U.S. Poverty Weekly Update October 13, 2015
U.S. Poverty CampaignsWeekly Update | October 13, 2015In This Week’s Update:
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Quick Action: Urge Congress to Protect Working Families
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Got Two Minutes? Call Schedulers about Face-to-Face Meetings or Attending Town Halls This Week (October Action)The House and Senate are on recess all this week. With all the chaos in Congress now around House leadership, finishing the budget, and raising the debt ceiling, it is more important than ever that we keep talking to them about saving important provisions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). With a business tax bill (“tax extenders”) expected in the next few months, we need to keep the EITC and CTC at the forefront of their minds. As congressional tax policy aide Gideon Bragin told us on last Saturday’s National Webinar, talking with members of Congress back home if the most important and effective thing you can do to get your issue addressed. Use this week’s recess to do just that. TAKE ACTION: To two minutes to contact your congressional schedulers about face-to-face meetings during this week’s recess. Hopefully your group lined up who would be calling for each member of Congress during last Saturday’s National Webinar. Start with your senators first and then try House members. Call them today to inquire about setting a last minute meeting. Also ask if they are doing any town halls your group can attend. If they ask for a written request, use our online request form. You can also find scheduler names on the RESULTS Elected Officials page. If you cannot get a meeting this week, ask to schedule a meeting their next visit home. The October Action has talking points to use in your meetings and our National Webinar resources have tips for setting up meetings. Once you get a meeting or town hall confirmed, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) for coaching on specific requests for your meeting. We sincerely thank Gideon Bragin for speaking on our webinar on Saturday. You can listen to his full discussion, as well as rest of the call, on our National Webinar page. You can also download the slides and summary of the webinar from that page. |
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Got Ten Minutes? Call Tax Aides about the EITC and CTC (October Action)This week, we want you to focus your efforts on getting a face-to-face meeting with your members of Congress, be that at sit-down meeting or asking a question at a public event or town hall. However, getting these meetings can sometimes be hard to get (or you have to wait until the next time they’re home). If that’s what you run into this week, make sure they still get the message by calling the tax aide for your senators and representatives to talk about the EITC and Child Tax Credit. As Sen. Sherrod Brown’s tax aide Gideon Bragin said on our National Webinar last weekend, we wouldn’t be in the position to see the EITC and CTC provisions extended if it were not for advocates like you. He said that when he started this work, he didn’t think it would go anywhere. However, a bipartisan solution is possible and that is the result of grassroots pressure on members of Congress. Gideon made some addition points that could help in these calls. He said that when talking to Republicans (and maybe some Democrats), you might get pushback about “fraud” in the EITC. It’s important to note that while the EITC does have a high error rate (20-25 percent), that is not the same as fraud. There are high errors rates in the EITC because it is complicated to file and many get confused. In addition, the error rate is inflated because it also includes underpayments (where people didn’t get their full refund). Finally, as Gideon noted, 75 percent of fraudulent EITC filings are coming from paid preparers, which are currently unregulated. The October Action has talking points to help you with these calls to tax aides, including some objections you might hear in these conversations. TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to contact your Senate and House tax aides about saving the 2009 provisions of the EITC and CTC (prioritize senators first). You can find aide names on the RESULTS Elected Officials page. Use the October Action to prepare what you will say and try practicing the call with a fellow group member or friend before contacting the aide. You can also contact Jos Linn to practice with ([email protected]). Be sure to share the new Census poverty data that highlights the importance of these credits in reducing poverty. See other helpful resource links for the October Action in the National Webinar summary. |
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Got Twenty Minutes? Attend the RESULTS National Webinar Rebroadcast Tomorrow at 8pm ETThank you to all of you who participated in the RESULTS October 2015 U.S. Poverty National Webinar this past weekend. As noted above, we were very grateful that congressional tax aide Gideon Bragin could join us to discuss the latest on the EITC and CTC. We also heard another great story from Expert of Poverty Maxine Thomas of RESULTS Indianapolis talked about how important her work with RESULTS has been for her and her family. If you missed the webinar, have no fear. Tomorrow, October 14, we will do a partial rebroadcast of the webinar for those who could not attend on Saturday. We’ll play Maxine’s share and our discussion with Gideon for the first 30 minutes. Then, we will open the call up for a live Q&A on our campaigns with RESULTS Director of U.S. Poverty Campaigns Meredith Dodson to answer your questions about the October Action and also hear about RESULTS work with the new Vote to End Hunger campaign (which kicked off in Iowa today). All are welcomed, regardless if you were on the Saturday’s webinar or not. TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes (or more) to participate in our U.S. Poverty National Webinar Rebroadcast tomorrow, October 14 at 8:00 pm ET. To join the webinar, login online at http://fuze.me/28130766 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID: 28130766#. People can simply login/call in from wherever they are. We invite everyone to participate, even those who were on the call on Saturday. If you only wish to participate in the live Q&A, plan to login or dial in around 8:30pm ET. The webinar will end no later than 9:00 pm ET. Be sure to download the slides from the webinar to have during the rebroadcast. If you missed Saturday’s webinar and cannot participate tomorrow, you can listen to the recording and download the slides and summary of Saturday’s webinar from our National Webinar page. |
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Vote for New Grassroots Board MemberRESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund is looking to fill one grassroots board position to serve a term of three (3) years beginning in November of 2015. There are four grassroots board seats in total. Grassroots board members represent the volunteer body on the Board of Directors and on the Executive Committee of the Board. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to work with the Executive Director in shaping the direction of RESULTS, and to advise on major policy for the organization, as well as providing fiduciary oversight. The Executive Committee of the Board is the primary governing body of the organization. Grassroots board members play a particular role in representing grassroots perspectives on the board. Thank you to all who nominated dedicated volunteers as candidates to serve on the board – your nomination was recognition of their commitment and leadership skills. And thanks to the nominees who agreed to be considered. We¹re honored! Our grassroots board candidates include Mark Campbell, Lisa Peters, and Beth Wilson. View their candidate bios here. TAKE ACTION: Please vote for your choice for our new Grassroots Board Member. All active RESULTS volunteers are eligible to vote. You can only vote once and you must submit your vote no later than Monday, November 9 at midnight ET. To vote, go here. |
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Quick NewsJoin Our Fall Fundraising Push. As discussed on Saturday’s National Webinar, we have a goal of raising $100,000 from the RESULTS grassroots by year’s end. 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]) or Jerusa Contee ([email protected]) of our Development Team. Tell CNN to “Talk Poverty” at the Debate Tonight. Tonight, the Democratic presidential candidates will square in their first official debate. We want the candidates to address poverty in America during the debate and our friends at TalkPoverty.org have ways you can help make that happen. Go the TalkPoverty website to see tips on how you can tell @CNNPolitics to #TalkPoverty during the #DemDebate. Storytellers with Experience of Hunger and Nutrition Programs Brief Congressional Staff. Last Thursday, several participants in the Community Voices: Why Nutrition Assistance Matters project briefed Congressional staff, sharing their their personal stories about how programs such as SNAP, WIC, and other child nutrition programs have helped them and their families make ends meet. Thank you to all those who urged Congressional staff to attend! In addition, the storytellers met with Congressional staff and shared their perspectives for a blogpost calling out Bill O’Reilly for comments about child hunger in America. |
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Upcoming EventsGo 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, November 6-15; Senate: October 10-18. Request face-to-face meetings. 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]). RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, November 14 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. 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/. |