RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update March 2, 2021
Quote of the Week
“With an extreme poverty rate in North Dakota of 5% and a fifth of working families living well below the poverty line, struggling families need substantial nutritional and housing support just to get by.”
– RESULTS Grand Forks, ND volunteer Kathleen Ness in a February 20 letter to the editor in the Grand Forks Herald
Table of Contents
- Global Poverty Campaigns Update
- U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
- RESULTS Announcements
- Upcoming Events
- Grassroots Resources
Global Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Submit appropriations memos to members of Congress.
Got Twenty Minutes? Schedule First 100 Days Campaign lobby meetings with the Senate and plan to attend the National Webinar
Your voice – and your congressional meetings – remain vitally important to the COVID-19 relief process as we move through our First 100 Days Campaign. Decades of progress enabled by U.S. leadership are in jeopardy as COVID-19 presents an urgent threat to the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Moreover, before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly one in four children was stunted due to lack of adequate nutrition. COVID-19 has made this worse, threatening to double hunger and malnutrition globally to 265 million people.
What we need this week is for you to meet with your senators and ask them to protect international development as passed in the House version of the COVID-19 relief bill. There will be a Senate call-in day on Wednesday so that, even as you book your meetings, you can call for these protections. Keep an eye out for this action and share with your Action Networks. Then don’t forget to join us this Saturday, March 6 at 1:00 pm ET for the RESULTS National Webinar with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Sen. Brown will talk to us about the opportunities and challenges we face going forward to make progress in reducing poverty through investments in housing, tax credits, and global health. We’ll also update you on COVID-19 legislation, and you’ll have the chance to share successes in your recent lobby meetings. If you have not registered for the webinar, please do so online. (Registrations will be checked up to an hour before the webinar.)
TAKE ACTION: Utilize our lobbying support materials to make your virtual lobby meeting requests. Senators must protect international development as passed in the House COVID-19 relief bill. We’ve got the goal of meeting with 100 percent of the Senate and 75 percent of the House. So far, we’ve reached 37 percent of the Senate and 15 percent of the House. And even more exciting is that fact that 73 percent of meetings have involved a volunteer who’s joined us in the last 12 months. Let’s keep going! Join your fellow advocates in getting our First 100 Days Campaign online meeting map filled.
To help you get your meetings scheduled and to help you make your campaign requests, use our draft meeting request letter, meeting request laser talk, and campaign request sheets available on our Lobbying support page. You can also get support for scheduling your meetings via our current Action Sheet.
Got Another Fifteen Minutes? Make appropriations meeting requests in the House
And what about the House? What’s needed in the House is for you to book meetings with your representatives so that we can get our appropriations requests in their hands. We’ve got appropriations memos on global nutrition, tuberculosis, and education. Members of Congress can submit these requests to the leadership of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittees of Appropriations. Ask if there are deadlines for hearing from constituents on appropriations and ask if the offices have request forms that need to be filled out. You may need to submit your appropriations requests before you have your meeting with an office. That’s just fine; you can use your meeting to reinforce your message.
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 get support for scheduling your meetings via our current Action Sheet.
TAKE ACTION: Use the appropriations memos to make appropriations requests of your members of Congress, particularly in the House. Book a meeting with your representative as soon as possible to help reinforce your appropriations requests. Remember to check with offices on what their internal deadlines are for receiving these requests, and then submit the requests right away. We’ll be pivoting to appropriations work in earnest for both Senate and House once COVID-19 relief work is done. (And register to join our Appropriations 101 training webinar on March 3!)
QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY
Our COVID-19 relief work: Read the latest on our coronavirus blog. How do the developments in COVID-19 relief intersect with our advocacy work? Take a look at our analysis on our blog.
Did you miss our issue brief on global education? Review the recording of our recent issue brief on our global education campaign and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Consider reading the GPE Case for Investment as well.
U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Tell Congress to pass more COVID relief
Got Enough Minutes? Protect COVID bill in Senate; join webinar with Sen. Sherrod Brown this Saturday
COVID relief is moving ahead. Over the weekend, the House passed H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act, 219-212. The bill includes the $30 billion in rent and utility assistance and expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) we have been seeking. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to go to the floor for debate this week.
We must keep the pressure on Congress to pass a strong COVID bill that meets the needs of millions of low-income households still struggling to make ends meet. We do expect the Senate to amend the bill, but we don’t want them passing amendments that would weaken, restrict, or defund the above provisions nor pass any amendments preventing immigrant families from accessing assistance.
TAKE ACTION: Take thirty minutes to meet with Senate offices and urge them to pass a strong COVID bill with rent relief and expansions of the EITC and CTC. Tell them to oppose amendments to the bill that would weaken or restrict those provisions. The March U.S. Poverty Action has details to help you with your meetings this month, as does our March 2 blog post. The action also includes a sample letter to the editor for media on COVID relief and recovery. Find all our lobby resources, including our housing/tax lobby “leave behinds” and laser talks, on our website. Also, call your senators tomorrow during a national call-in day on COVID relief (see details below).
Then join us this Saturday, March 6 at 1:00 pm ET for the RESULTS National Webinar with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Sen. Brown will talk to us about the opportunities and challenges we face going forward to make progress in reducing poverty through investments in housing, tax credits, and global health. We’ll also update you on where COVID legislation is and you’ll have the chance to share successes from your recent lobby meetings. If you have not registered for the webinar, please do so today.
Got Ten Minutes Tomorrow? Call senators and urge others to call about COVID relief
As COVID relief moves forward in the Senate, join advocates from around the country in calling your senators tomorrow urging them to pass a strong COVID relief bill that includes rent/utility assistance and expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. RESULTS will send an e-mail alert tomorrow morning with instructions to call and a message to leave with the receptionist.
