RESULTS Grassroots Board Elections


July 7, 2017
by Vanessa Garcia, Cindy Levin, Maxine Thomas, and Beth Wilson

Dear active RESULTS Grassroots Partners,

We are writing to offer you the opportunity to vote for two fellow RESULTS volunteers to represent the grassroots on the boards of RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund. This is a very important decision and we have great candidates. Now, we just need your vote by August 9!

RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund are looking to fill two grassroots board positions to serve a term of three (3) years beginning in September of 2017. (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, advising on major policies for the organization, and providing fiduciary oversight. The Executive Committee of the Board is the primary governing body of the organization. Members meet frequently by conference call and are in communication via e-mail and telephone calls. Members must be able to participate at this level and are expected to chair or serve on a Board Committee(s) as well as participate in fundraising for 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. We’re honored!

Find our grassroots board candidate videos and bios below:

If you are attending the International Conference in Washington D.C. this July, you will also have an opportunity to meet them in person.

You may vote for two candidates. Remember, voting ends Tuesday, August 9 at midnight Eastern Time. Click on each candidate to view their online video statements and bios and click here to cast your vote. You may also cast your vote in person at the International Conference if you prefer.

Thank you for your partnership and support of RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund. Please feel free to contact Jesse Mardsen at [email protected] or 202.783.4800, for any assistance. It’s an honor to be your partner.

 


Simona Combi (Washington D.C./Domestic Group)

 

Simona is the media relations manager for the Center for Global Policy Solutions, where she disseminates the organization’s research to the media and other key audiences.

Previously, she was media relations/public affairs associate for the Urban Institute, a Washington, DC, research organization, where she identified media opportunities for the Institute’s experts and promoted its public policy forums. Before that, at the National Academy for Social Insurance, she promoted studies on Social Security and Workers’ Compensation. Simona is originally from Romania and has a Master’s degree in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University.

 

Statement of Intent for Becoming a Grassroots Board Member of RESULTS

The fact that in the United States 21 percent of children live in poverty should be a national outrage. The fact that 36 percent of black children live in poverty and there is no national alarm about this (whether for moral or just purely economic reasons) is unconscionable. This is why I am interested in becoming a Grassroots Board Member of RESULTS: its focus on poverty is one of the most important issues in this country.

My involvement with RESULTS started at the 2016 International Conference, where I was inspired by the dedication of dozens of grassroots volunteers who have been working to combat poverty for years. Since poverty is the cause I care about the most, I became a volunteer right after the conference.

The presidential election made a lot of people feel that they need to do more than just vote to maintain the safety net and save it from damaging cuts. RESULTS was there to help with resources, webinars, weekly calls managed by seasoned volunteers, and emails with clear calls to action. It is an organization that fights for its mission with passion.

I would be honored to become a Grassroots Board Member and I am particularly interested in serving on the Marketing Committee or the Issues Committee (or both). My background is in public policy communications, which I have done for the past 13 years at various Washington, DC, think tanks.

My experience includes working at the Urban Institute for eight years, where I learned about the welfare reform, the inadequacy of the TANF program (both in design and funding) that resulted from it, the role of tax policy in creating inequality, and many other issues related to poverty. Before that, I was at the National Academy of Social Insurance, which focuses on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—programs that have a huge role in helping people in poverty or lifting them out of it.

My current job is with the Center for Global Policy Solutions, which does research on racial disparities in wealth, health and education. I am also very familiar with the research done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which informs much of the advocacy RESULTS engages in.

I hope to be a valuable addition to RESULTS’ Board.

 

Willie Dickerson (Snohomish, WA/Global Group)

 

I was born in Walla Walla, the city so beautiful they named it twice.  I grew up in a happy family.  Since my dad was in the army we moved every couple of years.   We lived in Washington, California and Puerto Rico, before my dad retired and the family returned to Washington.  I went to school there until graduation, then off to WSU in Pullman.  Later, a trip to Europe and a trip around the country gave me a gap year, before I graduated with a teaching degree from the University of Washington.  My first teaching job was in Special Ed, followed by private schools with multiple grades, a six year stint at a refugee center in California, and finally back to Washington where I taught for 20 more years.  Retiring in 2009, I have spent more time volunteering with RESULTS, writing letters, leading and co-leading groups, and working to make a difference.  I enjoy hiking, music, Chinese calligraphy, traveling and grandkids.

 

Statement of Intent for Becoming a Grassroots Board Member of RESULTS

I am excited to be running for the position of Grass Roots Board Member.  RESULTS has been my volunteering focus since the early 90’s and with retirement, I have devoted even more time.  It is my intent to do my best to create an even more powerful RESULTS organization, that is more successful because volunteers find it easier to join and become effective activists.

As a team player (my master’s thesis was called Premeditated Collaboration), I would bring commitment, humor, and a consistent, tenacious, work ethic to the board.  I love a challenge, and what better challenge than ending hunger and poverty?  I am a quick learner, build on where things stand now, with out of the box thinking, a positive attitude, and a desire to listen to the grassroots volunteers.  I have training in communication and know that there is a reason we have two ears, but only one mouth.

