Global Weekly Update May 14, 2012
Top Action: We’re Saving Babies this Summer
Did you know that there are still 7.6 million children every year who don’t reach their fifth birthday, but that there is a plan to change this? This summer, June 14-15, the US, India, Ethiopia, and UNICEF are convening a two-day Child Survival Call to Action meeting in DC. The goal of the meeting will be to create a roadmap for ending preventable child deaths in our lifetime. Leading up to the Call to Action, the convenors want to engage the public and others through their “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign.
Our role now to bring attention to this campaign and to let the media, our communities, and our members of Congress know that ending child deaths is now possible. Engaging them now will help us generate the political and public will necessary to follow the child survival roadmap that comes out of the conference. Just imagine how we could eliminate the suffering experienced by parents needlessly losing their babies! Here’s what you can do next:
1. Learn more by reading this inspiring blog entry by our founder, Sam Daley-Harris, on our legacy of work in child survival.
2. Use our latest editorial packet titled “Saving the Other Half: How the World Can End Preventable Child Deaths” and our latest laser talk to pitch the idea of a June child survival editorial to your local paper. The “Child Survival: Call to Action” two-day summit in June will be a powerful moment for our campaign to save children’s lives, and we don’t want our local media to miss the opportunity to cover it. We know that we might be one of few organizations mobilizing to bring attention to this issue through the media, so we are encouraging every group to (further) develop their relationship with their paper’s editorial staff and bring them a powerful story they likely won’t hear from anyone else. US leadership at the summit will notice our work. Let us know if you need support making this request. You can find a list of your local papers here.
3. Mark Tuesday, May 22nd on your calendar and join RESULTS staff and other grassroots for a brainstorming session on our child survival media work. We’ll discuss overall goals for the campaign, brainstorm ways you can make this global story locally relevant and, ultimately, “pitchable” to editors, and more. Join the call at 9:00 pm ET by dialing (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
4. Use our May action sheet to write a letter to the editor about saving the lives of babies. Share the action with others.
5. Listen to this past Saturday’s national grassroots conference call focused on our powerful child survival/childhood vaccines work and featuring Amie Batson, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID.
6. Check out USAID’s “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign leading up to the “Child Survival: Call to Action” two-day meeting in mid-June and post your age-five photo! This site is a fun, creative way to share the importance of child survival advocacy with family and friends.
The International Conference: It’s For You!
1. Have a last-minute application for the RESULTS REAL Change scholarship program (for 18-to-25-year-old emerging leaders)? Go ahead and submit your application before May 18 so it can yet be considered.
2. Customizable letters are now available so you can begin inviting your members of Congress to our spectacular conference reception! You can also begin scheduling your Lobby Day meetings and letting us know the details online!
3. Get ready to use our “IC preparation checklist (coming soon) as well as our official conference hashtag, #RESULTSConf (search for it on Twitter), to keep track of and contribute to the buzz before, during, and after the conference!
4. Check the RESULTS blog later this week for a great entry on money-saving tips for the conference.
You are invited to consider joining us in DC, as we are now about 2 months away from our conference! As the weather gets warmer, think about spending a few days of your summer with us in DC. Our conference will not only offer fantastic advocacy training and a chance to lobby your representatives, but a chance to connect with other activists and remind yourself why you spend all year working on these issues. Whether you form new friendships by visiting the Global Village of the International AIDS Society Conference or sharing a song at our karaoke on Sunday, come learn and have fun at this year’s International Conference!
Grassroots News You Can Use: Fundraising Celebrations and Help for New Activists
1. Thank you to all who participated in the Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG fundraising campaign by promoting to your supporters or donating through their website on May 2. Donors to RESULTS Educational Fund through this campaign will have their dollars “stretched” by the foundation, which we hope will add 11% to the amount we raised. RESULTS Educational Fund received a total of $4295 from 35 donors! Thank you to Karen Gielen and the RESULTS Seattle group for finding this opportunity for us and helping us to pursue it.
2. If you are hearing about RESULTS for the first time, come along to a RESULTS Introductory Call, a snappy, 30-minute meet-and-greet call during which new folks can get a taste of who we are. We offer two of these calls each month, and anyone can RSVP online to find dates and get all the details.
3. If you’re not new but still getting acquainted, you can still join the second night of our two-session RESULTS New Activist Orientation series on May 21! Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 at 9 pm ET to get more details on how RESULTS works and how to bring your powerful advocacy work to life. For more information, contact us.
4. If you are active with RESULTS but don’t have a group in your town, be a RESULTS Free Agent! We have started two free agent groups to bring individual activists like you from around the country together in a group-like setting on a monthly basis to provide you support. For those interested in global campaigns, the next call will be held Monday, May 21 at 8:00pm ET. To participate, dial (218) 486-1611 and enter passcode RESULTS# (7378587#).
5. Check out this amazing TV interview with RESULTS advocate Julia Bolz of Seattle.
6. Congratulations to advocate Lynne Patalano for being one of the Redlands (California) 2012 Women of Distinction. Her award focused on her work as an educator and her advocacy with RESULTS.
“The combination of [recent technological] advances and capabilities plus some new data and modeling indicate that if we think seriously about this and if we make some pretty significant changes in the way we work to eliminate preventable child death – we can eliminate preventable child death and we can bring the rate of under-five mortality in developing countries down to something that approximates the current OECD . . . country average and that would account for saving about six million kids a year . . . Seeing a child die of a preventable disease is the greatest fear of parents the world over. No family should have to live this fear, and no child should have to suffer that fate.”
– USAID Chief Administrator, Rajiv Shah in a Voice of America editorial, 4/29/12
March-May: Global Poverty Project 1.4 Billion Reasons presentations
May 15: RESULTS Free Agents domestic poverty group call. Contact Jos Linn for more information.
May 18: RESULTS Introductory Call. 1 pm ET. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.
May 21: RESULTS Free Agents global poverty group for activists in towns without RESULTS groups. 8 pm ET, (218) 486-1611, passcode 7378587. Contact Lisa Marchal with questions.
May 21: Second session of our two-session RESULTS New Activist Orientation. 9 pm ET. New activist with RESULTS? Then join our two-session orientation to learn the basics of who we are and how we work together to become vibrant advocates for the end of poverty. To RSVP, contact Lisa Marchal. To call in, dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
May 22: Child survival media work brainstorming call. 9 pm ET. Join RESULTS staff and other grassroots for a brainstorming session on our child survival media work. We’ll discuss overall goals for the media push, brainstorm ways you can make this global story locally relevant and, ultimately, “pitchable” to editors, and more. Join the call at 9 pm ET by dialing (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262.
June 6: RESULTS Introductory Call. 9 pm ET. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call.
June 9: National grassroots conference call for global campaigns. 2 pm ET. Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the call. (Check out our conference call archive, too!)
July 21–24: RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC
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