RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update May 11, 2021

Quote of the Week

“The pandemic has shown that working together and assisting those in need improves life for everyone. The U.S. should pledge $1 billion to the Global Partnership for Education.”

– RESULTS Austin volunteer Eloise Sutherland in a May 8 letter to the editor in the Austin American-Statesman

Table of Contents

• Global Poverty Campaigns Update
• U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
• RESULTS Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

Global Poverty Campaigns Update

QUICK ACTION Write a letter to the editor on the Global Partnership for Education

Got Twenty Minutes? Submit our Senate sign-on letters and appropriations requests

(Before you get started with appropriations work . . . have you registered for the 2021 RESULTS International Conference to be held June 12-13? Register today. Then, on to Senate appropriations!)

As we’ve been talking about for a few weeks now, we have two Senate appropriations sign-on letters that are open for signatures and have deadlines that have been adjusted to Friday, May 21. One letter is on maternal/child health and nutrition and the second is on the Global Partnership for Education/basic education. Have your senators signed on yet? Find all the letters – and check for signatures – on our regularly updated fiscal year 2022 (FY22) appropriations sign-on letter blog post.

While you’re working on sign-on letters, don’t let up on Senate appropriations requests. The Senate State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations (SFOPS) leadership doesn’t yet have a deadline to hear from other senators about their development assistance spending priorities for FY22, so we want to stay ahead of the game. Here are some tips:

• Go to your senator’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 senator 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 senator 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 media on the Global Partnership for Education

Follow up on your tremendous First 100 Days Campaign meetings success by reporting the meetings you held and thanking your members of Congress for their action. Then jump into getting published on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Write your local paper about the need to support GPE’s transformative work in the lives of young people. GPE has spent nearly 20 years helping governments invest in innovative solutions to get all girls and boys in school and learning. GPE now has an ambitious five-year plan to transform education systems in lower-income countries. We must support this plan. Getting published on this issue is a key way to let legislators know about GPE and about what we need to do to support it.

TAKE ACTION: Follow up on your First 100 Days Campaign meetings with your legislators to see how/when they acted on your requests, thank them for meeting, and report your meetings via our online form. Then keep the momentum going by pivoting to media and getting published on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)! Can we get 100 media hits on GPE between now the end of June? Use our action sheet and companion action alert on this topic to help you along.

QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY

House Resolution 225 on GPE. Has your representative cosponsored H.Res.225 in support of the Global Partnership for Education? This is a great request for a representative who signed onto the House global education letter. Check out the cosponsor list and consider contacting your House member if they are not yet on the resolution.

The Reach Every Mother and Child Act. Just last week, Sens. Collins (R-ME) and Coons (D-DE) introduced the Reach Every Mother and Child Act. Read more about this exciting development via the recently issued press release discussing the legislation and its intention to end preventable mother and child deaths.

100 Days, 100 Senators, 50 States. With a new Congress and Administration in Washington this year, RESULTS wasn’t waiting around. As policymakers started their first 100 days in office, our movement of advocates set out to meet with members of Congress across the country and across the political spectrum. Coast to coast, RESULTS advocates delivered, helping Congress set a new agenda against poverty. RESULTS secured more than 300 meetings with Congress, including reaching all 100 Senate offices in 100 days. Read more on our blog.

U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update

QUICK ACTION Take the anti-oppression survey today

Got Twenty Minutes? Use media to push for bold action on housing and child poverty

The House and Senate are both back in DC work and negotiations over an economic recovery package continue. New research demonstrates why making the recent changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit permanent must be included in any recovery legislation this year.

We know that the recent CTC expansion will cut child poverty by 45 percent nationally over the next year. No child should have to grow up in poverty so that statistic alone is reason enough to make it permanent. Now, researchers at Columbia University’s Center for Poverty and Social Policy have concluded that expanding the CTC is also good economics. For the $100 billion the expansion would cost per year, society would reap approximately $800 billion in benefits through increased earning potential of child beneficiaries, decreased neo-natal mortality, increased child health and longevity, and reductions in crime, among others.