I have been on a board before, Washington State Bilingual Association, and understand that it’s the engine that drives and inspires the members of the organization.  It is also a listening body that reflects what it’s members want and responds to their needs.  In addition, I have served on numerous committees and governing boards as a teacher in three states, working with students from preschool to adult.

I have a vision that we can end hunger and poverty in my lifetime, and I am not getting any younger…  It means we will need to grow, educate, advocate, and take calculated risks.  I am ready to be an active member of a board that does just that to reach our goals of ending hunger and poverty.

 

Gerry Fairbrother (Sante Fe, NM/Domestic Group)

 

I retired two years ago from a 25-year career as a health services/health policy researcher and moved from Washington, DC to Santa Fe, NM.  After arriving in Santa Fe, I almost immediately found and joined RESULTS.  This has been a natural home for me; I have taken delight in being able to use my policy research background to make a contribution as an advocate.  I also am a member of the Policy Committee of Health Action New Mexico.

My research always emphasized vulnerable populations, and looked at policies that affected them, such as “churning” in Medicaid, immunization delivery, and effects of block grants and other payment mechanisms. I was a professor at several major hospitals, universities and think tanks, and am now an adjunct professor (of pediatrics) at University of New Mexico and (of health policy) at George Washington University.

A biography of me would be incomplete unless I mentioned my interest in Hispanic health and immigrant issues. I speak Spanish, am part of an Hispanic family, and am active in immigration issues. I am not Hispanic myself, but my family says that I am “Hispana en mi alma” — Hispanic in my soul.

 

Statement of Intent for Becoming a Grassroots Board Member of RESULTS

If elected, I hope to use my background, skills and abilities in the area of health and poverty policies to support the RESULTS mission. I was excited to read biographies of other RESULTS board members; my expertise both complements and reinforces the expertise of current members.  It would be an honor to serve.

In addition to my content expertise, I have also participated in Boards and have reported to Boards, and thus, have an understanding of the role of Boards and how they relate to the organization they help govern.  I also have experience with goal setting, strategic planning, and constructing budgets across several organizations.  If elected, I hope to use this expertise as a Board member of RESULTS.

I would like to emphasize that even though I am relatively new to RESULTS, I have supported advocacy all my professional life. One of my proudest achievements was working with the Children’s Defense Fund in what we called, “A Partnership of Advocacy and Research to Affect Policy.”  I hope to continue that emphasis as a Board member, and this should be natural to do, given that my research dealt with topics extremely relevant to the RESULTS missions–effects of health and poverty policies.

With RESULTS, I “jumped right in,” and I hope to bring this enthusiasm to the Board, if elected.  I have met with staff from my New Mexico congressional delegation as a representative of RESULTS, and I now correspond regularly with them.  I also “jumped right in” with writing letters and opinion pieces and with speaking about poverty.  I put together, with other members of the Santa Fe RESULTS group, a slide presentation on poverty in New Mexico and the policies that we in RESULTS support to address poverty.  We have given this presentation in two local churches, and hope to do more.

If elected, I hope to be involved in global, as well as domestic initiatives for RESULTS, particularly as having to do with Mexico and the border. I have participated in projects in Juárez, Mexico, and am working now to create a health component to these projects.

 

Steven McGee (Louisiana/Global Group Leader)

 

I have a passion for the working poor. I am the great-grandson of a sharecropper, the grandson of a domestic and the son of a New Orleans longshoreman. I have gone to bed hungry. I have benefitted from free lunch programs.

I joined the military to pay for college and retired 23 years later. During my service I started several groups supporting Black involvement and cultural awareness after feeling frustrated at the lack of historical representation in the 1970s. I served as President of aTuskegee Airman Chapter whose purpose was to provide mentorship, scholarship, and opportunity for young African Americans to pursue aerospace careers.

I am currently the Group Leader for the Louisiana Chapter of Results which has doubled its membership in the past year and established a 25 organization local action network. I work In the healthcare industry, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, because of its mission to improve the lives of my fellow Louisianians. I care.

My strong belief is that Poverty is a preventable disease!

 

Statement of Intent for Becoming a Grassroots Board Member of RESULTS

Knowing poverty’s impact on the soul and wellbeing of the individual, I would like to help ensure that the limited resources and efforts of Results have a force multiplying effect through efficient and focused application.

With four decades of Information Technology experience, I would help guide our efforts to ensure that digitizations is harnessed to the service of eliminating poverty. I believe that through digital reach we can engage thousands more to help create the political will.

As a Master Advocacy Trainer I intend to further the vision and goals of Results by providing advocacy skills to non-profits across the state and country. I would like to help guide Result’s synergistic  expansion via local action networks on a quid pro quo basis.

I love the passion of Results and would endeavor to assure it is sustained at the grassroots level. My goal would be to make it easier to join, learn, and grow from showing initial interest to being an effective advocate.

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