Global Poverty Weekly Update December 14, 2015


December 14, 2015

Global Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | December 14, 2015

Quote of the Week

"All children deserve a strong start in life, no matter where they live."

– Harini Madheswaran, RESULTS advocate in Bloomington, Illinois

 

The Reach Act: Write Your Paper, Reach Out to Congress

The Reach Act (H.R. 3706 in the House and S.1911 in the Senate) will guide us in ending preventable maternal and child deaths by 2035, if we can get it passed. Let's get behind maternal/child health (MCH)!

  • So far in the House we have 23 Republican and 29 Democrat cosponsors, for a total of 52! Our goal is to secure 100 cosponsors, with a balance of Republicans and Democrats, by the end of the year.
  • In the Senate we have 3 Republicans and 3 Democrat cosponsors. Our goal is to have 35 cosponsors by the end of the year.
  • Find a current listing of cosponsors online. We believe that if we hit our goals, the committees with whom the bills reside will be inspired to start working toward passing the Reach Act. 

Here's how you can take action to help:

20-60 minutes: Especially if you reside in the following states: Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Vermont, Wyoming . . . help us land media on maternal/child health in your state! Write a holiday letter to the editor or op-ed using our new November-December Action Sheet, our holiday-themed editorial packet, or our online action. The holidays are a great time to call on people to reflect and take action via the media. (Also, check out this amazing graphic showcasing all the states in which you've gotten MCH media published so far.)

10 minutes: Make a call to your representative and senators and ask them to cosponsor the Reach Act (H.R.3706 and S.1911) using our laser talk as a template. Call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to get to their offices. If you don't know who they are, look them up on our website.

5 minutes: Use our online actions to ask your representatives and/or your senators to cosponsor the Reach Act. Personalize your communication, letting them know that there is strong bipartisan support for the Reach Act and that when children are in trouble, we must help them. If your members of Congress are already cosponsors, ask them to bring more Republicans on to the bills.

Find a current collection of great maternal/child health campaign support tools on our website.

Dreaming Up a Phenomenal 2016

1. First, Group Reporting for 2015. If you want your group's work to be counted in our numbers, catch up on your group reporting on outreach, media, and meetings with members of Congress here:

Report on the Whole Month's Activity
Report Just a Lobby Meeting
Report Just a Media Piece

2. Book Face-to-Face Meetings with Congress for January Recess (Week of January 18). Get top tips on how to book, or start the process right from our website.

3. Individual Planning Form for 2016. What Can YOU Dream Up? Start now to begin work on your 2016 Individual Planning Form. This first piece of the 2016 Group Planning process enables you, as a free agent or as part of a RESULTS group, to scheme first on what you'd like to learn, contribute, and accomplish in 2016. Then you'll be ready for us to kick off Group Planning in early January.

4. Full Group Planning Materials Will Be Shared by January 6. Saturday, January 9, will be our first national grassroots webinar/conference call of 2016, and that's the ideal time to work on your planning!

Fundraising at Year's End

We want to send a heartfelt "thank you" to our volunteers and donors who have actively participated in helping us to reach our fundraising goals during 2015. Whether you hosted an event, attended an event, set up a fundraising page, donated to a page, asked friends and family for donations, or sent in an annual contribution, YOU helped us get nearer to closing our $100,000 2015 gap. While we are gaining ground on the shortfall, we are not quite there. We have approximately $40,000 to go. But the good news is that there is still time to donate! If we each chip in, collectively we can reach our goal by December 31. We can do it. Donate now!

Tuberculosis in the News

"It was just fantastic to see the energy, the commitment, the concern that we saw coming from all the members of Congress that were there . . .  It was clear they really appreciate how serious this is." 

This quote from David Bryden, TB Advocacy Officer at RESULTS, came from coverage of the hearing for the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations titled "Drug Resistant Tuberculosis: The Next Global Health Crisis?" held on December 8.

Want to take action on this severe poverty-related health issue? You can take action right from our website!

Coming Attractions!

First National Grassroots Webinar of 2016. Marking that fresh, new 2016 calender with can't-miss dates? Then mark January 9, 2 pm ET! What's when we'll have our first grassroots national webinar/call for our global campaigns. Our special guest will be Lawrence Haddad, a Senior Research Fellow in the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Poverty Health and Nutrition Division. We'll also be highlighting group planning for 2016.

Login information: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/30204806. To join by phone only, dial (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 30204806.

Invite Someone to an Introductory Call. January 13, 9 pm ET, will be the first RESULTS Introductory Call of 2016. This call is the perfect 30-minute primer on what RESULTS is, why we exist, and what we accomplish in the world . . . as well as, most importantly, how someone can get involved! Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.

Watch for the January Action Sheet to be shared mid-January.

Upcoming Events

Stay tuned for information on upcoming issue "deep dive" webinars and other great training opportunities 2016.

December 24 (1 pm ET)-January 3. RESULTS office is closed in observance of the holiday season.

January 9, 2 pm ET. National Grassroots Webinar (Global Campaigns). Login information: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/30204806. To join by phone only, dial (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 30204806.

January 13, 9 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. The perfect RESULTS primer. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.

January 25, 8 pm ET. Are you a RESULTS activist with our global poverty campaigns, living in a town with no RESULTS group? You are alone no more! To join, go to http://fuze.me/27781074 or (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 27781074. Contact Lisa Marchal, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this quarterly gathering.

June 25-28. RESULTS 2016 International Conference. 

 

Resources at Your Fingertips

Subscribe to the Weekly Update

Advocacy Resources (Weekly updates, action sheets, online action alerts, and more)

Global Poverty Campaigns Background

Skills Center 

Fundraising Tools

Report Your 2015 Advocacy

2015 Global Congressional Scorecard (See global poverty actions your members of Congress have taken over the past few years.)

Who Are the New(est) Members of Congress? (scroll down page)

Contact the RESULTS Board

 

 

 

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