RESULTS Weekly Update January 25, 2022

Quote of the Week

“Our country must do more to expand vaccine manufacturing and access. It is the right thing to do, and also in our own best interest.’’

– RESULTS Houston volunteer Claudia Morgan in a January 5 letter to the editor in the Houston Chronicle

Table of Contents

• Use recess to push lawmakers to act on poverty and housing insecurity
• Urge Congress to pass COVID-19 global health funding through media
• Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty
• Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

Use recess to push lawmakers to act on poverty and housing insecurity

Representatives and senators are on recess this week, making it the perfect opportunity to remind them that they have unfinished business back in Washington. Namely, they need to pass legislation now that reduces child poverty, supports low-wage workers, and helps renters afford safe, stable housing.

Reaching these goals is not hard. Extending the expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) passed in 2021 and expanding access to Housing Choice Vouchers will do the job. Doing these things – doing the right thing – is not a matter of ability, but a matter of will. Your advocacy this week, while lawmakers are home, can help create that will.

And time is of the essence. In 2021, we made great strides in reducing child poverty in America. According to Columbia University, the CTC monthly payments consistently kept 3-4 million children out of poverty for six straight months. And in a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), survey data showed that after just one monthly CTC payment, households saw a 26 percent drop in food insecurity. The numbers are astonishing. But just as astonishing is that, because the payments have stopped, the child poverty rate is estimated to jump from 12 to 17 percent this month.

Also, Congress cannot afford to ignore America’s housing crisis any longer. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has released a new report showing how the dwindling supply of affordable housing and increase in rent prices harm low-income communities of color. As this new CBPP blog post explains, “more investments are needed to address affordable housing shortages, community capacity challenges, and the legacy of racist housing policies.” Congress must pass legislation to restore housing investments that have been decimated over the past decades.

If there is anything American should be able to agree on is that no child or family or low-wage worker should have to live in poverty when we have the tools to prevent it. We must push both parties to come together to seize this moment, act boldly, and get the job done.

TAKE ACTION: While your representatives and senators are on recess back home this week, remind them that as families face higher costs for food, fuel, and childcare, as well as disruptions with school and work from COVID-19, we need them to act. Contact your members of Congress this week – use the recess to connect with their local office – urging them to take action now to reduce child poverty, support low-wage workers, and help people secure affordable housing. Urge them to pass a legislative package that extends the CTC and EITC and expands Housing Choice Vouchers. Our January 2022 U.S. Poverty Action and 2022 Laser Talks have talking points and background info to help. In addition, submit letters to the editor calling on your members of Congress by name to go back to DC and get this done. If you need help, please contact RESULTS staff for assistance.

Urge Congress to pass COVID-19 global health funding through media

We have a time-sensitive opportunity to help push for global, equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution through the power of your media work. In the coming few weeks, there is a chance we can get Congress and the Administration to include supplemental funding for global vaccine access when they pass the final fiscal year (FY) 2022 spending bills at some point before February 18 (when the current continuing resolution expires). RESULTS is working with coalition partners like CARE, Partners in Health, and others to set up congressional meetings with key members of Congress before the February 18 deadline to advocate on the need for $17 billion in supplemental funding. You can support this campaign by writing letters to the editor calling on your members of Congress and the Administration to support this supplemental funding.

TAKE ACTION: Use our online media action to submit a letter to the editor today urging Congress to pass supplemental funding to continue the fight against COVID-19. Personalize your letter, and if your member of Congress signed the December 2021 vaccines supplemental sign-on letter, please thank them in your letter. Then share this action with others in your group and network, encouraging them to submit their own personalized letters to the editor. If you want to learn more about the $17 billion supplemental, check out CARE’s fact sheet.

Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty

Introducing our “hooks of the week”. In a new feature to help you in your media advocacy, we are including media “hooks” in the Weekly Update you can use in letters to the editor. For our U.S. poverty issues, the expanded Child Tax Credit represents the right side of who we are; Congress must resume the monthly CTC payments now. For our global issues, as the Use these or other hooks, along with our online media tools, to finalize and submit your letters to the editor this week.

