RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update April 6, 2021
Quote of the Week
“If we make the Housing Choice Voucher program universal, we can ensure all low-income renters will get housing assistance.”
– RESULTS Boston volunteer Leslye Heilig in a April 5 letter to the editor in the Berkshire Eagle
Table of Contents
- Global Poverty Campaigns Update
- U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
- RESULTS Announcements
- Upcoming Events
- Grassroots Resources
Global Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Take a survey to help strengthen anti-oppression and equity work at RESULTS.
Got Twenty Minutes? Submit our appropriations requests and sign-on letters to your representative’s foreign policy aide.
The House State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations (SFOPS) leadership (Reps. Lee and Rogers) has set an updated deadline of April 28 to hear from other representatives about their development assistance spending priorities for fiscal year 2022. This means that your representative has likely set an imminent deadline to gather input from constituents like you. We also have two new appropriations sign-on letters you can ask your representatives to sign on to. Find them on our FY22 appropriations sign-on letter blog post. (This will be updated regularly). You can ask your representatives to do both—submit requests and sign on to letters. Many of you are making these requests during your First 100 Days lobby meetings, but you don’t want to wait for those meetings if it means missing the deadline. Make your requests today and then follow up during your First 100 Days meetings.
Here’s how to submit your appropriations requests:
- Go to your representative’s website and search for “appropriations.” Many offices have forms and deadlines on their websites. If you find forms, send them to Dorothy Monza ([email protected]) and Crickett Nicovich ([email protected]) along with the deadline for having them filled out. They will fill them out and return them to you to send to the foreign policy aide along with our appropriations request sheets.
- If you don’t find forms on the website, call the foreign policy aide for your representative and ask what the deadline is for submitting SFOPS appropriations requests to their office. Also, ask if they have forms to fill out or if you can just submit our request sheets. If you don’t know who the foreign policy aide is, call the office and ask, or contact the Grassroots Impact staff.
- Follow your call with an e-mail to the foreign policy aide, including any unanswered questions about deadlines and forms, along with our appropriations requests. Explain why these funding levels are important (drawing on the request sheets or laser talks for your explanation).
- Alternate calling and e-mailing until you get a clear response on the procedure for submitting the appropriations requests and find out whether your representative will include our requests in their submission. Remember, if they have forms to fill out, we can help. Send them to Dorothy Monza ([email protected]) and Crickett Nicovich ([email protected]) along with the deadline for having them filled out.
- Please let Lisa Marchal ([email protected]) or Ken Patterson ([email protected]) know if you have questions.
Got Another Fifteen Minutes? Get meetings with your members of Congress.
Our goal is to meet with 100 percent of the Senate and 75 percent of the House during our First 100 Days Campaign. So far, we’ve reached 64 percent of the Senate and 27 percent of the House. Let’s keep going! There’s less than one month left in the campaign, so don’t hesitate. Book meetings with your representatives and senators now so that we can reinforce our appropriations requests and sign-on letters. We’ve got appropriations request memos and companion laser talks on global nutrition, tuberculosis, and education to assist you. You can also find the FY22 appropriations sign-on letters (and track our progress on them) on our blog.
To help you get your meetings scheduled and to help you make your requests, use our draft meeting request letter, meeting request laser talk, and campaign request sheets available on our Lobbying support page. You can also engage your Action Network to support your requests by having them write to your members of Congress using our online action.
TAKE ACTION: Book meetings with your legislators as soon as possible so you can reinforce your appropriations and sign-on letter requests. You can ask your Action Network to reach out with appropriations requests as well. And remember to report your meetings after they happen!
QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY
Thursday, April 15. Global Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET. Focus: nutrition. Our guest will be Meaza Getachew of 1,000 Days. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
The Deadly Duo: TB and COVID-19. “Tuberculosis causes more deaths than any other infectious disease in the world. TB and COVID-19 make a deadly combination and pose additional challenges as TB and COVID-19 both affect the lungs.” Read more on this topic on the ACTION Partnership blog.
Appropriations terms guide. Have you ever wanted to demystify and define some of the jargon that goes with the appropriations process in Congress? We have a “cheat sheet”!
