U.S. Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | October 6, 2015

“We’re all aware of the rash of novels and movies that show life after national and global disasters… These are entertaining “what if” stories. But how would we feel if we awoke one morning to find that 9.8 million Americans had plunged into poverty while we slept?”

– RESULTS Montana volunteer Karen Cunningham in a September 29 op-ed in the Missoulian (MT)

“Our goal should be to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.”

– RESULTS Free Agent Fatoumata Sangare in an October 1 op-ed in the Providence Journal (RI)

In This Week’s Update:

• Got Two Minutes? Prepare for the U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday at 12:30pm ET
• Got Ten Minutes? Set Up Face-to-Face Meetings for Next Week’s Recess (October Action preview)
• Got Twenty Minutes? Invite House and Senate Aides to Nutrition Assistance Briefing on Thursday
• Congratulations on a Great Media Month!
• Help Us with Outreach and Fundraising
• Quick News
• Upcoming Events

Quick Action: Send a Letter to the Editor about Poverty and the EITC/CTC

Got Two Minutes? Prepare for the U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday at 12:30pm ET

Join us this Saturday for the RESULTS U.S. Poverty Monthly National Webinar. Congress has a host of big issues to resolve in the next few months, including a number of tax issues. We want to make sure any tax bill Congress passes this year includes a permanent extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provisions that will expire in 2017. On Saturday’s webinar, Gideon Bragin, legislative aide on tax policy for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will join us as guest speaker. Gideon’s boss, Sen. Brown, has been a champion for making the EITC and CTC provisions permanent. Gideon will share with us what to expect from Congress the next few months and how you can push lawmakers to protect working families receiving the EITC and CTC. We’ll also celebrate your recent media work and hear success stories from the grassroots. Please join us for this important call.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to remind your local RESULTS group about the RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday, October 10 at 12:30 pm ET. Coordinate with your group where you will meet for the call. To join the meeting online, login at http://fuze.me/28130766. If you cannot join online, 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]. We’ll have a link to the slides for Saturday’s webinar available later this week in the Take Action box on the RESULTS Homepage.

Also, as we did last month, RESULTS will host a partial rebroadcast of this Saturday’s National Webinar next Wednesday, October 14 at 8:00 pm ET. This is for people who cannot attend Saturday’s webinar. We’ll rebroadcast key parts of the webinar and then open it up for a live Q&A with RESULTS staff to answer your questions. We’ll also highlight the new Vote to End Hunger campaign which RESULTS will help kick off next week in Iowa. We urge all who cannot attend Saturday’s webinar to dial in next Wednesday (same login/call in as the Saturday webinar).

Got Ten Minutes? Set Up Face-to-Face Meetings for Next Week’s Recess (October Action preview)

Next week, both the House and Senate will be home for the Columbus Day recess. This is an ideal time for you to meet with them to follow up on your requests to save the key provisions to the EITC and Child Tax Credit. Congress is looking to finalize a tax deal on business tax credits (“tax extenders”) this fall, which could include making some of these business tax breaks permanent. We want them to know unequivocally that no business tax break should be made permanent without also making the EITC and CTC provisions permanent. As these tax negotiations are getting underway, is very important to meet with them this month. Meetings with constituent have enormous power and send a clear message to lawmakers about what their constituents want. We urge you to request meetings with all you members of Congress, but senators are our primary focus this month, particular Senate Democrats and moderate Senate Republicans. We need them speaking up about the EITC and CTC to tax negotiators.

TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to submit a request to meet with your members of Congress next week, particularly your senators. Contact the scheduler to see if they have time on their schedule to meet with you to talk about protecting children and families who receive the EITC and CTC. Be sure to share the new Census poverty data that highlights the importance of these credits in reducing poverty. Use our online meeting request form to send your request today (we recommend you personalize the request then copy and paste it into your own e-mail to send it). You can find scheduler names on the RESULTS Elected Officials page. If you need help with making your request, please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]).

Once you get a meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to set up a lobby prep call to help you get ready for the meeting. The October Action will be ready later this week and will include talking points for your meetings and how to respond to questions you might get. Also, if you are not able to get a meeting next week, contact the tax aides for Senate and House members to schedule a call with them to discuss the EITC and CTC.

Got Twenty Minutes? Invite House and Senate Aides to Nutrition Assistance Briefing on Thursday

This Thursday afternoon, our friends at TalkPoverty.org, the Center for American Progress, Witnesses to Hunger, FRAC, and others will sponsor a briefing on Capitol Hill about the importance of nutrition programs in fighting poverty. People who participated in the “Community Voices: Why Nutrition Assistance Matters” project will be there sharing their personal stories about how programs such as SNAP, WIC, and other child nutrition programs have helped them and their families make ends meet. With Congress working on a new child nutrition bill and SNAP always under threat of cuts, it is vital that members of Congress and their staff hear these important stories. The event will be hosted by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3). Help us make this event a big success by inviting congressional staff to attend.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to contact your House and Senate Agriculture or Nutrition aides and urge them and their bosses to attend the “Child Nutrition Programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program House Briefing” this Thursday, October 8 from 3:30 – 5:00pm ET in the Rayburn House Office Building, room B338. Tell them you are a strong supporter of SNAP and child nutrition programs and that you want them to attend and hear these stories from real experts on poverty. Send the aides this briefing RSVP link to learn more about the event and to confirm their attendance. You can find aides names on the RESULTS Elected Officials page.