And lest we forget, Columbia researchers earlier this year estimated that if we combine the CTC expansion with expanding rental assistance to all eligible renters via Housing Choice Vouchers, we can cut child poverty by even more.

For the last several years, we’ve spent a lot of time trying to prevent bad things from happening. Now, we have the opportunity to make great progress forward. We must take advantage of this opportunity while we have it.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to submit your own letters to the editor telling Congress to expand rental assistance and make the 2021 EITC and CTC improvements permanent. We want to generate 100 media pieces on housing and the EITC/CTC by July 1. The May U.S. Poverty Action has template letters on housing and the EITC/CTC, as well as links to state data you can use to personalize and submit them today. For letters about the CTC, there is new research on the CTC impact by congressional district (not all), including the total number of children who will receive the payments in every congressional district. If you don’t know how to send a letter directly to your local paper, send separate letters on housing and the tax credits directly from our website. Once published, leverage your media by forwarding it to your members of Congress and let RESULTS know about your success.

Got Fifteen Minutes? Recent eviction ruling highlights need for long-term rental assistance

Last week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its authority when it issued a moratorium on evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ruling would vacate the federal eviction protection. The Department of Justice is appealing the decision and the court has granted a stay for the time being, allowing the order to remain in effect while the legal case continues.

“There are now numerous conflicting court rulings at the district court level, with several judges ruling in favor of the moratorium and several ruling against it,” Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said on Twitter. “While this latest ruling is written more starkly than previous ones, it likely has equally limited application impacting only the plaintiffs who brought the case or, at most, renters in the district court’s jurisdiction.”

While CDC moratorium is still in place nationally, efforts to enforce would be complicated given conflicting court rulings on its applicability to states. The moratorium expires June 30 and remains to be seen whether this will be extended again. But these ongoing efforts to defeat the CDC moratorium is a bellwether for how massive evictions will take place when assistance funds run out and the moratorium expires, putting many at risk of homelessness and evictions and highlighting the need for Congress to address affordability long-term.

TAKE ACTION: Take fifteen twenty minutes to follow up from recent lobby meetings by contacting housing aides, asking if their bosses have taken action on expanding rental assistance to all eligible renters. Make sure they have our housing leave behind sheet. If they don’t have an update on your requests, ask when you can follow up again. If you need help, please contact RESULTS staff for assistance. Also, if you’ve had a recent lobby meeting, please complete the RESULTS Lobby Report Form to let us know the details.

QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY

Guidance on emergency rental assistance released. With the second allocation of Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA), the U.S. Treasury and the White House have published new guidance and a summary with major program improvements to ensure these critical resources reach the lowest-income and most marginalized people in need. RESULTS supports ensuring equitable distribution and access to rental and homeowner assistance funds but also supports long-term solutions to addressing the affordable housing crisis.

CTC week of action in the House. The House of Representatives is having a week of action this week in support of the Child Tax Credit. Watch the event held yesterday on how expanding the credit helps families. Be sure to follow up from your recent lobby meetings to reiterate our request to make the 2021 EITC and CTC improvement permanent.

A permanent Child Tax Credit must include immigrant families. All children who need support should be eligible for the new Child Tax Credit benefits. Poverty does not care if you have a Social Security Number. Restoring the CTC for the one million children who do not have SSNs but are eligible for Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs) would provide low-income families with much-needed support.

House Committee nutrition hearing tomorrow. The House Education and Labor Committee is meeting tomorrow, May 12 at Noon ET to discuss the policies and priorities of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). FNS overseas the nation’s anti-hunger programs including SNAP and child nutrition programs. Related, please read the RESULTS Blog for more info on this year’s child nutrition reauthorization.

