Global Weekly Update September 23, 2013

Top Actions: Request Bipartisan Cosponsorship for the EFA Act & Child Nutrition Resolution

Educating and nourishing children is something all should get behind. The Education for All Act (H.R. 2780) and the Child Nutrition Resolution (H.Res. 254) will improve how we spend existing foreign aid resources, and they need strong bipartisan support. In order for these measures to receive serious consideration, we need to generate a significant number of cosponsorships from both parties. Our goal is to get 100 cosponsors for each of the two measures with a good bipartisan balance, and we are at around 30 cosponsors for both at present. Here’s what you can do today:

1. Five-Minute Action: Send letters to your rep. requesting he/she cosponsor the Education For All Act and the Child Nutrition Resolution. Remember to personalize your letters with a brief statemen of why you care about these issues.

2. Ten-Minute Action: Use the Education for All laser talk or the child nutrition laser talk to call the foreign policy aide in your representative’s office and request cosponsorship. Find the name and contact information of your representative's aides through our website or call the office using the Capitol Switchboard number ((202) 224-3121). When you call, ask for your congressperson first, then the foreign policy aide. Use your laser talk to make the request.

Not sure if your representative has cosponsored either piece of legislation yet? Find the Education for All Act and Child Nutrition Resolution cosponsorship lists through another handy online tool (scroll to the Cosponsor Search at the bottom). 

Reclaiming Our Democracy Book Parties are a Success! 

Three hundred people from two countries joined together for the Saturday evening conference call featuring Sam Daley-Harris, founder of RESULTS, and celebrating the 20th anniversary edition of his book Reclaiming Our Democracy. Joined by Prof. Muhammad Yunus and RESULTS Executive Director Joanne Carter, this call served as a centerpiece for many of you to do strategic outreach in your communities and invite others to be part of RESULTS. Well done! Find a recording and transcript of the call on our blog.

Sam is currently touring the country to talk about his book and the power of RESULTS. Check out a great blog post about the Saturday event. Then check out Sam's recent interview with Sam in In Balance, a radio interview with Sam at KPFK in Los Angeles, and a feature in Tikkun magazine.  

And don't forget that your outreach isn't complete just because the book party is finished. Make sure your guests feel welcome to your next group event or meeting with your member of Congress! Consider doing a book club discussion with Reclaiming Our Democracy.

Social Media Buzz

Some important poverty-fighting events are going on this week, including the Global Citizen Festival, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the UN General Assembly. Follow the buzz online by checking out their websites and following the Twitter hashtag #by2030, focusing on how we're furthering the end-of-extreme-poverty conversation after the Millennium Development Goals deadline of 2015. You can also check out the Twitter handles for RESULTS (@RESULTS_Tweets) and the Global Campaign for Education here in the U.S. (@GCE_US). 

Grassroots News You Can Use

Virtual Fun-raising. Know anyone who loves Lord of the Rings and likes to run or walk? We have a fun new virtual run fundraiser going right now for donors to support RESULTS Educational Fund by running/walking at their convenience and earning medals inspired by the villains of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. Please share the site with anyone you think might be interested! Registration is open now through October 31. See our registration website for more details: LOTR Virtual Villains Challenge.

Out with the Old. Please recycle or discard any RESULTS donation envelopes you may have with a “Uniondale, NY” or “1730 Rhode Island Ave” address. We are printing new donation envelopes for your events with our new address of “1101 15th Ave NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005” If you need envelopes for an upcoming event, please contact your event coaches Jen Defranco or Cindy Levin.

Congratulations! You Got Published! Now What? Obtain a hard copy if one is available, for your use and for your files. Then find the online version and send a copy to Blair Hinderliter, Lisa Marchal, Ken Patterson, and the listserv. If you can't find an online version, a scanned or hard copy will do. The office mailing address is 1101 15th St., NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005. 

Next, leverage your media work! Get others to comment on your piece online or respond with letters of their own. Share what you've written on Facebook and other social media. Send a copy of the media to your representative and both senators. Include a note with the media highlighting why it's important to our issues and what you would like them to do.

It's powerful to present your year's media file to your legislators once a year or at the International Conference and at outreach meetings. We do the same in the DC office by sending key media compilations to the Administration, key members of Congress, partners organizations, and more. 

RESULTS Listserv. The RESULTS listserv is a virtual water cooler! Beyond the Weekly Updates and online actions you receive, this listserv is a beehive of Ideas, media hits, questions . . . all of these are traded and shared in this Googlegroup. Want to subscribe? Send an e-mail to [email protected].

RESULTS Action Network. Do you know someone who’d like to receive RESULTS Weekly Updates, monthly action sheets, and timely action alerts? Direct them to our website so they can sign up!

And the genius of RESULTS is that they found a way how to make this a process which continues, and it becomes a relationship between the citizens and their representatives and you express yourself and you continue to demand it, continue to negotiate, continue to dialogue with your representatives.  And finally, [you] ensure decision makers do come to your way because, after all, the real power is the power of the citizens.

           —Dr. Muhammad Yunus on the September 21, 2013 call on Reclaiming Our Democracy

1. September 27, 1 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.

2. October 5. World Teacher Day.

3. October 9, 9 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.

4. October 12, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Poverty Campaigns. Theme: Generating Global Fund Media for the Replenishment. Special guest: Carol Nyirenda, Executive Director of CITAM+ of Zambia. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join!

5. October 15, 8 pm ET. Media Support Call. Want to be part of the on-going support that’s available to help you reach your media goals? Then this is the call for you! Join monthly for inspiration and ideas to keep you going. The Cameron Duncan Media Award is given to a deserving journalist at the annual International Conference, and we want to create professional media champions worthy of this award! Dial (218) 862-1300, passcode 682494 to join this call.

6. October 16. World Food Day. Contact Carly Pildis, Outreach and Advocacy Associate, if you want to plan an event for friends, colleagues, your chapter, or local school.

7. October 21, 8 pm ET. Next 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, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this monthly group call.