U.S. Poverty Weekly Update February 16, 2016
U.S. Poverty CampaignsWeekly Update | February 16, 2016
In This Week’s Update:
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Quick Action: Register for the 2016 RESULTS International Conference!
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Got Two Minutes? Confirm Your Between the World and Me Discussion Meeting (February Action)This month, RESULTS U.S. Poverty volunteers are deepening their understanding of race inequality in America by reading the award-winning book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. As highlighted in the February Action and on last Saturday’s U.S. Poverty National Webinar, reading and discussing this book with your fellow volunteers will help us to better understand the African-American experience in the U.S. and make us better advocates for issues such as the racial wealth gap. Make to set up your local book club discussion now. TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to confirm with your group when you will get together this month to discuss your insights from Between the World and Me. Let everyone know when and where you will meet. The February Action has background information and sample questions you can use to get the conversation started. If you cannot get the book, read these articles to prep for your discussion (there are other resources in the February Action as well):
Be sure to let your Regional Coordinators and RESULTS staff know how your discussions went and if you enjoyed doing this type of action. Also, join our Between the World and Me Virtual Book Club discussion this Thursday, February 18 at 1:00pm or 8:00pm ET – see more details below. |
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Got Ten Minutes or More? Ask House and Senate Offices about Meetings and Town Halls This WeekRESULTS deeply thanks Debbie Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, for speaking on last Saturday’s U.S. Poverty National Webinar. It is always a pleasure to have Debbie speak with us. Debbie shared with us details of President Obama’s new budget and also details about efforts to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children. By expanding this part of the EITC as both President Obama and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI-1) have proposed, approximately 13.5 million working Americans would benefit, including 1.5 million custodial parents. Debbie mentioned that, because of bipartisan support for this proposal, these is a chance Congress could implement this change this year. But even if they don’t, she said it is still important to push for this expansion now so that when Congress does take up tax reform, there will be momentum to enact it. This has worked before. Remember, it was your relentless push to make the EITC and CTC improvements permanent over the last few years that helped us finally get it in December. This week, Congress is on recess. This is a perfect time to tell them to build on the December success and expand the EITC for workers without children, as well as urge them to make ending poverty a priority in next year’s budget. TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to contact your House and Senate schedulers to set up face-to-face meetings during this week’s the Presidents’ Day recess. Find scheduler names and contact information on our Elected Officials page (under “Staff”), and see the January Action and our online meeting request tool for tips on requesting meetings. Also, ask if they are doing any town halls this week that you can attend. If they’re booked up in February, ask for the next possible date to meet and also ask if they have any town halls coming up. Once you get your meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to set up a call to help you get ready. Also, please review our new EPIC Laser Talk about the EITC for childless workers and print off our new U.S. Poverty Lobby Requests (bottom of the right-hand box on our Issues page) before your meeting or town hall. RESULTS once again thanks Debbie Weinstein of CHN for being on our webinar last weekend. Hear all of what Debbie discussed and learn how you can talk effectively about the EITC for childless workers by listening to the webinar recording and reviewing the webinar summary and slides. You can find all these resources on our National Webinars page. |
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Got Sixty Minutes? Join Between the World and Me Virtual Book Club Discussion Thursday at 8pm ET (February Action)To enhance your discussions this month about Between the World and Me, RESULTS is hosting a Virtual Book Club discussion about the book this Thursday at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. We welcome anyone interested to dial into one or both of the calls. We hope many of you will join us; the more people, the richer the discussion. This discussion is not meant to be a substitute for your local group discussions – please make sure to do those this month and let us know how they go. U.S. Poverty Free Agents: The book club discussions will serve as our monthly calls for February. Please plan to join one of them. TAKE ACTION: Take sixty minutes to join our online “Virtual Book Club” discussion of Between the World and Me this Thursday, February 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. This is an opportunity to discuss the book with RESULTS staff and volunteers around the country. Join whichever call is most convenient for you (U.S. Poverty Free Agents should plan to join one of these calls as well). Login at: http://fuze.me/27491886 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595 and enter Meeting ID: 27491886#. |
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Register for the RESULTS International Conference!Registration for the 2016 RESULTS International Conference is now open! Join us for four action-packed days of inspiration, hands-on advocacy training, and community building (June 25-28). At the conference, you'll hear from leading issue experts, policymakers, and community organizers. You'll connect with the new and old friends who share your passion to change the world, and then we'll put that passion into action on Capitol Hill. This is the biggest event of the year for RESULTS. We’ve already booked acclaimed activist and author Barbara Ehrenreich to speak at the Conference with more exciting speakers to be announced soon. Go to www.resultsconference.org and register today! Registration is only $125 for RESULTS volunteers if you register before April 30. When you register, be sure to visit the hotel website to book your hotel room with the RESULTS discount (you won’t have to pay for the hotel until you get to the Conference). Also, if you or someone you know is 18-28 years old, we are now taking applicants for the 2016 REAL Change Fellowship. This is a tremendous opportunity for young people to become leaders in the fight to end poverty. If you fit these criteria, or know someone who does, go to https://results.org/realchange and apply today. See you in DC in June! |
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Join Outreach Training Call Tonight at 9pm ETA healthy RESULTS group is one that is always looking to grow. New people bring new energy and passion to your work. However, not all of us are well-versed in how to do good outreach to potential new advocates. Tonight at 9:00 pm ET, RESULTS will host a training webinar on how to do effective outreach. You'll learn outreach tips and skills from RESULTS staff, learn about outreach resources available to you, and get answers to your questions about how best to recruit new people. To join the webinar online, go to: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/31404402. To join by phone, dial (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 31404402#. |
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Quick NewsUrge Your Local Action Networks to Take Action on the EITC. To keep your local Action Networks engaged this month, copy and paste this into an e-mail to them: Last December, you helped us protect 16 families from deeper poverty by making low-income tax provisions permanent. Help us build on that success by urging Congress to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children. Because of a glitch in the tax code, these workers are actually taxed deeper into poverty. There is bipartisan support in Congress to fix this problem. Use our online alert to tell Congress to expand the EITC for childless workers now. Alert: http://capwiz.com/results/issues/alert/?alertid=9823986&MC_plugin=2201. Use Upcoming Primaries to Generate Media about Poverty. Over the next two weeks, voters in South Carolina and Nevada will be casting their votes for nominees for President. Because these contests will get coverage in the press, write a letter to the editor (LTE) in response to these stories linking the election of poverty in America. For example, you could comment on how little poverty is getting attention from the candidates or talk how about candidates’ tax plans should include tax credits for low-income Americans. To make it easy, simply personalize and submit our online tax credit LTE and/or nutrition LTE. Please Send in Your Group Plans. Thank you to everyone who has already sent in their 2016 Group Plan Summary (PDF version) outlining your group goals for this year. If you have not submitted your plan yet, please send a copy to Jos Linn at [email protected] as soon as possible. We want to get all the plans end by February 29. |
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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: February 13-21. Senate: February 13-21. Request face-to-face meetings. RESULTS Outreach Webinar, February 16 at 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/31404402 or dial (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 31404402#. RESULTS Virtual Book Club Discussion: Between the World and Me, February 18 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 Introductory Call, February 26, at 1:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website. RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, March 12 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 webinars on our National Webinars page. 2016 RESULTS International Conference, June 25-28, 2016 in Washington, DC. Register now at www.resultsconference.org! 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/. |