U.S. Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | July 7, 2015

"Amplify your voice by writing to members of Congress, urging them to support tax fairness and expand economic mobility in America by ending poverty.”

– RESULTS Free Agent Lori Freudenberg in a July 6 letter to the editor in the Quad-City Times (IA)

In This Week’s Update:

• Got Two Minutes? Get Ready for the RESULTS National Meeting with Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez This Saturday at 12:30pm ET
• Got Ten Minutes? Schedule Face-to-Face Meetings with Congress in July and August (July Action)
• Got Twenty Minutes? Collect Letters and Media that Will Go to DC Next Week
• RESULTS International Conference – Schedule Lobby Prep and Lobby Meetings
• Quick News
• Upcoming Events

Quick Action: Urge Congress to Protect the EITC and CTC

Got Two Minutes? Get Ready for the RESULTS National Meeting with Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez This Saturday at 12:30pm ET

Please join us this Saturday, July 11 at 12:30 pm ET for the RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Meeting. This is an important month for RESULTS, with the RESULTS International Conference just ten days away. As we get ready for this year’s Conference, we are honored to have Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-46) offer opening remarks. Congresswoman Sanchez will talk to us about the importance of citizen advocacy and meeting face-to-face with lawmakers. We’ll also spend time talking about the July Action and help everyone get ready the International Conference. Please plan to join us for this important call.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to remind your local RESULTS group about the RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Meeting this Saturday, July 11 at 12:30 pm ET. Coordinate with your group where you will meet for the call. We use Fuze Meeting for these monthly gatherings; to join the meeting, login at http://fuze.me/28130766. If you cannot join online, you can dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID: 28130766#. Plan to log in or call in no later than 12:25 pm ET. If you have questions about Fuze or how to log in, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].

The slides for Saturday’s meeting will available later this week on the RESULTS Home Page in the “Take Action” box in the top right-hand corner.

Got Ten Minutes? Schedule Face-to-Face Meetings with Congress in July and August (July Action)

RESULTS has long promoted face-to-face visits with members of Congress as the most effective way for everyday people to build the political will for change. A Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) poll of more than 250 congressional staff confirms that face-to-face meetings between constituents and their members of Congress is the most effective way to influence elected officials, especially when they are undecided on an issue.

This month, RESULTS volunteers from around the country will be traveling to Washington, DC to meet with their members of Congress and staff at the RESULTS International Conference. Then in August, Congress will be on recess for month, giving every RESULTS volunteer the opportunity to meet with lawmakers and urge them to address poverty in America. With important improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) set to expire in 2017, NOW is the time to take action. Next year is an election year so a major tax reform bill is unlikely who knows if the new President and Congress will be willing to support a permanent extension of these provisions in 2017. Therefore, your advocacy on this issue now is essential. And the best way to move lawmakers into action is to sit down and talk them.

TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to take the July Action. Submit face-to-face meeting requests for the International Conference AND the August recess. It is important to do both because not everyone in your groups can come to DC. The July Action has tips to help you request meetings; you can also use our online request form. Coordinate with your group on who will make the meeting requests and do the follow-up with the schedulers. If you are not coming to DC, help your fellow group members who are by submitting meeting requests on their behalf for Advocacy Day on July 21 (they have a lot to do to get ready and will appreciate the help). You can find scheduler names and contact information on our Elected Officials page. Once you confirm a meeting, please contact RESULTS Director of US Poverty Campaigns Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to set up a lobby meeting coaching call.

Got Twenty Minutes? Collect Letters and Media that Will Go to DC Next Week

Last month, you worked to generate letters about protecting families who receive the EITC and CTC. These letters are to be hand-delivered to members of Congress at the RESULTS International Conference. To make that happen, it’s time to start collecting these letters before people leave for DC at the end of next week. These letters will be a powerful tool in lobby meetings in DC and will bolster the message of your fellow volunteers lobbying at the Conference.

