RESULTS Weekly Update March 1, 2022

Quote of the Week

“Our government needs to rebalance our investments toward children.’’

– RESULTS Free Agents Kathleen Ness (ND) in a February 16 letter to the editor in the Grand Forks Herald

Table of Contents

• State of the Union tonight creates an important hook for media
• Keep building on your Global Fund advocacy
• Register for Saturday’s National Webinar with Michelle Dallafior and Linda Mafu
• Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty
• Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

State of the Union tonight creates an important hook for media

Tonight, President Biden will make his first State of the Union address before Congress. While much of the speech will focus on the crisis in Ukraine, he is expected to also discuss a number of issues related to the economy. Will he mention the crisis in housing millions of Americans face as rent prices continue to climb? Will he highlight the drastic reduction in child poverty in 2021 as a result of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC)? Will he mention that child poverty rose by 41 percent in January because Congress let the CTC expansion expire?

Regardless of what he discusses, the speech itself is a prime opportunity for you to educate lawmakers and your community about housing and child poverty. You can do this by submitting letters to the editor using the SOTU speech as a hook. If the President mentions the CTC (or the Earned Income Tax Credit, which was also expanded in 2021), write a letter urging Congress to extend these tax credits that keep millions of children and workers out of poverty. If he mentions housing, write a letter urging Congress to expand rental assistance to all who need it. And if the President doesn’t mention any of these issues, write a letter noting their omission and why they should have been discussed. Remind readers that these issues matter and Congress should be working tirelessly to address them.

TAKE ACTION: Watch tonight’s State of the Union address to hear what President Biden says about poverty in America. Use coverage of the speech in your local paper as a hook for letters to the editor urging Congress to take action now to extend the 2021 CTC and EITC provisions and to expand federal rental assistance. The February U.S. Poverty Action has additional background and talking points. If you need help with drafting or submitting a letter, please contact RESULTS staff for assistance.

Keep Building on Your Global Fund Advocacy

Did you hear? Thanks in part to your tremendous work, 137 House members from both parties signed onto the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria support letter to the Biden Administration. You can find a copy of the signed letter and the. Congratulations!

Now, we keep building the momentum. Just because we’ve had this success does not mean the needing funding is guaranteed. We’ll need to continue to educate and cultivate our members of Congress to ensure the U.S. makes a bold pledge and that Congress appropriates the funding needed. The U.S. must play a leadership role as it anticipates hosting the seventh Global Fund replenishment later this year. Read the Global Fund investment case, titled “Fight for What Counts,” online. The Global Fund is requesting donor pledges of at least $18 billion at the replenishment conference later this year. With at least $18 billion in donor pledges over the next three years, the Global Fund estimates it can save an additional 20 million lives and put us on track to ending the three pandemics by 2030. Additional investments in equitable global health systems will also prepare us for future pandemics.

Take a few moments today to out again to your representative(s) and share the action links with others so that the chorus builds.

TAKE ACTION:

• If your representative signed the Global Fund sign-on letter to the Administration, use our online action to thank them by reaching out to the aide(s) you worked with. Acknowledging support of the Global Fund is a wonderful way to deepen a relationship with an office and helps lay the groundwork for the building of champion. You can also write a letter to the editor and mention your representative by name using a different online action.
• If you representative did not sign on, let them know that the sign-on letter to the Administration was a success and that there will be other opportunities for them to support the Global Fund replenishment. Contact the aide(s) you’ve been working with and share the sign-on letter with them. You can use this online action to message to your representative.

Register for Saturday’s National Webinar with Michelle Dallafior and Linda Mafu

Please join us for the RESULTS National Webinar this Saturday, March 5 at 1:00 pm ET. We have a great yet bittersweet webinar planned for this month. We’ll start off with our U.S. Poverty section with guest speaker Michelle Dallafior from First Focus for Children. She will discuss how child poverty is impacted by tax and housing policies in the U.S. We’ll then transition immediately to our Global Poverty section with guest speaker Linda Mafu of the Global Fund. She will overview the Global Fund case for investment and how the Global Fund works with affected communities. The last section of the webinar will be a remembrance of RESULTS Expert on Poverty La’Shon Marshall, who was tragically killed in Detroit last month. Here is the agenda for the webinar:

• 1:00-1:30pm: U.S. Poverty section with Michelle Dallafior
• 1:30-2:00pm: Global Poverty section with Linda Mafu
• 2:00-2:30pm: Grassroots Café – RESULTS remembers La’Shon Marshall

TAKE ACTION: Please register for this Saturday’s National Webinar. Once registered, you will receive login information later this week via e-mail (please check your junk or spam folders if you have not received anything by Friday afternoon). You can also access the webinar slides (and later the recording) on our National Webinars page.

Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty

Media hooks of the week. To help you in your media advocacy, here are suggested media “hooks” this week to use in letters to the editor:

• U.S. Poverty: The State of the Union address is March 1. While the state of the union may be strong, too many of its members, particularly children, are being left behind. The Child Tax Credit has proven it can dramatically reduce child poverty – Congress must extend it now.
• Global Poverty: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria released its 2022 case for investment last week, outlining a powerful argument for why the U.S. must support a robust replenishment of the Fund this year.

Pass the Torch, Fight for What Counts: Cape to Cairo to Capitol Hill. This special event co-hosted by WACI Health, GFAN Africa, and RESULTS will hearken back to last year when a single candle was lit by a Cape Town health center that served as the first HIV/AIDS clinic opened through the work of the Global Fund. The light ultimately moved across to Cairo and back to South Africa. Now, the light moves toward us in anticipation of the Global Fund replenishment the U.S. will host at year’s end. Join in a moving and inspiring event this Friday morning, March 4, as the torch is passed and we strive toward a powerful replenishment that will move the Global Fund’s work forward into its third decade. Register today.

New paper analyzes U.S. efforts to fight child poverty. In a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, researchers examine why programs to fight child poverty – like the recent expansion of the Child Tax Credit – are so hard to maintain compared to other public benefit programs.

Announcements

Register for March 9 Diversity and Inclusion 101 training. As part of our work to dismantle systems of oppression, we have a goal of having all RESULTS volunteers attend our “Diversity and Inclusion 101” training in 2022. The next open session is Wednesday, March 9 at 11:00 am ET, with additional offerings over the next few months. Seating is limited for each session so register for upcoming session today. If you’re unable to attend a session you registered for, please cancel your registration to allow others to participate (see instructions in your confirmation e-mail).

Learn the basics of hosting a hybrid meeting. As groups start to meet in person in the coming months, hybrid meetings (a combination of online and in-person participation) are likely to become more common. Learn tips for hosting such these types of meetings from the “running hybrid meetings” training we held last fall.

RESULTS welcomes new Hunger Fellow, Blake Turpin. Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, Blake graduated from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in May 2021 with a BA in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology and Criminal Justice, along with minors in Hispanic Studies and Political Science. Before coming to RESULTS, Blake spent time working on several local political campaigns, as an after-school teacher, as an intern for the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, and as a fellow at Project Bread in Boston, MA. Blake is excited to work with RESULTS to work toward breaking cycles of poverty and oppression. He will be with RESULTS until the end of July 2022. Welcome, Blake!

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are in session this week.

Unless otherwise noted, registration ends one hour prior to the start of all webinars and trainings.

Saturday, March 5: RESULTS National Webinar with Michelle Dallafior and Linda Mafu, 1:00 pm ET. Register today.

Wednesday, March 9: Diversity and Inclusion 10 – Implicit Bias, Microaggressions and Understanding of Systemic Racism and Oppression, 11:00 am ET. Register here.

Thursday, March 10: Global Allies – Ending Poverty with RESULTS, 8:30 pm ET.  This is our monthly webinar for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Register here.

Tuesday, March 15: U.S. Poverty Free Agents, 1:00 pm and 9:00 pm ET (new time). If you are interested in joining, contact Jos Linn for more information.

Tuesday, March 15: Together Women Rise Webinar, 8:30 pm ET.Learn more on how to get involved with the TWR advocacy chapter. For questions, please contact Karyne Bury.

Wednesday, March 16: Action Network Webinars, 12:30 pm ET and 8:00 pm ET. Register for the afternoon session or evening session. Registration ends one hour prior to each webinar. (In 2022, Action Network webinars will take place every other month.)

Thursday, March 17: U.S. Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 8:00 pm ET. Register here.

Thursday, March 17: Global Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET.  Register here.

Monday, March 28: Global Poverty Free Agents, 7:00 pm ET. If you are interested in joining, contact Lisa Marchal for more information.

Weekend of June 4. RESULTS International Conference. Keynote speaker: Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker. More information soon on this virtual event.

Grassroots Resources

Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.

Find actions and volunteer resources on our Volunteers Hub, including our anti-oppression resources. To join the RESULTS listserv for more RESULTS conversation, send an email to [email protected].

Remember to please report your recent advocacy successes in lobby meetings, media, and outreach activities. Also, use our Volunteer Information Form to add or edit volunteer info and to sign up for updates and alerts.

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.

RESULTS Staff directory and job postings.