Global Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | December 8, 2014

• Take Action – Ask Reps./Sens. to Cosponsor Gavi Resolutions
• December 13 . . . Will You Be Part of It?
• Gavi Must Stay on the Radar: Make a Holiday Media Plan Now
• Grassroots Grab Bag
• Quote of the Week, Upcoming Events, and Resources at Your Fingertips

Just a few more days. Congress already has its eyes on the end of session, but that doesn't mean we can't still make an impact.

There are resolutions in both the House and the Senate supporting Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi is an international partnership supporting low-income countries in delivering vaccines to the poorest, most vulnerable children.

You may not know that S.Res. 578 in support of Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote and no objection on Thursday. Late Friday afternoon, the resolution was then put on a hotline calendar (which means it will pass if no one objects). Now's your last opportunity to get your Senators signed on! 

We currently have 15 cosponsors on the Senate resolution and 79 cosponsors on the House resolution – an exciting accomplishment. But we can do more.

• Got 20 Minutes? Use the November Action Sheet to request Gavi support. Ask your legislators to cosponsor H.Res. 688 and S.Res. 578 on Gavi and child vaccines. These are bipartisan resolutions with momentum, but we need your help to get us to our goal of 115 cosponsors on the House version and 30 on the Senate version. We can do this. Let's keep going!
• Want to do more? There is also an opportunity for legislators to write to the Obama Administration directly about their support for global immunization. Use our Gavi laser talk to call your representative's or senators' offices, ask for the foreign policy aide, and request that the legislators write to President Obama about Gavi. You can use our online action on both resolutions to make that request of your legislators.

December 13 . . . Will You Be Part of It?

National Grassroots Conference Call – The Final One of 2014! Gather your community on Saturday, December 13 at 2 pm ET. That's the date of our national conference call for global grassroots . . . the final one of 2014. (888) 409-6709 is the number to use for the conference call. Plan to get together with others and join in!

As we continue to focus on our Gavi campaign, we'll be excited to hear from long-time RESULTS supporter and Cameron Duncan award-winner Jay Evensen of the Deseret News. (Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, Dr. Rebecca Nantanda won't be able to join us.)

Gavi Must Stay on the Radar: Make a Holiday Media Plan Now

At least 6 editorials/columns, 5 news pieces, 13 op-eds, and 76 letters to the editor . . . and the number is climbing!

At this hopeful time of year, writers and editors will be looking for fresh ways to highlight the spirit of the season. What could be more uplifting than an opportunity to save the lives of children around the world? So seize the opportunity.

• Ask the editor of your local newspaper to write about Gavi. Let him/her know that one of the best ways to provide protection from diseases like Ebola is to help poor nations strengthen their healthcare systems, which Gavi does. Send them this great, short background document. Learn more about working with editors on our site.
• Engage your action network, friends, family, and colleagues who want to support you and our child vaccine work in writing letters to the editor. Use our handy online tool – share it via e-mail/Facebook/Twitter and follow up with those you know are taking action to see how it went and if they got published. If you want ideas, draw from media other volunteers have already generated.
• Think about how a grasstops person of influence in your community (pediatrician, nurse, etc.) could partner with you to co-write a powerful op-ed on Gavi. There's nothing like local expert voices breaking down the issues and helping it hit home.

Make sure your community is talking about global immunizations – and send copies of the media you generate to your legislators.

Grassroots Grab Bag

Be on the Watch . . . Individual and group planning materials will be available before the holidays. Please put January 10 on your calendars – our first natiional conference call of 2015! Use the planning materials we'll provide to work with fellow advocates and dream up a fantastic advocacy year. What do you want to accomplish? Learn? Change? Contribute?

Year-end Reporting. Use the links below in the resource section to finish up your reporting of your lobbying and other advocacy activity. We leverage your actions and successes to gain grassroots support resources for the work we do – let your accomplishments shine for us and help positively impact our future!

Quote of the Week

"I resolved to live my life as fully as I could. I had belonged to RESULTS, a grassroots advocacy organization mobilizing political support and effective investments to end poverty, for a little over ten years then. I had learned that 40,000 of our brothers and sisters under five on the planet were dying every day from diseases that were mostly preventable and treatable. I decided to do all that I could, under RESULTS’ tutelage, to bring that number down."

– Bob Dickerson, RESULTS Seattle

Upcoming Events

• December 10, 9 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call.The perfect RESULTS primer. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.
• December 13, 2 pm ET. National Conference Call for Global Grassroots. For our continuing Gavi focus, we'll welcome long-time RESULTS supporter, Jay Evensen of the Deseret News. Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the hour to join.
• December 15, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents Call for Global Poverty Advocates. Dial (605) 475-6777, passcode 7378587. Are you a RESULTS activist with our global poverty campaigns, living in a town with no RESULTS group? You are alone no more! Contact Lisa Marchal, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this monthly group call.
• December 25-January 1, 2015. RESULTS is closed for the winter holidays.
• January 10, 2015. The first national conference call of 2015. The theme is group planning.
• July 18-21, 2015. RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC.

Resources at Your Fingertips

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

Global Poverty Campaigns Background

Skill Center

Fundraising Tools

Report Your Monthly Advocacy Actions

Report Your Lobby Meetings