RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update December 15, 2020

uote of the Week

“It’s far past time Congress put the needs of the community first, we need a new relief bill with a harsh winter ahead.”

– RESULTS Iowa City volunteer Mackenzie Aime in a December 7 letter to the editor in the Daily Iowan

Table of Contents

• Global Poverty Campaigns Update
• U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
• RESULTS Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

Global Poverty Campaigns Update

QUICK ACTION Write a letter to the editor on prioritizing global health and nutrition during the COVID-19 crisis

Got Fifteen Minutes? Write a letter to the editor on an emergency COVID-19 response

There is still talk on Capitol Hill about a new COVID-19 relief package, thanks in part to a group of senators championing the issue. But unfortunately, there is still no inclusion of international development assistance in the negotiation. You have been diligent for months, making calls and getting media published on this issue. As the talks are still going on this week, and anticipating the work we have ahead on this issue in the new year, will you continue using the media to bring our message to Congress – particularly to the Senate – as crucial negotiations play out? As we know, global resources normally allocated to treat and prevent infectious diseases like AIDS, TB, and malaria, or leading childhood killers like malnutrition, pneumonia, and diarrhea, have been diverted to address COVID-19. As a result, we are seeing a secondary pandemic of poverty, hunger, and sickness caused by COVID-19. As the WHO has warned, between 83 and 120 million additional people globally could be facing hunger. International development cannot be forgotten as part of the COVID-19 relief discussions on Capitol Hill in the face of these crises.

TAKE ACTION: Set aside some time to write to your paper for the first time or to write to a new paper. You can even utilize our online action and share this action with others. You can mention both your senators and your representative in your letter, but it’s particularly important that you request of your senators that they urge Senate leadership to pass a COVID-19 relief bill that includes at least $20 billion in international development assistance. If you are published, send your letter to your legislators. You can even send the comprehensive global poverty campaigns media compilation with a note pointing out any pieces that you and/or your group may have gotten published earlier in the year. This compilation is also available on our Media Tools page under “I want to see what other RESULTS volunteers have published.” Reiterate your ask that legislators – particularly senators – speak to leadership about a minimum of $20 billion for a global health and nutrition emergency response. (If you’re tweeting your media, use the hashtag #COVIDReliefNow.)

Got Sixty Minutes? Plan for 2021 with our Group Roadmap materials

Get ready to build out your group’s ideas and aspirations for 2021 – particularly for the First 100 Days Campaign. This month, we’re engaging in the planning process for 2021 so that we’re ready to start taking action in the new year. The group planning process is a great moment to determine roles that advocates will take in the group, group norms that will help your groups function smoothly and well, and much more. Free agents can plan as well. We hope you’ll complete your planning by January 8 so we’re ready to start taking action when the new Administration is sworn in.

TAKE ACTION: A 2021 RESULTS Group Roadmap form has been emailed to group leaders. (Contact Jos Linn with questions.) Additional support materials like the Roadmap Guide and Individual Planning Form can be found on our website under “My group wants to make our plans.” If you are a group leader, read through the Roadmap Guide to prepare. If you are a group member or a free agent, fill out the Individual Planning Form. Then your group can complete the process by working on the Group Roadmap form together. Finally, plan to attend the Kickoff Event for our 2021 First 100 Days campaign on Saturday, February 6. This is the normal date of the National Webinar, but this event has exciting programming most of that afternoon. Stay tuned for more details, but make sure to register for this free event today.

QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY

H.Res.189 passes. Read a blog post from our colleagues at Bread for the World on the passage of global nutrition resolution H.Res.189. We celebrate this resolution finally getting passed! As a follow-on, watch the recording of the Bread for the World Institute’s recent webinar “Looking Forward to 2021: Food Systems that Nourish.”

Global Child Thrive Act passes as well. Last week Congress passed the Global Child Thrive Act which supports early childhood development. We celebrate this passage as well!

U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update

QUICK ACTION Tell Congress to pass COVID relief now

Got Ten Minutes? Make one last push for a COVID deal this year

Congress is hoping to leave Washington by week’s end for the holiday break. With the U.S. surpassing 300,000 COVID deaths this week and millions going into the holidays without jobs or steady income, they must not leave without passing COVID relief. The good news is it might actually happen.

For months, the big sticking point in COVID negotiations has been between providing aid to state and local governments (which has bipartisan support) and including liability protection for corporations against COVID lawsuits (which primarily Republicans support). To get around the impasse, a bipartisan group of senators, who released a $908 billion deal a few weeks ago, have released a new framework to bifurcate the controversial and non-controversial provisions. One bill would allocate around $750 billion in funding for priorities many lawmakers agree on, including $25 billion in rent relief (considering an estimated $70 billion in back rent and fees is already owed, this is an important “down payment” on the $100 billion needed to cover the next 12 months), a new eviction moratorium through January 31, and $13 billion for nutrition assistance. A second bill, likely to be addressed later, would include state and local aid and liability protection. At this point, it is anticipated that any COVID relief measures would be paired with omnibus appropriations bill Congress must pass by Friday night (or face a government shutdown).

But nothing is guaranteed until Congress passes it and the President signs it. Don’t leave anything to chance.

TAKE ACTION:  Take ten minutes to tell your senators to get a COVID deal done NOW that prioritizes rental assistance, a boost for SNAP, and a new eviction moratorium. Use our online call and e-mail alert to send your message now. Once you have taken action, please forward the alert to your action networks and contacts on social media urging them to take action now.

