Global Weekly Update February 25, 2013
Webinar Tonight (2/27): From Zero to Hero — Moving Your Lawmakers Up the Champion Scale
RESULTS’ most critical work is the relationship building we do with our members of Congress. We build these relationships so that we can influence how they understand and act on issues of poverty. But how do we know when we are making progress with them? How do we know what to do next to move them further along the path of support and leadership on these critical issues? The Champion Scale is a RESULTS tool that helps us evaluate where are with our members of Congress, and what to do next to further enroll them in the work of ending poverty. Join us tonight, February 27, at 9 pm ET for a webinar on how to make the most of this extremely useful tool. Here are the details to join:
Link to the webinar: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/18573671
For audio: Join via your computer at the link above, or dial (775) 996-3560, Room # 796141
Top Action: Appropriations Determines Where the Money Goes
With all the talk of spending cuts, sequester, austerity, there is great risk to the most vulnerable. Event small cuts to programs that vaccinate, provide life-saving AIDS drugs, get girls into schools will have a massive impact on real lives. This is why RESULTS engages our representatives and senators in the appropriations process — the annual cycle when spending decision are made. We ask our members of Congress them to write and speak to key congressional colleagues who will be making these decisions. In the House, Reps. Kay Granger (R-TX) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) make foreign aid spending decisions. In the Senate, Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) make the decisions.
We need to act now to get our spending preferences to our members of Congress for 2014. Though they are dealing with the sequester and the rest of 2013 spending yet, once they start working on 2014 spending, things will move very quickly. If we wait until they fix the sequester and 2013 there will be little time for them to hear from us. Here’s what you can do:
- Write a Letter: Use our February Action Sheet to write a letter to your representative and senators. Personal letters rank very high on the influence they have. You can hand write and deliver via the mail or dropping it by the local office, or you can type up and submit via their website, or to one of the aides. (Find contact information for your members of Congress.)
- Organize a Fun Letter Writing Meeting: You can organize a short letter writing meeting complete with videos and great educational materials to increase the impact — two personal letters are better than one, and ten personal letters will really be noticed. (Find sample outlines for a letter writing meeting.)
- Call and E-mail the Key People: Send our appropriations requests to the foreign policy aides of your representative and senators via email, then follow up with a call. You can find their names here (look under the staff tab once you find your member of Congress). Their e-mail address usually is [email protected]. Follow up with them via email and phone each week until you are able to have a conversation with them.
- Easiest Action: Go to our Global Poverty Actions and News page and send a letter using our on line tool. Personalize it for impact. Check back if you don’t find it right away.
If you want guidance or coaching in making these critical requests, contact Ken Patterson ([email protected]) or Lisa Marchal ( [email protected])
Why Do We Share Our Precious Resources with RESULTS?
Why do you volunteer with RESULTS? Why do you give money to RESULTS? These two questions are at the heart of your skills as a fundraiser. If you can answer these questions for yourself, you’ll be able to sincerely ask other people to donate their resources (time and/or money) to help us with our ambitious mission to end poverty. Grassroots fundraising coach Cindy Levin has written her answer in her Anti-Poverty Blog entry called RESULTS: Nothing Less Than the End of Poverty. We hope it inspires you to think about your own personal answers to use at your own fundraising or outreach events or in our April Friends & Family letter writing campaign. Contact Cindy at [email protected] for help in planning your fundraising activities.
Upcoming fundraising events:
- March 2 Arlington, VA: House Party with Zambian activist Luwiza Makukula
- March 3 Laurel, MD: House Party with Zambian activist Luwiza Makukula
- March 9 Chicago: House Party with Musician Ella Gill
- March 10 Salt Lake City: Evening with Muhammad Yunus
Thank you to the fantastic RESULTS groups organizing these fundraising events, particularly Kay Neesem, Pat Behenna, Cindy Levin, Scott Leckman!
Invite Them! Interactive Global Health Exhibit for Members of Congress and Staff
There is an interactive global health exhibit and other global health learning events on March 4 and 5 in Rayburn Hall in Washington, D.C. (Rayburn is where many of the Representative’s office are). The exhibit tries to replicate conditions in the developing world so that one can see and feel what it’s like. For many new members of Congress and staff, this will be a real eye opener. Please invite them. You can send an e-mail invitation to your foreign policy aid with something like the following note the RESULTS Austion Advocate, Mark Coats sent (feel free to copy this note and use):
Dear (Foreign Policy Aide),
There will be a great global health exhibit near your office next week. I hope you will check out these activities:
BRIEFING: There will a Congressional Briefing on Global Health on Monday 3/4 at 3:00 PM in the Rayburn Gold Room 2168. Zambian TB-HIV activist and survivor, Luwiza Makukula, will be one of the speakers. Diagnosed with TB-HIV co-infection in 2002, she was able to access medication from the Global Fund that saved her life and has kept her healthy.
EXHIBIT: Monday and Tuesday (3/4 and 3/5) the Global Health Experience Exhibit will be in the foyer of Rayburn House office building. It is a replica of what a rural health clinic in a developing country would look like. The exhibit highlights critically effective interventions such as child survival, GAVI (global vaccines), and the Global Fund.
RECEPTION: Rayburn foyer on Tuesday (3/5) from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
This is a great opportunity for you and the Member to see close up the challenge of accessing quality health services and treatment in some of the most remote places. It underscores how effective U.S. funding for global health can save lives. I hope you will be able take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about these important global health issues. Please let me know if you and your boss get to go.
I do think it [foreign aid] is threatened and I fully agree with Secretary Kerry. I actually wish we weren’t calling it foreign aid — those two words together. I think it should be called national security support because it is good for America to be able to operate in a world where people are democratic and linking arms as Secretary Kerry said.
— Interview with Madeleine Albright on the Brian Lehrer Show
1. February 27, 9 pm ET. From Zero to Hero: Moving Your Lawmakers Up the Champion Scale Webinar. Click http://tinyurl.com/RESULTSZero2Hero to join the webinar. For audio, join via your computer at link, or dial (775) 996-3560, room # 796141.
2. March 2 Arlington, VA: House Party with Zambian activist Luwiza Makukula
3. March 3 Laurel, MD: House Party with Zambian activist Luwiza Makukula
4. March 4–5. Global Health Exhibit for Members of Congress and Staff
5. March 4, 8 pm. Building Bipartisan Champions Cohort Call. You can dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join these calls we plan to host every other month. Do you have a member of Congress who seems not to be open to our issues? Feel blocked at every turn? These calls will be designed to help you define the tools you need to plan a way to empower your members of Congress to be a catalyst toward a world where poverty no longer exists.
6. March 9, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Poverty Campaigns. This month’s theme will be: Addressing the Scourge of Tuberculosis. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join.
7. March 9. Chicago: House Party with Musician Ella Gill
8. March 10 Salt Lake City: Evening with Muhammad Yunus
9. March 18, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents call for global poverty advocates. Dial: (218) 486-1611, passcode 7378587 (RESULTS). Are you a RESULTS activist with our global poverty campaigns, living in a town with no RESULTS group? You are alone no more! Contact Lisa Marchal for more information on this monthly group call.
10. March 24. World TB Day. Generate some media!
11. April 17. Dr. Muhammad Yunus will be award the Congressional Gold Medal in DC.
12. July 20 23, 2013. RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC. Dr. Muhammad Yunus and author/speaker Marianne Williamson are already set to join us. Mark your calendar now!