The 2018 RESULTS International Conference: Day 2 highlights

“We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.”

That’s how organizer and activist Heather Booth kicked off the second day of the 2018 RESULTS International Conference. She also threw down a challenge to the packed room: go home and talk to 20 people, recruiting three to be advocates.

“If we organize, we can change the world,” she said. “Even when times are most desperate, we need to remember how far we’ve come and how far we need to go.”

Here are some other highlights from a rousing second day:

• An in-depth workshop on the link between housing, public policy, and the ever-widening racial wealth gap. “Where you live impacts opportunities available to you,” noted Alanna McCargo, vice president of housing finance policy at the Urban Institute. The problem has been decades in the making, but the good news is that it’s solvable – if Congress takes action. “We have to push our policymakers to build courage and start making the right choices,” said panelist Emanuel Nieves, senior policy manager at Prosperity Now.
• Stories and policy recommendations from RESULTS Experts on Poverty who have experienced poverty firsthand. All three Experts on the panel – Yolanda Gordan, Jackie Halliday, and Maxine Thomas – said anti-poverty programs like SNAP (formerly food stamps) should be strengthened and that recipients understand these policies in a way no one else can. “You don’t understand SNAP from reading the farm bill or eligibility requirements, you understand when you spend time in line at Department of Human Services waiting for answers you have no other way to get,” Jackie said.
• Activist and lecturer Marianne Williamson on how to be an effective advocate in a challenging political environment. “The work of RESULTS is so important…we need to be unabashed, we need to be passionate, we need to be vigorous and we need to be vocal.”
• Carol Nawina Nyirenda, a TB survivor and executive director of CITAM+ in Zambia, on the importance of reaching every person who is sick with TB but doesn’t have access to treatment. She also emphasized the importance of advocacy in the fight against TB. “Over the years, CITAM+ has built really strong relationships with our government – just as many of you have developed strong relationships with members of Congress and parliamentarians. I’m really grateful for RESULTS. We’ve taken the RESULTS model back to our country.”

We’ve got another full day coming up tomorrow. We’ll be documenting highlights here on the RESULTS blog, and you can follow the hashtag #Voices4RESULTS on Twitter and Instagram for live coverage. If you missed our recap of Day 1, you can find it here.