Global Weekly Update August 18, 2014

Top Action: Meet Face-to-Face with Your Rep. About Child Vaccines

Your Regional Coordinators have challenged us all to get 115 cosponsors onto the resolution by October 1 and 180 by the close of the 113th Congress in December. This number was built off the fact that you helped us get 105 legislators on a spring House letter supporting maternal and child health. If we can get those representatives onto the resolution and add 75 more cosponsors, we have our goal. This is the perfect request to take to a face-to-face meeting as we seek to have meetings with one-third of the Senate and all of the House districts we cover.

Our advocacy from now through January 2015 will focus on childhood vaccinations and supporting GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations). We have the chance to save over 5 million lives and build stronger, healthier societies with a $1 billion U.S. investment in vaccines. Meeting face-to-face with your legislators while they are back in home states and districts for the August recess, and also when they're home for recess later this fall, is one of the most powerful things you can do to advocate for the end of extreme poverty. You can make cosponsorship requests at office meetings and town hall gatherings, or you could thank them for their cosponsorship if they've already put their name to the resolution.

1. Read a new blogpost by Jos Linn, Grassroots Manager for U.S. Poverty Campaigns. This is the second installment in a series about working for face-to-face meetings with our legislators and what these meetings can accomplish. Jos will offer super advice on how to make these meetings happen.

2. Take action, using the support materials here (including the latest action sheet and a brand new outreach guide)!

• August action sheet. The new action sheet will help you make your GAVI resolution request; it includes great talking points about GAVI that will help you in your conversation with your legislators. Use and share with others at an August outreach meeting.
• Outreach guide. Gather others in your community to hear about the life-saving work of GAVI Alliance and what the 2015 replenishment conference will mean for the health and safety of millions of children around the world. Use this handy guide to help build your meeting agenda.
• Information on the resolution, including the text and growing cosponsor list
• "Dear Colleague" cover letter which offers information on who your representative can contact to sign on as well as a list of endorsing organizations
• Online action alert you can use and share to ask your representative to support the resolution
• Grasstops-building is a fun and interesting way to magnify the impact of your group. Community leaders who might care about the issue of child survival could be engaged by you or your group to co-write an op-ed, attend a face-to-face meeting with you, etc. Read up on the latest support resources we have for grasstops engagement!
• Media Training. Want to represent your group (or area, if you're a free agent) at a training weekend designed to deepen your media skills and fulfill key media goals during our GAVI Alliance campaign? Trainings will be held September 12-14 in Seattle and September 26-28 in Houston; transportation, lodging, and meals will be provided. Interested? Contact Allison Gallaher for all the details by Friday, August 22.
• Grassroots Growth. If you are part of a RESULTS group, identify an Action Network Manager who will mobilize others. If you aren't part of a group, identify 5 other people you want to put into action regularly. Let Lisa Marchal know you are interested in mobilizing an action network.
• Great Tips. Second, take time to work with RESULTS advocate and professional coach Sunil Bhaskaran's coaching session, recorded on May 12, which you can access on demand to hone your skills in this critical area.

My Rep. is an H.Res. 688 Cosponsor. What Other Actions Can I Take?

What can you do next if your representative has already cosponsored H.Res. 688? There are several great options.

• Remember that we are also looking for senators willing to introduce a GAVI resolution in the Senate. Contact Crickett Nicovich, Lisa Marchal, or Ken Patterson for more assistance in calling your representative or senators into leadership.
• You can go back to your representative, thank him/her for their cosponsorship on H.Res. 688 and ask who else in the House we should approach about cosponsorship.
• You can also ask your representative to write a letter to President Obama asking for an increase in the maternal and child health and nutrition accounts for FY16. We are asking for $850 million for maternal/child health and $200 million for nutrition. You can request a sample letter to President Obama that representatives and even senators could send.

We've Got Answers!

