RESULTS Weekly Update September 7, 2022

Quote of the Week

“Last year the Child Tax Credit lifted 36 million out of poverty. Now, without this benefit, they are fast falling behind. They need a meaningful response from Congress.”

– RESULTS New Hampshire and Connecticut volunteer Lucinda Winslow in an August 23 letter to the editor in the Concord Monitor

Table of Contents

• Ask for co-sponsors both the TB and READ bills
• Push the Child Tax Credit during the final August recess week
• Join the September National Webinar this Saturday
• Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty
• Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

Ask for co-sponsors both the TB and READ bills

Tuberculosis has been a part of life on Earth long before human beings learned to read and write. Yet, today, with all the advancements we’ve made in health and medicine, it remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease until COVID-19. Because the fight against COVID-19 has diverted resources from needed TB treatment and prevention, the world saw in 2020 the first increase in TB deaths in over a decade. To help get us back on track, Congress needs to pass the End TB Now Act. The bill directs USAID to set bold targets to reach and treat all forms of TB in the most vulnerable populations.

Sadly, global education faces a similar crisis. Right now, 70 percent of 10-year-olds are unable to read a simple text in low- and middle-income countries. An entire generation of children face the real threat of not learning how to read. Imagine life without the ability to read. It doesn’t have to be that way. The READ Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 ensures that USAID updates their strategy to improve foundational literacy and numeracy in basic education. It also requires rigorous monitoring and evaluation efforts and a yearly report to Congress and the public.

But the clock is ticking. These bills must pass before the end of the year, otherwise we must start all over again in 2023. And with only about eight weeks of actual legislating time remaining on their calendars, Congress needs to get moving.

TAKE ACTION: With Congress back in session this week, contact your House and Senate offices to urge them to co-sponsor the End TB Now Act and the READ Act Reauthorization Act. In particular, we need more co-sponsors for the End TB Now Act (check to see if your members of Congress have signed on to either bill). The September 2022 Global Poverty Action provides resources for getting co-sponsors for the TB bill. You can also use our TB action alert and our READ action alert to ask members of Congress for support. If you have contacted your congressional offices recently, follow up to check on the status of your request. Find additional resources to help on our Fall 2022 Campaign Resources page.

Tell tax aides to push for CTC in tax legislation

With Congress back in session this week, now is the time to follow up with your House and Senate tax aides about the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Most of your interaction with them this year has been focused on getting the expanded CTC in a budget reconciliation bill. That ship has sailed; the Inflation Reduction Act passed last month without the CTC. We now want to refocus their sights on including the CTC in tax legislation later this year.

That legislation won’t move in Congress until after the election, but now is the time to weigh in. Congress will only have a few weeks after the election to get everything done before they adjourn for the year. Any details on legislation they can work out ahead of time makes it easier to get everything done. Therefore, discussions about what’s in and what’s out of the tax bill are happening now. Remind them that you expect the expanded CTC to be in that bill.

TAKE ACTION: Contact your House and Senate tax aides this week. Ask them to tell their bosses to urge now House and Senate leadership to include the CTC in a post-election tax bill. Specifically, you want the expanded CTC with full refundability and monthly payment option. Use the September 2022 U.S. Poverty Action for talking points. The tax bill will have to be bipartisan to pass, so please also read our new RESULTS Blog post on making the conservative case for the CTC.

Remember, only one person from your local RESULTS group needs to contact a particular tax aide about the CTC. Others in your group can amplify that message by e-mailing the office directly and getting letters to the editor published in support of the CTC.

Join the September National Webinar this Saturday

Join us this Saturday, September 10 at 1:00 pm ET for the September 2022 RESULTS National Webinar. We are excited for you to join us this month. In our first half hour, we are pleased to welcome Barbara Saverino, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at United Way Worldwide. She will discuss what messaging to use when talking about the CTC with moderate and conservative policymakers, whose support will be needed to pass a CTC extension this year. For our middle thirty minutes, RESULTS’ Ken Patterson will teach us to articulate why we’re advocates for the end of poverty. This will come in handy as you invite new volunteers to join RESULTS as part of our Fall 2022 Outreach Campaign. Then, in our final half hour, we will turn our attention to tuberculosis. We welcome Aaron Sunday of the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) to discuss the decline of TB testing and treatment in the face of COVID-19, and why we need to ramp up global TB efforts and pass TB legislation this year.

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). The webinar slides recording will be available 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: Use Congress’s return to DC this week as a hook to urge action on the Child Tax Credit. Remind your members of Congress they have unfinished business to complete.
• Global Poverty: Use the Global Fund Replenishment Conference later this month as a hook to urge U.S. leaders to step up the fight against tuberculosis by supporting a full Global Fund replenishment and passing the End TB Now Act.