U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Use media to push for a strong recovery bill
Got Twenty Minutes? Urge Congress to support universal rental assistance
The Biden Administration and Congress have turned their attention to passing long-term economic recovery legislation. On March 31, President Biden unveiled his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal for economic recovery, which includes $213 billion to increase the supply of affordable housing.
This is a great start, however, we must also address the “demand” side of the problem to ensure that low-income renters can afford any new or existing affordable rental housing. Since 1960, renters’ median earnings has gone up 5 percent while rents are up 61 percent. This leaves millions of families paying more than half their earnings for rent.
The Housing Choice Voucher program (HCV) is America’s largest rental assistance program. However, due to inadequate funding, only one in four eligible renters can get assistance. The solution is simple: make the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program universal so that all eligible low-income renters get housing assistance. Thanks to help from RESULTS volunteers, 78 members of Congress signed a letter to President Biden calling for this very thing (also see the list here). Keep the pressure on them to follow through.
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to finish the First 100 Days Campaign strong by meeting with House and Senate offices in April urging them to focus on bold and long-term anti-poverty policies by:
- Making Housing Choice Vouchers universal
- Making new EITC/CTC provisions permanent (combining this with #1 could reduce child poverty by more than 60 percent)
- Increasing supply of affordable housing and addressing legacy of racism in housing (increase Black homeownership, reduce wealth inequality)
Use our April U.S. Poverty Action, updated lobby meeting request, laser talks, and housing and tax lobby leave behinds for your meetings this month. For an excellent overview of why housing must be a part of any recovery and infrastructure package, please listen to Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, on the April 2021 RESULTS National Webinar. Contact RESULTS staff to help get you ready for meetings and afterward, please let us know what happened in our Lobby Report Form.
Finally, please sign your local RESULTS group onto a letter urging Congress to enact bold, long-term solutions to America’s housing crisis.
Got Forty Minutes? Take the anti-oppression and equity survey
RESULTS believes that poverty cannot end as long as oppression exists. That’s why we have pledged to create space for all voices. In our on-ongoing anti-oppression efforts, we are currently going through an anti-oppression audit, which includes a survey to help us assess where we are and where we need to go. Your input in that survey will help us see areas of growth in our anti-oppression work and contribute to the improvement of our organization both internally and externally. The survey is currently open through April 13.
TAKE ACTION: Please take time to complete our anti-oppression and equity survey. The survey is anonymous and takes about 40 minutes to complete. The survey will be open only one more week, through April 13.
QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY
EITC/CTC overview. Read our new brief on the importance of making recent expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit permanent. If you encounter members of Congress arguing these expansions could disincentivize work, let them know that a guaranteed income program in Stockton, CA shows otherwise.
Register for April Monthly Policy Forum. Join us on Thursday, April 15 at 8:00 pm ET for our next U.S. Poverty Monthly Policy Forum: Evictions 101 – Why It’s Important for the Federal Government to Address It NOW. Drawing from his experience as a Senior Staff Attorney for Bay Area Legal Aid, RESULTS’ new Senior Policy Associate Michael Santos will overview evictions, discuss their harm to tenants, outline efforts to prevent vulnerable renters from experiencing homelessness, and review federal plans to address the affordable housing crisis. He will also provide tools on how you can make the case for affordable housing to your members of Congress. Register today (you must register each month to attend).
SNAP families to receive increased benefits. Last week, USDA took efforts to remedy inequitable roll out of pandemic “emergency allotments” for SNAP. These allotments passed last year in response to COVID-19 increased SNAP benefits to the maximum amount permitted for the household. However, families already receiving the maximum SNAP amount, typically the lowest-income households, received little or no benefit. As part of the Biden Administration’s effort to “address the growing hunger crisis,” USDA has increased the allotments for these households. This change will provide additional food assistance to an estimated 25 million people, including children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities.
RESULTS West Virginia hosting global health webinar. Join RESULTS West Virginia volunteers as they host an event “Finding Our Voices in Global Health Advocacy: Food Insecurity” this Thursday, April 8 12:00 p.m. ET. Former RESULTS intern Jessi Russell and Teresia Otieno of the Center for MultiCultural Health are scheduled to speak. Learn more here.
