RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update August 25, 2020
Quote of the Week
“This is a real crisis for real Americans. We need real leaders who will take real action right now.”
– RESULTS Austin volunteer Mark Coats in an August 18 letter to the editor in the Austin American-Statesman
Table of Contents
Global and U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
Mark’s story can be your story too – use media to inspire action
Congress is on recess again this week and talks over a new COVID-19 relief bill remain stalled. This while deaths in the U.S. have surpassed 175,000; millions of students are returning to school amidst confusion, uncertainty, and fear; and tens of millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet see no help coming. It’s outrageous.
But the answer is not despair. It’s action. And last week, we saw what it can do.
On August 18, RESULTS Austin volunteer Mark Coats got a letter to the editor published in the Austin American-Statesman calling on his senator to do more about COVID-19: “Sen. John Cornyn shows he is a leader by standing behind Sen. Mitch McConnell on TV. How about he and his colleagues take action to deal with the emergency America faces?” Mark urged the Senator to pass $100 billion in rental assistance and $20 billion for the global response to the pandemic.
Mark’s letter is excellent and fits right in with the other 378 letters RESULTS volunteers have gotten published this year. But that’s not why we are telling this story. What happened next is.
Five days later on August 23, Mark open the Statesman to see Sen. Cornyn’s own letter to the editor in direct response to what Mark wrote. Sen. Cornyn touted his accomplishments in fighting the virus and promised to do more.
This is the kind of thing we dream of as advocates – a direct and public response to our requests. When members of Congress are tough to meet with (like in a pandemic), your media advocacy becomes all the more important. Mark’s experience is a perfect example of the kind of pressure your media can create – the kind that spurs lawmakers into action (followed by local RESULTS volunteers holding them to their promises). And if one letter can prompt a public response like this, imagine what five or ten or twenty letters could do. Let’s find out.
TAKE ACTION: Send letters to the editor (LTE) to your local papers calling on members of Congress and President Trump by name to #DoYourJob and #GetBackToWork to pass a fair and just COVID-19 deal now. Urge them to help with the global response to the pandemic ($20 billion), protect renters ($100 billion in rental assistance and a national moratorium on evictions) and reduce hunger (15 percent boost to maximum SNAP benefit). For members who support our priorities, thank them and encourage them to stand firm. For members who don’t, remind them of the cost of inaction (e.g. see CBPP’s new Hardship Tracker on what people are facing in your state or data on COVID-19 and the Global Fund and global nutrition).
Once you get a letter published, please send it to the appropriate House and Senate aides in your congressional offices (be sure to let RESULTS know too). Also, if you run across relevant stories in the news, send it to the aides and tag members of Congress directly on social media (use #DoYourJob and #GetBackToWork). Keep that drumbeat going. Ordinary people don’t get to take a break from what’s happening in the world. Politicians in Washington shouldn’t either.
Keep up with congressional actions around COVID-19 on our coronavirus blog and by registering now for our National Webinar on Saturday, September 12 (1:00 pm ET).
QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY
Help Grow the Movement. The RESULTS Expansion Team will support groups and Free Agents to recruit new advocates to grow the movement in your area. If you’d like have more influence with your group or get one started, contact Ken Patterson.
Please Report. Make sure all your hard work gets logged in our lobby, media, and outreach report forms. Having a record of your work is incredibly helpful to us as we track our progress forward. Reporting your media will also help us compile and leverage your COVID media. You can find all the report forms online. Catch up through August.
QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY
Eviction grace period ends. As many of you know, the CARES Act federal eviction moratorium expired on July 24. While this moratorium only covered federally-backed rental units and homes (about 25 percent of all renters), it still protected millions of American households. Once the moratorium ended, landlords had to give tenants 30 days’ notice of their intention to evict. That 30-day grace period ended yesterday, which means that evictions are now proceeding (and President Trump’s recent executive order does not stop this). Urge everyone you know to use our housing action to e-mail, post, tweet their members of Congress demanding they protecting renters now.