New hunger data released by USDA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its 2021 U.S. hunger data. The data shows that 13.5 million U.S. households were food insecure last year. This is not significantly different from 2020 (13.8 million households) and 2019 (13.7 million households). Hunger among households with children dropped from 7.6 percent in 2020 to 6.2 percent in 2021. This drop is likely due in part to the 2021 CTC payments that ameliorated some of the hardship families experienced in 2020 due to the pandemic. But the 2021 childhood hunger rate was only a return to “normal” – the rate was 6.5 percent in 2019. It is a relief that overall hunger did not go up in 2021, but when “holding steady” or “returning to normal” equates to millions of people experiencing hunger, we must do better.

New report shows impact of SNAP improvements. A new report from the Urban Institute examines the effects of two policy changes affecting SNAP benefits: a reevaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) that increased the maximum SNAP benefit by 21 percent, and “emergency allotments” that increased SNAP benefits during the pandemic. Their estimates show that the combined effect of the reevaluated TFP and emergency allotments reduced poverty by 14.1 percent and reduced child poverty by 21.8 percent in states with emergency allotments. Read more in the report.

Announcements

Join important conversation from the voices of lived experience. Ahead of the first White House Hunger Conference in a half century, join the Community Partnership Group at CLASP and the Experts on Poverty at RESULTS for a webinar next Wednesday, September 14 at 3:00 pm ET to re-vision the guiding “Five Pillars” of the Conference. The Five Pillars are meant to define the scope of the conference and help identify actions to be taken to end U.S. hunger by 2030. But currently, the pillars do not reflect the insight of the people who have directly experienced hunger, poverty, and the social systems meant to alleviate both. This webinar will highlight those voices by addressing the root causes of hunger; discussing the role government, systemic racism and inequity play in hunger; and offering solutions based on the experiences and the realities of people experiencing hunger face every day. Register today.

Register for Saturday’s Diversity and Inclusion 101 training. Join us this Saturday, September 10, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET (right before the National Webinar) to learn why diversity and inclusion are integral to our success and how to use these concepts in your advocacy work. Have you attended yet? If so, have you invited a fellow advocate to attend? We are committed to having our volunteer network take full advantage of this foundational, 90-minute Diversity and Inclusion workshop. Register today.

Learn more about relational organizing. Learn what relational organizing is and why it is critical to the sustainability of your group and RESULTS’ mission. Develop a framework for engaging your community and bringing new people into the RESULTS movement. The webinar is Tuesday, September 13 at 8:30 pm ET. Register today.

Join training on social media advocacy. Looking for new ways to reach your senators, representatives, and other audiences online? Join us for a training with a digital media strategist who will walk us through how to draft effective social media messaging and tie it to RESULTS’ goals. The trainer, Lindsey Spector, is a digital diplomacy professional who provides daily problem-solving and training on social media and strategic communications for global audiences. The training is Saturday, September 17, 11:00 am-12:30 pm ET. Register for this webinar today.

Apply for the 2023 RESULTS Fellowship. We are now accepting applications for the 2023 class of the RESULTS Advocacy & Organizing Fellowship. For all the details on eligibility and how to apply, check out our website. Applications close October 31.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are in session this week (the House is doing committee work only).

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

Thursday, September 8: Global Allies Program (with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers), 8:30 pm ET. Register today.

Saturday, September 10: Diversity and Inclusion 101, 11:00 am ET. Register here.

Saturday, September 10: Monthly National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Register here.

Monday, September 12: At the Intersection of Poverty and Climate Change, 8:30 pm ET. Hosted by the Global Allies Program – Partners Ending Poverty with RESULTS and RPCVs4 Environmental Action in partnership with Drawdown Lift. Register here.

Tuesday, September 13, New Advocate Orientation, 1:00 pm ET. Register for the orientation here.

Tuesday, September 13: Relational Organizing 101, 8:30 pm ET. Register today.

Wednesday, September 14: Reimagining the Five Pillars of the White House Hunger Conference by People with Lived Experience, 3:00 pm ET. Register today.

Thursday, September 15: Understanding and Interrupting Microaggressions, 11:00 am ET. Facilitated by Peace Learning Center. Seats limited. Register here.

Saturday, September 17: Social Media Advocacy training, 11:00 am ET. Register today.

Tuesday, September 20: U.S. Poverty Free Agents, 1:00 pm and 9:00 pm ET. Contact Jos Linn for more information.

Tuesday, September 20: Together Women Rise Advocacy Chapter with RESULTS, 8:30 pm ET. Learn more.

Wednesday, September 21: Action Network Managers Webinar, 8:00 pm ET. Register here.

Wednesday, September 21, New Advocate Orientation, 8:30 pm ET. Register for the orientation here.

Thursday, September 22: U.S. Poverty Policy Forum, 8:00 pm ET. Register here.

Thursday, September 22: Global Poverty Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET. Register here.

Wednesday, September 28: Build the Movement – Nuts and Bolts of Supporting New Advocates, 8:00 pm ET. Register today.

The next Global Poverty Free Agents meeting will be held in October.

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.