Got 15 Minutes? Keep talking to aides about COVID relief

With negotiations coming to a head this week on a COVID relief bill, it is imperative that key Senate aides hear from you. If you have not contacted them in the last week, please contact them today to remind them of the critical importance of getting this done. Remind them that if Congress does not provide relief to renters, the pandemic will get worse as millions are evicted when the CDC moratorium ends. Time is of the essence – Congress must pass COVID relief now!

TAKE ACTION: Follow up with Senate housing and agriculture aides urging their bosses to push for passage of a COVID relief bill before they leave Washington that includes:

1. $25 billion in rent relief, which is a down payment on $100 billion of emergency rental assistance needed over the next year. Please tell them the $25 billion must be targeted to those most at-risk of eviction.
2. A new expanded eviction moratorium.
3. A 15 percent boost in the maximum SNAP benefit.

If you have gotten new media published recently (many of you have), be sure to send that to them (you can also resend our U.S. Poverty COVID media packet). Make sure they know in no uncertain terms that their bosses should not leave Washington without passing a strong COVID package with these priorities.

QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY

Last day to sign on to eviction letter. Please sign your local RESULTS group onto a letter urging the CDC to prevent a wave of evictions in 2021 by extending the national eviction moratorium (it expires December 31). Sign on here. Today is the last day to sign on.

Tax credits make a difference. Read the powerful story from RESULTS Expert on Poverty Kali Daugherty about the impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) has had on her and her son’s life. This blog post is taken from remarks Kali gave in a congressional briefing over the summer.

New report on COVID-19 and kids. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has just released a new report on the impact of COVID-19 on kids and families. The report outlines how the pandemic has impacted kids and families with regard to physical and mental health, economic stability, and education. It also recommends policy changes such as strengthening the ACA, expanding housing programs, and making the EITC and CTC more accessible to families.

RESULTS Announcements

RESULTS end-of-year giving. Give before the end of the year to help fund our work in the first 100 days of the new Administration. We need your support today! You gift will help us propel RESULTS advocates into the new year with an even greater momentum for change.

New registration for 2021 National Webinars. We’re excited to kick off our year of National Webinars on Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 1 p.m. We have a brand-new registration form for 2021, and one registration gets you registered for the whole year. So, register for the National Webinars today!

Keep up your Roadmap planning. We hope your 2021 Roadmap planning is going well. Thanks to all the groups who have already met to plan and those who have it scheduled. If you have not done so already, please set a date for your group to meet in December to talk and complete your 2021 Group Roadmap. Be sure to invite all members of your group to participate, especially new people who have been introduced to your group in 2020. You can find our 2021 Roadmap Guide and Individual Planning Form on our Outreach and Planning page (under “My group wants to make our plans”). Online Roadmap forms were e-mailed to group leaders recently. If you have questions, please contact Jos Linn. Please complete your roadmaps by January 8.

Register for the First 100 Days Kickoff! Plan to attend the Kickoff Event for our 2021 First 100 Days campaign on Saturday, February 6. This is the normal date of the National Webinar, but it will be a special longer afternoon. Stay tuned for more details, but make sure to register for this free event today.

#RESULTSat40. Over the next several weeks, we will wrap up our celebration of 40 years of RESULTS! Look for feature stories on our amazing advocates and historical moments pulled from the archives by following #RESULTSat40 on Twitter.

Receive action alerts via text. If you’d like to receive RESULTS alerts via text, please text RESULTS to 50457 to sign up.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. Members of Congress are in session. Submit your remote meeting requests today.

Tuesday, December 15: U.S. Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 and 8:00 pm ET. For information on how to join, please contact Jos Linn.

Wednesday, December 16: New Advocate Orientation, 8:30 pm ET. Sign up online.

Friday, December 25-Friday, January 1: RESULTS holiday break. All RESULTS offices will be closed. Happy holidays!

Saturday, January 9: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. We have a new registration form for 2021. Please register today!

Wednesday, January 13: BIPOC Caucus, 8:30 pm ET. Featuring Asia Bijan Thompson, Esq., Law Guardian with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. The topic will be how the judicial system affects poverty and the BIPOC community. To register, email Yolanda Gordon.

Wednesday, January 13: Basic Training on Zoom, 8:30 pm ET. Need to brush up on some Zoom basics so that you can utilize this tool for advocacy in 2021? Come on along to this training. Register today.

Thursday, January 21: How Do I Meet with My Congressional Office? 8:30 pm ET. Join us to learn the basics of how to schedule, plan, and meet with your congressional office on the issues you care about. Register today.

Monday, January 25: Global Poverty Free Agents Webinar, 8:00 pm ET. For information on how to join, please contact Lisa Marchal.

Thursday, January 28: Researching Your Members of Congress, 8:30 pm ET. Want to learn more about your member(s) of Congress so that you can engage in more effective advocacy? Join this webinar to learn about tips and tools that you can use to get to know your legislators – their backgrounds, current committee work, and more. Register today.

Friday, January 29: RESULTS African Leadership Cohort Virtual Meet and Greet, 8 pm ET. The African Leadership Cohort will be hosting the first-of-its-kind virtual get- together in January. We are inviting all RESULTS volunteers of the African Diaspora to join us for a meet & greet session. Please email Alice Aluoch for the login information.

Saturday, February 6: RESULTS First 100 Days Kickoff Event, 1:00 pm ET. Register today.

Grassroots Resources

Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.

To update volunteer info (e.g. subscribe to the Weekly Update or action alerts, add new advocate information, update an existing advocate’s information or preferences), use our Volunteer Information Form.

Find actions and volunteer resources on our Current Volunteers page, including our anti-oppression resources.

Remember to please report your recent grassroots successes in lobby meetings, media pieces, and outreach activities.

If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail Lindsay Saunders at [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports. Including our new special edition 2019 Annual Report.

RESULTS Staff directory.