1. How Do I Tweet? RESULTS advocates have expressed a renewed interest in learning about using Twitter to amplify our media work. Many RESULTS activists are already using Twitter for their advocacy and media work, but we wanted to offer those interested a chance to learn how to jump on board. Twitter can enable you to reach out frequently and easily to each other, thus increasing our ability to generate ideas for print media. We can use Twitter to strengthen our community through regular sharing of media successes, hooks, related news stories, etc.; these can be tweeted or re-tweeted with links to sources. There will be no media support call this month; instead we’re inviting anyone interested in getting started on Twitter to take an online tutorial.

2. How Do I Join the RESULTS Listserv? The RESULTS listserv is an extra resource that is available to you beyond the regular communication you're accustomed to from RESULTS (Weekly Updates, monthly action sheets, action alerts, etc.). If you'd like to engage in additional informal conversation with the RESULTS community, you can sign up! Just send an e-mail to [email protected] with "subscribe" in the subject line.

3. What's Happening in RESULTS Internationally? From time to time, we'll be featuring great stories from our RESULTS affiliates around the world. This week, enjoy the news round-up from RESULTS Australia's recently held national conference.

4. Can I Read Dr. Joanne Carter's Remarks from the Opening of the 2014 International Conference? You absolutely can . . . right on our blog.

5. Where is RESULTS Growing Next? Energy is growing in several new areas for the strengthening of our grassroots voice for the end of global poverty. RESULTS is actively seeking advocates to work with us to create groups or join newly forming groups in the following cities: Lawrence, Topeka, and Kansas City (KS); Phoenix; Athens (GA), and Auburn (AL). Do you know someone from one of these communities who is waiting to be inspired into action? Are you living in one of these communities and ready to become a RESULTS group member? If so, we want to hear from you! Get in touch with Amanda Beals, Global Health Organizer.

August Book Club and Fall Fundraising

1. Book Club With Sam Daley-Harris Continues August 20. Ready to be inspired? Want to get in touch with your personal power? Want to hear more about RESULTS from the beginning? Consider joining the book discussion of "Reclaiming Our Democracy" by Sam Daley-Harris, founder of RESULTS. Sam is leading leading the conversation to help mark the 20th anniversary of this great book, and all are welcome. Use this as an outreach opportunity for your community! Online sign-up is now open. The discussion series began August 13, and you can listen in on a recording of the conversation online. And you can jump in and join the sessions on August 20 and August 27 at 9 pm ET. We hope you can come to the entire series, but don't hesitate to attend any one of the sessions. Once you sign up, you will receive e-mail confirmation with pertinent reading assignments and the dial-in information. We look forward to a vibrant conversation!

2. We Put the "Fun" in Fundraising! The development team is in the midst of securing details for our fall fundraising events.  If you have an event on the calendar in your area that you have not yet informed them of, or want to plan an event for the fall, please contact your fundraising coach, Jen DeFranco, to get those events on the calendar and get support from the development team along the way. Also, watch for the new and improved online fundraising platform to rollout at the end of August . . . the launch of our new Friends & Family pages, Celebration pages and Race to End Poverty pages . . . followed closely by our online Thanksgiving Feast campaign!  
 

"We are the first generation in history with ability to eradicate extreme poverty from the planet."

-Erik Solheim, chair of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee

1. Next Congressional Recesses: Now through Labor Day. Request face-to-face meetings.

2. August 20, 9 pm ET. Book Club Discussion Continues. Join Sam Daley-Harris to discuss his book Reclaiming Our Democracy. Sign up online.

3. August 22, 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.

4. September 10, 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.

5. September 13, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Conference Call for Global Campaigns. Learn the latest on RESULTS' work to end poverty globally. Call (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before 2 pm ET to join activists from all over the country! If you cannot make the call, we post audio files and PowerPoint presentations on our conference call webpage.

6. September 15, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents Call for Global Poverty Advocates. Dial (267) 507-0370, passcode 7378587. 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.

7. September 17, 9 pm ET. Growing Your RESULTS Group Support Call. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.