Gaining recognition as a student leadership organization

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Of all the things FIRST has succeeded with in the numerous years past, there's one big area where we as a national organization are lacking:
Gaining recognition as a national career and technical student leadership organization

What will it take for FIRST to become national recognized by federal and state governments as a career and technical student leadership organization? How can teams assist in this effort?

While I have not yet led any student in SkillsUSA, I am convinced that the quantity and quality of student leadership training we do in FIRST (especially at the highest levels) meets and likely exceeds that of many SkillsUSA participants and competitions. This is not meant to diminish the efforts of SkillsUSA in any way, but rather act as a comparison to gain insight as to why SkillsUSA and other organizations are recognized in this way and FIRST is not. How do we bring ourselves as a national organization, FIRST, to a level at which we gain the same respect, acknowledgement, and opportunity as these other organizations.

To quote a memo I found from the California Department of Education:

In California, the state supported career and technical student organizations include: California DECA: A Marketing Association (formerly Distributive Education Clubs of America), Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Future Farmers of America (FFA), Future Homemakers of America-Home Economics Related Occupations (FHA-HERO), Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), and Skills USA (formerly Vocational Industrial Clubs of America-VICA).

How did this all come to be, and what can we do to get there too?