RESULTS Announcements
Anti-oppression and equity survey. Please participate in RESULTS anti-oppression and equity survey. The purpose of this survey is to collect your feedback on existing anti-oppression efforts in practice within RESULTS. Your input will contribute to identifying areas of growth in our anti-oppression work and contribute to the improvement of your work environment or volunteer capacity. The survey is only open until April 13. Click here to take the survey today.
Join tonight’s webinar on developing relationships with Congress. Join us tonight, April 6 at 8:30 pm ET for a webinar on how to create and deepen relationships with your congressional offices. We’ll look at all the key relationships one can make with offices and techniques for relationship building, including engaging others in our community. Register today.
RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Nominations. Ever thought of serving on the RESULTS board? Now is the time to submit your name or the name of someone you believe would do a great job. Find out more about nominations and what’s involved in serving on the board on our website. Please email name(s) to Jesse Marsden at [email protected]. If you have questions, please contact Lindsay K. Saunders at [email protected]. Nominations close April 30.
Register for the RESULTS 2021 International Conference! The 2021 RESULTS International Conference will be held June 12-13, 2021. Come learn from expert presenters, staff trainers, and each other as we prepare for a powerful Advocacy Week with congressional offices the following week. Don’t miss our biggest event of the year. Register today! You must register by May 1 to participate in Advocacy Week.
Learn to write powerful letters to the editor. Join us next Tuesday, April 13 at 8:30 pm ET to learn the tools to write a powerful letter to the editor on the issues you care about and get it published. Bring your pad and paper and let’s write! Register today.
Action Network Monthly Webinar. If you are looking to better activate and support members of your local Action Network (online activists) and help move them up the ladder of engagement, please join our monthly Action Network webinar. This webinar is also dedicated towards finding solutions to any dilemmas Action Network Managers may have managing and/or engaging their networks. Join Wednesday, April 14 at 8:30 pm ET. Register today.
Thursday, April 15. U.S. Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 8:00 pm ET. Evictions 101 – Why It’s Important for the Federal Government to Address It NOW with RESULTS Senior Policy Associate Michael Santos. Register today.
Thursday, April 15. Global Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET. Focus: nutrition. Our guest will be Meaza Getachew of 1,000 Days. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Join Champion Scale training with Sam Daley-Harris. RESULTS founder Sam Daley-Harris will energize us with his interactive workshop “The RESULTS Champion Scale: Creating Congressional Leadership” on moving our members of Congress up the Champion Scale. The webinar is Wednesday, April 21 at 8:30 pm ET. Register today.
Upcoming Events
Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are on recess this week. Submit your remote meeting requests today.
Tuesday, April 6: How to Develop and Deepen Relationships with Congress, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Tuesday, April 13: Writing a Powerful Letter to the Editor, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Wednesday, April 14: Action Network Monthly Webinar, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Thursday, April 15. U.S. Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 8:00 pm ET. Focus: housing. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Thursday, April 15. Global Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET. Focus: nutrition. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Monday, April 19: First 100 Days Office Hour, 4:00 pm ET. Bring your policy questions for lobbying. Join at tinyurl.com/2y6pqtcf, passcode 2030.
Wednesday, April 21: The RESULTS Champion Scale: Creating Congressional Leadership, 8:30 pm ET. Led by RESULTS founder Sam Daley Harris. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Wednesday, April 28: Second book discussion on The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, 9:00 pm ET. Focus will be on the final four chapters. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.
Saturday, May 1: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Register today. Registrations will be checked up to an hour prior to the webinar.
Saturday June 12 and Sunday, June 13: 2021 RESULTS International Conference. Registration is open. Please register by May 1 to participate in Advocacy Week following the conference.
Grassroots Resources
Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
To update volunteer info (e.g., subscribe to the Weekly Update or action alerts, add new advocate information, update an existing advocate’s information or preferences), use our Volunteer Information Form.
Find actions and volunteer resources on our Current Volunteers page, including our anti-oppression resources.
Remember to please report your recent advocacy successes in lobby meetings, media, and outreach activities.
To join the RESULTS listserv for more RESULTS conversation, send an email to [email protected]
If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail Lindsay Saunders at [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports.
RESULTS Staff directory and job postings.