After calling, please forward the alert to people in your local action networks and share it with friends and family. The more people who call, the stronger message we send to senators that they must pass strong COVID relief now.
TAKE ACTION: Watch for an action alert from RESULTS tomorrow and then take ten minutes to call both your senators urging them to pass strong COVID relief now. Once you’ve called, urge your action networks to call as well. Here is some sample text you can use when forwarding the e-mail alert or sharing it on social media:
The Senate is debating the new COVID relief bill this week. Please call your senators TODAY and tell them to support this vital legislation that helps renters, workers, and families get through the pandemic. Use this alert from RESULTS to call now!
QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY
Federal judge declares eviction moratorium unconstitutional. Last Friday, a federal district court judge in Texas ruled the CDC eviction moratorium unconstitutional. However, the moratorium remains in effect for most renters. The ruling only applies to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and the Justice Department has already appealed the decision. But the ruling highlights how vital additional rent relief in the new COVID bill is to preventing evictions across the country. NLIHC has more about the ruling and its immediate impact.
Hunger Fellows presenting State of Hunger in America this week. Each year, RESULTS is privileged to have an Emerson Hunger Fellow work for us as part of their fellowship (RESULTS volunteer Joel Anderson is part of the current class). Our new fellow Max De Faria starts next week. Before then, the current fellows will be reporting on the work they’ve been doing in the field the last six months. You can watch their “State of Hunger in America” presentation is this Friday, March 5 beginning at 9:00 am ET (Max will be presenting at 2:00 pm ET; Joel at 11:10 am ET). Register here.
Sign onto eviction letter. Sign your local RESULTS group onto a letter signed by over 2,000 organizations and elected officials, urging the Biden administration to extend, improve, and enforce the current CDC eviction moratorium until the end of the pandemic (it is currently set to expire on March 31). Read more from NLIHC here.
Monthly Policy Forum on March 18. Join our next Monthly Policy Form on Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 pm ET. Learn what’s next in our work to reduce poverty in America through housing and tax policies. Register today!
RESULTS Announcements
Join discussion on The Color of Law tonight. The RESULTS Anti-Oppression Working Group is hosting a new book discussion on The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. Please join us to talk about this informative and profound work and that can help better inform your housing advocacy. The discussion is tonight, Tuesday, March 2 at 9:00 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Join appropriations training webinar tomorrow. Learn more about the basics of the appropriations process, particularly as it relates to our global poverty campaigns. The webinar is tomorrow, March 3 at 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Join RESULTS Madison hunger event on Monday. RESULTS Madison is hosting a virtual forum to discuss why food insecurity exists, its effects, and how we can help combat it. Speaking at the forum will be R. N. Fox, RESULTS Expert on Poverty; Francesa Hong, Wisconsin State Representative and restaurant owner; Helen Osborn-Senatus, The River Food Pantry Project Manager; LaShima Grosskopf, FoodShare Outreach Specialist at Second Harvest; and De’Kendra Stamps, FoodShare Outreach Program Director. The event is Monday, March 8 at 8:00 pm ET. Register today!
Learn how to support new advocates. Want tips on making sure your advocates feel welcome, enrolling them in shared leadership, and mentoring them in their advocacy? Come on along to our Supporting New Advocates to Grow webinar! We’ll be talking about best practices and great tips to help newer advocates thrive. The webinar is Thursday, March 11 at 8:30 pm ET. Register today.
Need help building your Action Network? Are you wanting to understand what an Action Network is? Are you interested is building an Action Network? If so, this is the training for you. On Wednesday, March 31, we’ll hold How to Build Your Action Network 101, 8:30 pm ET. Register today.
The African Leadership Cohort. The African Leadership Cohort (ALC) was launched in 2020 with the aim of increasing African Diaspora representation within the RESULTS movement and creating a safe space for individuals within this community. The cohort is currently made up of five members from three countries (Nigeria, Kenya, and Democratic Republic of the Congo) representing four states (Maryland, Washington, Maine, and Minnesota). Read more about this exciting initiative on our blog.
RESULTS 2021 International Conference registration is live! The 2021 RESULTS International Conference will be held June 12-13, 2021, and like last year, it will be held virtually, followed by a virtual Advocacy Week. Register today! (register by May 1 to participate in Advocacy Week.)
RESULTS is hiring. RESULTS is seeking highly motivated individuals to fill various positions on our team. If you are interested, please check out the job postings online.
Please complete your group roadmaps. If you have not completed your 2021 Group Roadmaps, please do so as soon as possible. If you need assistance, contact Jos Linn.
Upcoming Events
Congressional schedule. Both chambers are in session this week. Submit your remote meeting requests today.
Tuesday, March 2: Book Discussion – The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, 9:00 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Wednesday, March 3: Appropriations 101, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Saturday, March 6: National Grassroots Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Register today Guest speaker: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Registrations will be checked up to an hour prior to the webinar.
Monday, March 8: First 100 Days Office Hour, 4:00 pm ET. Bring your policy questions for your First 100 Days Campaign lobby visits. Join at tinyurl.com/2y6pqtcf, passcode 2030.
Thursday, March 11: Supporting New Advocates to Grow Webinar, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Thursday, March 18: Monthly Policy Forum: Housing and Taxes – Where to Next?, 8:00 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Thursday, March 18: Monthly Policy Forum: Global Tuberculosis, 9:00 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends an hour prior to the webinar.
Wednesday, March 31: How to Build Your Action Network 101, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends 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.
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.