Sign your local group into housing letters. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) is coordinating two letters to Congress urging them to prioritize housing resources in the next COVID-19 bill. Please sign your local RESULTS group onto these letters ASAP and help us build support for bold action on housing in Congress.
Join Census poverty data webinar. The U.S. Census will release its national poverty data for 2019 on Tuesday, September 15 (local data will come out a few days later). To understand what the data says and how it impacts our work, join RESULTS Director of U.S. Poverty Campaigns Meredith Dodson for a Census data overview webinar on September 15 at 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID 324 294 681.
RESULTS Announcements
Register for the September National Webinar. We will focus on housing and global education in September. Also starting in September, you will need a password to access our monthly national webinars. Please fill out our new webinar registration form to get on the list to receive the password two days before the webinar. Also, please note that due to the Labor Day holiday, our next national webinar will be Saturday, September 12 at 1:00 pm ET.
Join tomorrow’s New Advocate Orientation. If you or someone you know are new to RESULTS, join us for our next New Advocate Orientation tomorrow, August 26 at 8:30 pm ET. Interact with RESULTS staff and other new volunteers, learn more about our advocacy model and issues, and get information on getting involved. Sign up here.
BIPOC Caucus call tomorrow. Join us August 26 at 9:00 pm ET for “Generational Trauma: Health Disparities with COVID-19” featuring Dr. Jesslyn Anderson, DNP, FNP-C, MBA/HCM. This caucus meeting is reserved only for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. For more information, please contact Yolanda Gordon.
Request Zoom Pro account for your group. We want to empower your group to meet during this social distancing season! If your local RESULTS group does not currently have a Zoom Pro account (paid for by RESULTS) but would now like one, please fill out this form by August 31. Our hope is to extend the Zoom Pro accounts for groups who want them through the end of 2020, and perhaps beyond. Please complete the form if you now want an account (only one per group, please).
Putting The Righteous Mind into practice. The Righteous Mind discussion group will meet on Tuesday, September 8 at 9:00 pm ET to continue applying ideas from the book to their RESULTS work. If you are interested in putting your knowledge into practice, join the meeting here, meeting ID: 655 036 085, passcode: 641539. If you’d like to suggest other actions for the book club, e-mail Jim Driggers.
Visit coronavirus blog for updates. Read the RESULTS coronavirus blog for the latest updates and actions you can take.
Receive action alerts via text. We are setting up a system to send some of our action alerts via text. If you’d like to receive text action alerts, please text RESULTS to 50457 to sign up for text action alerts.
Upcoming Events
Congressional schedule. Members of Congress are currently in their home states and districts. Submit your remote meeting requests today.
Wednesday, August 26: New Advocate Orientation, 8:30 pm ET. Sign up online.
Wednesday, August 26: BIPOC Caucus, 9:00 pm ET. For more information, contact Yolanda Gordon.
Monday, September 7: Labor Day. All RESULTS offices closed.
Tuesday, September 8: Putting The Righteous Mind Into Practice webinar, 9:00 pm ET. Join the meeting using this link, meeting ID: 655 036 085, passcode: 641539.
Saturday, September 12: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/994444828. You can also join by phone at (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 994 444 828. Please register for the webinar to receive the password to login.
Tuesday, September 15: U.S. Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 pm pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID 324 294 681. (Our regular monthly 8:00 pm ET call will not take place so people can attend the Census data overview).
Tuesday, September 15: 2019 U.S. Census Poverty Data Overview, 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID 324 294 681.
Monday, September 21: Global Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/464361707 or, by phone, (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 464361707.
Grassroots Resources
Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
Do you have a new person in your RESULTS group or info to update? Use our Volunteer Information Form to add them.
Find actions and volunteer resources on our Current Volunteers page, including our anti-oppression resources.
Remember to please report your recent grassroots successes in lobby meetings, media pieces, and outreach activities.
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.