Participate in the RESULTS Housing Policy Survey. RESULTS is soliciting input from volunteers to help shape our housing campaign through a new housing policy survey. Your responses to this survey will in part guide and inform which federal housing policies RESULTS should prioritize, support and advance (and those which not to support) in the short-term and long-term and our level of engagement with different housing coalitions. Please contact Michael Santos at [email protected] if you have any questions. The survey will remain open until Friday, February 4.

New database on housing affordability. Check out Up For Growth’s Housing Market Affordability Indicators Dashboard. Searchable by metro areas across the U.S., it provides data from various sources to provide a more complete picture of the unique housing challenges for metro areas.

Tax filing season began yesterday. If you or someone you know received the Child Tax Credit payments in 2021, make sure to file your taxes this year. The payments only amounted to half of the 2021 CTC and the remaining half will be distributed as a tax refund on your 2021 taxes. For more information, see CLASPs CTC blog post. Also, many low-wage workers are eligible for the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit this year, but only if they file their taxes. Spread the word using CBPP’s 2022 EITC and CTC Outreach Toolkit.

Announcements

Register for the February National Webinar with Dorothy Brown. RESULTS is thrilled to announce that Dorothy Brown, law professor at Emory University School of Law and author of the book The Whiteness of Wealth, will be joining us for the U.S. Poverty portion of the February 5 National Webinar (1:00 pm ET). She will discuss how the tax code perpetuates racial disparities in America and how we can fix it. Register for this exciting webinar today! Note: our global poverty speaker will be announced soon.

Please complete your Group Roadmaps by January 31. Annual group planning is one of the keys to RESULTS advocacy successes over the years, helping volunteers articulate the key roles and goals for building the political will to end poverty. Your 2022 Roadmaps build on your 2021 plans and successes. The 2022 Group Roadmap resources are available on our Working with Your RESULTS Group page (under “Make your group plans”). Please complete your 2022 Roadmap by next Monday, January 31.

Join next Motivational Interviewing training tomorrow. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend Getting “unstuck” with your members of Congress using Motivational Interviewing techniques tomorrow, January 26 at 9:00 pm ET. If you previously registered for this training, you do NOT need to register again. You will receive the Zoom link in an email tomorrow afternoon. To watch previous sessions, you can click here to access the slides and recording. Come get started with us! If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here!

Register for our Diversity and Including 101 training. Following the anti-oppression audit conducted last spring, we are rolling out the first of our anti-oppression workshops for 2022. These 90-minute foundational workshops called “Diversity and Inclusion 101: Implicit Bias, Microaggressions and Understanding of Systemic Racism and Oppression” will be led by RESULTS volunteer advocate Dr. Christina B. Gunther, Ph.D. We have multiple offerings of the training over the next few months, the first of which is Saturday, February 5 at 3:00 pm ET following the National Webinar (register here). Seating is limited to 40 participants, so be sure to register as soon as you can! Learn more about the workshop and additional offering dates on the RESULTS Blog.

Last call to report your advocacy actions for 2021! If you have outstanding lobby meetings, published media, or community outreach from 2021 that you have yet to report, please let us know about these exciting successes ASAP.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are on recess this week.

Unless otherwise noted, registration ends one hour prior to the start of all webinars and trainings.

Tuesday, January 25: At the Intersection of Global Health and Climate Change. 8:30 pm ET. Hosted by NPCA affiliate groups RPCVs for Environmental Action and Global Allies Program: Partners Ending Poverty with RESULTS. Register here. All welcome.

Wednesday, January 26: Motivational Interviewing Techniques, 9:00 pm ET. Register today.

Saturday, February 5: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Register today.

Saturday, February 5: Diversity and Inclusion 101: Implicit Bias, Microaggressions and Understanding of Systemic Racism and Oppression, 3:00 pm ET. This workshop is a foundational 90-minute workshop for all advocates in the RESULTS network. Register today.

Thursday, February 10: Global Allies Program for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, 8:30 pm ET. Register today.

Thursday, February 10: Quarterly Call-in with Grassroots Board Members, 9:00 pm ET. Join via Zoom or by phone at (301) 715-8592, meeting ID 922 0921 5298, passcode 985046.

Saturday, February 26: Back to Our Roots – Connecting Policy to the BIPOC Community in a Historical Context, 12:00-4:00 pm ET. More information soon.

Weekend of June 4. RESULTS International Conference. Keynote speaker: Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker. More information soon on this virtual event.

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 Volunteers Hub, 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.