Congratulations on a Great Media Month!

Thank you to everyone who submitted or generated a media piece last month as part of our effort to bring attention to poverty and the EITC and CTC. Since September 1, RESULTS advocates have gotten 24 media pieces published, the vast majority about the EITC and CTC. This includes 3 editorials, 5 op-eds, and 16 letters to the editor. This brings our yearly U.S. Poverty media total to 137 media pieces. Congratulations! Rest assured that your media success has caught the attention of lawmakers, candidates, and members of your community alike. You are once again teaching them how to create the political will for change.

TAKE ACTION: Let’s not rest on our laurels. With Congress heading into important budget and tax negotiations over the next few weeks, let’s keep the pressure on by reminding them to protect America’s working families by saving key provisions of the EITC and CTC. Use our online letter to the editor alert to send your letter today. And if you’re game to try an op-ed or editorial, see the September Action for steps on how to do it. You’re only 7 pieces away from breaking your all-time record of U.S Poverty media (143 pieces in 2013). Let’s not only meet but shatter that record!

Help Us with Outreach and Fundraising

We are looking to expand our network of volunteers this month, as well as secure financial support for our work on ending poverty in America and around the world. But we need your help.

On October 15, RESULTS U.S. Poverty Organizer Kristy Martino will be traveling to Raleigh, NC to start a new RESULTS U.S. Poverty advocacy group there. If you know people in the Raleigh area, please invite them to attend the event (RSVP at: results-nc.eventbrite.com). The meeting is Thursday, October 15, 6:30-8:00 pm ET at the NC Justice Center. Contact Kristy for more details ([email protected]). Also, if you live in the Northeast, join Kristy and other RESULTS volunteers at the RESULTS Northeast Regional Conference on Saturday, October 17 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET in Stamford, CT. You can register for the event here.

On November 3, RESULTS Grassroots Manager Jos Linn will travel to Kansas City, MO to start a new U.S. Poverty group there as well. The meeting is set for Tuesday, November 3 from 6:30 – 8:30pm CT (location TBD). If you know people in the Kansas City area, urge them to save the date and attend. If you have questions, contact Jos at [email protected].  

Also, on November 12, Jos will also be hosting a RESULTS meeting in Chicago, IL to re-start the U.S. Poverty group there. We are still working on the exact time (it will be in the evening) and location. In the meantime, urge your Chicago friends to save the date and plan to attend. Contact Jos if you have questions.

Finally, we have kicked off an aggressive fall fundraising campaign to support the continued work of RESULTS. Our goal is $100,000 by year’s end. While this seems huge, in actuality it is very manageable. For example, if every RESULTS group raised a mere $1,000, we would exceed our goal. Your grassroots fundraising is so important to our work because the money you raise is “unrestricted” (unlike most grant money), which gives us the flexibility to use those funds to leverage new opportunities and healthier lives for millions of people around the world. In addition, these efforts make RESULTS more visible to the community, provide opportunities for education and outreach, and often attract new members! The RESULTS Development Team is available and eager to help you start your own campaigns and support you in your efforts. For details and how to get started, see our Got Twenty Minutes section from last week’s Update or contact Jen DeFranco ([email protected]) of our Development Team.

Thank you all for your continued support of our outreach and fundraising efforts!

Quick News

Advocates Discuss Improvements to EITC. On September 25. RESULTS U.S. Poverty Intern Tia Lewis attended a briefing at the New America Foundation on ways to improve upon the already-successful Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Ideas such as creating a “rainy day” EITC, dispensing the credit in quarterly payments, and converting it to a wage supplement were discussed. To learn more about the briefing and the ideas discussed, see Tia’s new post on the RESULTS Blog.

Listen to Expert on Poverty Angela Sutton Public Radio. Angela Sutton, a member of Witnesses to Hunger and one of RESULTS’ new Experts on Poverty, was interviewed on the Radio Times radio show in Philadelphia yesterday. She, along with policy experts, discussed what life is like for those living in poverty in their community. Learn from a real expert on poverty by listening to the interview at the Radio Times website. 

Upcoming Events

Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events. Also, find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website.

Congressional Recesses: House: October 10-19; Senate: October 10-18. Request face-to-face meetings.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, October 10 at 12:30 pm ET. Join the meeting online at http://fuze.me/28130766 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID: 28130766#. Listen to previous conference calls and meetings on our National Webinars page.

Rebroadcast of National Webinar with Live Q&A, October 14 at 8:00 pm ET. Join the meeting online at http://fuze.me/28130766 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID: 28130766#.

RESULTS Introductory Call, October 14, at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, October 20 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]).

2016 RESULTS International Conference, June 25-28, 2016 in Washington, DC. Save the dates!

If you have a question, comment or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail them to RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Lydia Pendley at [email protected]. You can download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report at: https://results.org/about/annual_report/.