Civic Outreach campaign that you need to get the support necessary to obtain your goals.
Building Relationships and Coalitions
Elk Street Group specializes in communicating with elected officials and other government decision makers. When a client retains Elk Street Group they will benefit from an existing network of long-standing relationships. Elk Street Group does more than just provide introductions. It strategically chooses the political decision maker or organization that can best assist the client and devises a customized plan to approach that person or organization in a manner that will interest them in our client’s goals. Often this means demonstrating that our clients’ goals are synonymous with the decision maker’s.
Elk Street Group also specializes in bringing like-minded groups and individuals together in coalitions. Chances are that if an issue interests or affects your organization, it also similarly affects other organizations as well. Creating a strategy to build a coalition and then coordinating its implementation is part of Elk Street Group’s unique ability to both devise a long-term plan and attend to its finest details. From conception to execution Elk Street Group stands by our client every step of the way.
Full Budget Analysis
Elk Street Group provides our clients with expert analysis and review of budget proposals and government agency spending priorities. This analysis includes new programs, budget reductions, and various revenue proposals from various city agencies. At Elk Street Group, we understand the preferences of the various government agencies whose funding decisions directly impact our clients. Therefore, we know exactly how to tailor a client’s funding requests to a particular agency’s current priorities. Elk Street Group does not just analyze agency budgets; it interprets them and explains the motivations behind them to enable our clients to devise informed and appropriate funding requests that are in tune with the goals of the awarding agency.
Issues Research
Elk Street Group has the expertise necessary to find the answers that matter to our clients. Whether it be an issue relating to municipal or state law, the legislative process, bureaucratic or political negotiations, Elk Street Group knows where and how to look to get the inside story on how an issue got to where it is and more importantly where it is going in the future. Discovering where a stakeholder stands is usually (though not always) relatively simple, figuring out why they have taken the stance they have is a good deal more complicated. This is because their public pronouncements frequently omit certain elements in their calculations. Elk Street Group can get you the behind-the-scenes story of where an issue has been and where it is going and even more vitally why this issue has taken the course it has.
Land Use and Rezoning
Elk Street Group has the experience and the strategic planning skills to assist your organization achieve its objectives in all land use and rezoning matters. Not only do we have the legal expertise to thoroughly understand such issues we also have the political acumen necessary to devise a plan to assist in the accomplishment or defeat of a proposed land use or rezoning imitative. This knowledge arises from our understanding of the current political scene and the favorable or unfavorable conditions created by it, in-depth study of past successful and unsuccessful rezonings and land use initiatives and the lessons to be learned from them, and our personal relationships with, and comprehension of the priorities of, the individual members of the City Council.
Legislation Tracking
At Elk Street Group we understand the value of up-to-the-minute information so that our clients can make the best and most well-informed decisions possible. That is why we not only carefully track all legislation that impacts our clients but also alert our clients whenever we encounter a piece of legislation that we think might interest or impact them. We monitor the status of introduced legislation to determine whether any changes have or will occur. We understand that is critical that our clients be in the know as quickly as possible so they can respond in a rapid and effective fashion. Elk Street Group is the well-informed intelligence service one needs to operate successfully in New York City politics.
Providing Written Testimony for Legislative Committees
Elk Street Group knows how and when to represent their client’s case to a legislative committee. Elk Street Group will go beyond assisting in drafting a client’s testimony. Elk Street Group not only provides accurate and articulate testimony but also has thought through the various contingencies that could occur in the highly fluid environment of a question-and-answer session with a legislative body. Because of Elk Street Group’s familiarity with the personalities that make up these committees, we are usually able to predict who will bring up which specific issues. Elk Street Group will have answers prepared in advance that will satisfy that questioner. This foresight is the result of planning and experience in dealing with governmental affairs and policy makers.