RESULTS Announcements

Last day to complete A/O survey. Today is the last day to complete our anti-oppression and equity survey. Again, your input is critical to identifying areas of growth in our anti-oppression work and by completing the survey you will help shape the future of our work. If you haven’t done so, please take the survey today.

Register for the International Conference. The 2021 RESULTS International Conference, a virtual event June 12-13, will be here before you know it. The Conference promises a fabulous agenda with amazing speakers such as Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia. Our annual lobby effort, which will be held in conjunction with the Conference as Advocacy Week (June 14-18), is a powerful experience in influencing policy and building relationships with your congressional offices. Don’t miss our biggest event of the year – register today!

Join our spring peer-to-peer fundraising. The Spring Peer-to-Peer Online Fundraising Campaign is happening now through May 21. Join with other advocates across the country to raise critical funds for the next phase of our work. Create your own fundraising page or donate to support this campaign  In recognition of RESULTS and RESULTS volunteers’ work around tuberculosis, a generous donor has offered to match the first $5,000 raised during the campaign! For more information or any questions, contact Mea Geizhals at [email protected] or (202) 783-4800 x.131.

Join Grassroots Board Quarterly Call-in this Thursday. RESULTS Grassroots Board members are volunteers just like you, representing your interests on the RESULTS Board. If you want to share your ideas or ask them questions, please join their quarterly online “town hall” this Thursday, May 13 at 9:00 pm ET. Join at https://tinyurl.com/QuarterlyGR. You can also dial in to (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 96338593060, passcode 1980.

Join public housing discussion with author Ben Austen. This Thursday, May 13 at 8:00 pm ET, the RESULTS St. Louis (U.S. Poverty) group will host a discussion with Ben Austen, author of High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and Fate of American Public Housing. The book chronicles the history and stories of tenants at the Cabrini-Green public housing development in Chicago and the impact of political decisions on their lives and the city. Register for the webinar today.

Join op-ed training next Tuesday. Want to up your media game? Join us for the RESULTS Op-eds 101 training webinar. Special guest Gerry Fairbrother, RESULTS volunteer and op-ed columnist at the Santa Fe New Mexican will share her insights for drafting and publishing your own op-ed on the issues you care about. This is a great opportunity to learn from an advocate with experience writing op-eds about poverty. The webinar is Tuesday, May 18 at 9:00 pm ET. Register for the webinar today.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are in DC this week. Submit your remote meeting requests today.

Thursday, May 13: Discussion of High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and Fate of American Public Housing, 8:00 pm ET. Guest: author Ben Austen. This event is hosted by RESULTS St. Louis (U.S. Poverty). Register here.

Thursday, May 13: Quarterly Call-in with Grassroots Board Members, 9:00 pm ET. Join at https://tinyurl.com/QuarterlyGR. You can also dial in to (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 96338593060, passcode 1980.

Tuesday, May 18: RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Webinar, 1:00 pm or 8:00 pm ET. Contact Jos Linn at [email protected] for information on how to join.

Tuesday, May 18: RESULTS Op-ed 101 training, 9:00 pm ET. Guest speaker: Gerry Fairbrother of RESULTS Santa Fe. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Wednesday, May 19: Action Network Monthly Webinar, 8:30 pm ET. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Thursday, May 20. U.S. Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 8:00 pm ET. Focus: answering your questions on our housing and tax campaigns. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Thursday, May 20. Global Poverty Monthly Policy Forum, 9:00 pm ET. Focus: answering your questions on our global education and nutrition campaigns. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Monday, May 24: RESULTS Global Poverty Free Agent Webinar, 7:00 pm ET. Contact Lisa Marchal at [email protected] for information on how to join.

Wednesday, May 26: Motivational Interviewing Skills for Policy Advocacy, 8:00 pm ET. Webinar will run 90 minutes. Register today. Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Saturday, June 5: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Register today.  Registration ends one hour prior to the webinar.

Saturday June 12 and Sunday, June 13: 2021 RESULTS International Conference. Registration is open. Advocacy Week will be June 14-18 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.