Also, if you’ve gotten media published this year, make sure your fellow group members going to DC have copies of them. This again demonstrates to lawmakers and their staff the commitment you have to this cause and lets them know that you have the power to influence people in your community about poverty in America. These letters and media pieces, along with the meetings themselves, are how democracy should work – citizens telling their elected representatives how best to represent them.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to contact your “letter-writers” about the letters you will take to DC for the RESULTS International Conference (per the June Action). Bring letters to this weekend’s National Meeting or arrange some other way to get them to your local DC travelers (offer to pick them up, ask them to mail them to you, drop them in your mailbox, or e-mail them to you). Don’t forget to also collect media pieces you and/or your local group have generated this year (particularly about SNAP or the EITC/CTC). When your group members get to DC, we will have lobby packets you put them into for your Advocacy Day meetings. If you have questions or need coaching for this action, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].

RESULTS International Conference – Schedule Lobby Prep and Lobby Meetings

In next week’s Update, we’ll highlight some of the logistical tips you’ll want to know before coming to the 2015 RESULTS International Conference. But for this week, it should be all about lobby prep and lobby meetings.

Lobby Prep. If you or your group have not scheduled a lobby prep call with Meredith Dodson, please do so now. These calls are essential in helping you have a successful Advocacy Day at the conference. Please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]) to get your lobby prep call scheduled today. If you can read our U.S. Poverty Background Packet before your call, please do (if not, please read it before you come to DC)

Lobby Meetings. As noted above, if you have not requested face-to-face meetings with your members of Congress for July 21, do so now. With only two weeks to go, their schedules are filling up so you want to get your meeting set as early as possible. Note: the House will be on recess on July 20 so many House members will be traveling back to DC the morning of Advocacy Day (July 21). If possible, set your Senate meetings for the morning of July 21 and House meetings in the afternoon to increase the chance that your representatives will be back in DC. As you schedule your meetings, please be sure to log each meeting into our 2015 Conference Lobby Meeting Form.

As you get ready for your trip, you can find helpful resources on our Conference Resources page. Also, we’ll hold our final Advocacy 101 and What to Expect at the International Conference webinar this Thursday, July 9 at 1:00 pm ET. This webinar will provide you the basics of how to have a good lobby meeting and what to expect during our conference Advocacy Day in DC. Join the webinar online at: https://www.fuze.me/28699630 or by phone at (201) 479-4595, passcode 28699630.

Finally, if you’re looking to make a last minute trip to DC to participate in a great event, it is not too late to attend this year’s conference. Register for the Conference Today! To book a room for the conference, please send an e-mail with the details of your stay to [email protected].

Quick News

The Geography of Poverty – A journey through Forgotten America. There are 353 counties in the United States that are considered by the federal government to be persistently poor (the poverty rate there has been above 20 percent for three consecutive decades). Millions of Americans live this reality on a day-to-day basis, marginalized and left vulnerable. There is a stark racial wealth gap with poverty rates among Blacks and Latinos at 27 percent and 23.5 percent respectively. And for the first time in over half a century, the majority of America’s public school children are living in poverty. MSNBC and photographer Matt Black have set out on a nationwide journey to, as Black says, “put these forgotten towns on the map.” MSNBC’s new “Geography of Poverty” website includes interactive tools that provide information on poverty around the country along with vivid images and stories that illustrate the reality of poverty in America. See our RESULTS Blog post about this resource and follow the journey online.

Upcoming Events

Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events.

Take the RESULTS Grassroots Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJYGK9B.

Next Congressional Recesses: House: June 29 – July 6, July 31 – September 7; Senate: June 29 – July 6, August 8 – September 7. Request face-to-face meetings.

RESULTS Introductory Call, July 8 at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.

Advocacy Training: Advocacy 101 Training and What to Expect at the International Conference, July 9 at 1:00 pm ET. Join online at: https://www.fuze.me/28699630 or by phone at (201) 479-4595, passcode 28699630. This webinar will also be repeated on July 9 at 1 pm ET.

Independence Day Holiday, July 4. All RESULTS offices closed on July 3.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Meeting, July 11 at 12:30 pm ET. Listen to previous conference calls and meetings on our National Conference Calls page.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Call, July 14 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join online at: http://fuze.me/27491886; or by phone at (201) 479-4595 and enter Meeting ID: 27491886. For more information, contact Jos Linn ([email protected]).

Attend the RESULTS International Conference, July 18-21. Join us for the RESULTS International Conference at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, DC. This is the biggest event of the year for RESULTS. Register TODAY!

Find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website.