Getting a bill enacted is often only the first step in a policy agenda. It is vital to have influence in the process of implementing the law, ensuring that your vision is reflected in the final outcome. The cliché is true: the devil is in the details. For that reason, your organization may want to be involved in the writing of regulations given that the crafting of the regulatory details is where your goals will be secured. With established agencies, your organization may want to change an existing policy or respond to an agency action. In all of these cases, it is important to have an understanding of the role each agency, whom to deal with and how to frame your argument for maximum impact.

The Sheridan Group has a proven record of accomplishment on behalf of clients with widely varying interests before many different federal agencies, from the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Transportation. In 1999, The Sheridan Group helped The CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) Association of America work with the Social Security Administration to craft a ruling making it easier for people with chronic fatigue syndrome to receive SSA disability benefits. This was the only expansion of SSA disability benefits for any disease or disability achieved that year.

Best Buddies International organizes community and campus based volunteer chapters to help people with mental retardation become part of mainstream society. The Sheridan Group assisted Best Buddies in establishing support from the Department of Labor, the US Agency for International Development, and the Department of Education for expanding programs both in the US and abroad.

For Harvard University, The Sheridan Group successfully negotiated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service for a waiver on the exclusion of people with HIV. The waiver allowed people to attend the Fifth Annual International AIDS Conference at Harvard.

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