RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update February 18, 2020
Quote of the Week
“Stable housing should be a right of all of our citizens.”
– RESULTS Coastal CT volunteer Lucinda Winslow in a February 11 op-ed in the Stamford Advocate
Table of Contents
- Global Poverty Campaigns Update
- U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
- RESULTS Announcements
- Upcoming Events
- Grassroots Resources
Global Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Ask your members of Congress to invest in global health and education
Got Five Minutes? Request a face-to-face meeting with your pepresentative or senator
Call your representative’s or senator’s scheduler today and ask for a face-to-face meeting during the President’s Day recess (this week) to discuss our appropriations requests for FY21. Use our February laser talk on asking for meetings to send an email and make a call. Once you secure a meeting, use our appropriations memos/backgrounders and the January Action Sheet as the basis for your meeting.
TAKE ACTION: Send an email and make a follow-up call to your Representative’s or Senator’s scheduler to request a face-to-face meeting. Be bold in asking that these meetings be with the legislators themselves. Use our new meeting request letter or our laser talk to make the process easier.
Got Fifteen Minutes? Make your FY21 appropriations requests
Haven’t gotten a face-to-face meeting yet? Don’t worry, but don’t wait to submit appropriations requests—we are on a tight deadline—all House members must have their appropriations requests to the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee by March 13, which means they need to hear from you now. Use our January Action Sheet to ask your members of Congress to protect and expand global health and education programs through the appropriations process. Include one or more of our appropriations memos/backgrounders with your request to provide additional detail. If you want to understand appropriations better, see this resource.
To have even greater influence on appropriations, engage your fellow advocates in writing letters to your members of Congress. Even a few letters to your members of Congress will have influence. Use our February Action Sheet to engage others in writing letters.
TAKE ACTION: Take fifteen minutes to acquaint yourself with our FY21 appropriations requests and submit them. The January Action Sheet has all the guidance you need.
QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY
Two House appropriations sign-on letters now available: Include the 1) FY21 House Maternal and Child Health, Gavi, Nutrition and the 2) FY21 Global Education Dear Colleague Letters with your appropriations requests. A “sign-on” letter (also called a “Dear Colleague” letter) is like a petition in Congress. These letters provide additional support to our appropriations requests. Review our latest information on the sign-letters and instructions on getting your representative signed on.
U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Tell Congress to support a renters’ tax credit
Got Five Minutes? Use recess week to talk housing with your members of Congress (February Action)
Celebrate Presidents’ Day week by visiting with your members of Congress. Both the House and Senate are on recess this week. Use this time while they are home to set up meetings and attend town halls to talk about affordable housing. Lawmakers must understand that families cannot keep up with the rising cost of rent and what they can do about it. While there are many ideas out there that could help, a renters’ tax credit has the depth and reach to make a real, immediate difference in the lives of millions of low- and moderate-income Americans. By providing families with a refundable tax credit to cover excess rent (i.e. above 30 percent of household income), researchers estimate 26 million renter households could benefit and 9 million people could be lifted above the federal poverty line. With that kind of impact, lawmakers need to hear from you.
TAKE ACTION: Take five minutes to contact schedulers about face-to-face meetings and town halls with your representatives and senators this week. Also, visit https://townhallproject.com to find town halls and other events in your area. We have resources to help you, including the February Action to plan your meetings and write letters to hand-deliver, the February webinar slides and recording and updated housing laser talks for background, and our updated affordable housing policy request sheet to take to your meetings. Once you get a meeting or town hall scheduled, please contact Jos Linn ASAP for coaching.
Got Sixty Minutes? Join housing webinar on housing this afternoon at 3:30pm ET
Last week, the Trump Administration released its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal. Sadly, the proposal calls for deep cuts to SNAP, EITC/CTC, Medicaid, the ACA, Medicare, and Social Security (among others), which RESULTS strongly opposes. In addition, President Trump would cut Housing Choice Vouchers by $5 billion in 2021, putting 160,000 families at risk of losing assistance.
TAKE ACTION: To better understand the severity of these proposed housing cuts and what you can do in response, please take sixty minutes to register and attend a webinar today, February 18 at 3:30pm ET hosted by the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF). Register for the webinar here.
QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY
Sign your RESULTS group onto housing infrastructure letter. House leaders recently proposed a large infrastructure investment package. Push leaders to include meaningful investments in housing programs in any final deal by signing your local RESULTS group (e.g. “RESULTS Kansas City”) onto a letter to House leadership. Read more and sign your group onto the letter here.
RESULTS Announcements
Join the RESULTS Grassroots Board Public Meeting tonight. If you have needs, suggestions, concerns, thoughts, ideas, and questions on the present and future of RESULTS, the RESULTS Grassroots Board Members are holding their second quarterly public meeting tonight. They want to hear from you: your needs, suggestions, concerns, thoughts, ideas, and questions. Join the meeting on tonight, February 18 at 9:00 pm ET at https://results.zoom.us/j/292096907. You can also join by phone by dialing either (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID: 292 096 907.
RESULTS Fellowship has another successful mid-year summit. The RESULTS Fellowship (formerly named the REAL Change Fellowship) recently had their annual mid-year policy summit in Washington, DC. There, along with RESULTS Experts on Poverty, Fellows spent the weekend in issue and advocacy trainings and then a powerful day lobbying on Capitol Hill. Read and see more from the summit on the RESULTS Blog. Also, we are now taking application for the 2020-21 Fellowship class. If you or someone you know is age 20-30 and wants to be a new leader in the fight to end poverty, urge them to read about the Fellowship and apply today. The deadline to apply is April 30.
Please submit your 2020 Roadmap ASAP. Thank you to everyone who has already submitted their 2020 RESULTS Group Roadmaps. If you have not done so, please submit your group roadmap as soon as possible using our online form (find all 2020 Roadmap resources on our Outreach & Planning page under “My group wants to make our plans”). If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Jos Linn.
Register for the RESULTS International Conference. Join us in Washington, DC this June 20-23 for RESULTS International Conference celebrating RESULTS 40th year. Nobel Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, and other honored guests will be there. How about you? Register today – the early bird registration rate deadline is April 20 and the hotel block is available until May 20.
Upcoming Events
Congressional recesses. Both the House and Senate are on recess February 17-21. Submit your meeting requests today.
Tuesday, February 18: U.S. Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join at: https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID: 324 294 681.
Tuesday, February 18: RESULTS Grassroots Board Public Meeting, 9:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/292096907 or dial either (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID: 292 096 907.
Wednesday, February 26: New Advocate Orientation, 8:30 pm. ET. If you or someone you know are new to RESULTS, join us for New Advocate Orientation. During this live webinar, you’ll interact with RESULTS staff and other new volunteers, learn more about our advocacy model and issues, and get information on next steps. Sign up here.
Wednesday, March 4: RESULTS Action Network Community of Practice Webinar, 8:30pm ET. To join, log in to https://results.zoom.us/j/427674133 or dial in to 669-900-6833, meeting ID: 427 674 133. You can also join our Facebook and e-mail groups.
Saturday, March 7: RESULTS United Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/994444828. You can also join by phone at (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID: 994 444 828.
Tuesday, March 10: Book Discussion: The Righteous Mind, 9:00 pm ET. Join vi Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/655036085?pwd=RVdzbTdQSDVnWlJzTTVsMVo5dXFtQT09, or dial (669) 900-6833 US or (646) 876-9923, Meeting ID: 655 036, Password: 641539.
Monday, March 16: Global Free Agents Webinars. 1:00 pm ET and 8:00 pm ET. Join a great conversation via https://results.zoom.us/j/285681999 or, by phone, dial (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID: 285 681 999.
Wednesday, March 18: Continued book discussion on White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, 9 pm ET. To join, log in at: https://results.zoom.us/j/807783478 or dial (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 807 783 478.
Saturday, April 4: RESULTS Unified Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Guest speaker: Nicholas Kristof. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/994444828. You can also join by phone at (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID: 994 444 828.
June 20-23, 2020: RESULTS International Conference. Capital Hilton, Washington, DC. Register today!
Grassroots Resources
Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
Do you have a new person in your RESULTS group or info to update? Use our Volunteer Information Form to add them.
Find actions and volunteer resources on our Current Volunteers page.
Please let us know about your recent grassroots successes for lobby meetings, media, and outreach.
If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail Steven McGee at [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports.
RESULTS Staff directory.