RESULTS Weekly Update May 24, 2022

Quote of the Week

“Preventing maternal and childhood malnutrition worldwide could save 5 million needless child deaths annually.”

– RESULTS Dallas volunteer Marty White in a May 15 letter to the editor in The Dallas Morning News

Table of Contents

• Kick off Advocacy Month with meetings during next week’s recess
• Make the most of Advocacy Month with our advocacy resources
• Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty
• Announcements
• Upcoming Events
• Grassroots Resources

Kick off Advocacy Month with meetings during next week’s recess

Advocacy Month at RESULTS starts next week! This May 30-July 8 lobbying push puts you – our volunteers – in the driver’s seat. The destination? A world with less child poverty, less infectious disease, and less child malnutrition.

Why kick it off next week? Because members of Congress will be home all week for the Memorial Day recess. This gives you a terrific opportunity to meet with them face-to-face, perhaps for the first time in over two years. And the timing could not be more important. On our U.S. issues, leaders in the Senate are working on a new budget reconciliation bill they hope to pass this summer. It is likely to include provisions on climate change and deficit reduction. Will it also address the needs of children and families? That is certainly our goal. Specifically, to make sure any bill extends an enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), which cut child poverty by 30 percent last year.

Meetings during the recess will also help you put our global poverty requests front and center. Specifically, the need for Congress to back the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and take action on global nutrition.

The Memorial Day recess is also an opportunity to talk to members of Congress at public events. Lawmakers may hold town halls or take part in Memorial Day celebrations. Attend these events and ask them their position on these issues.

During Advocacy Month, push to meet with members of Congress face-to-face, either in-person or virtually. With election season already ramping up, Advocacy Month may be our best opportunity to meet with them in-person before November.

If you cannot get a face-to-face meeting next week, ask for one sometime during Advocacy Month. Request a face-to-face meeting during June, during the July 4 recess (July 4-8), or, if your state has delegates traveling to DC next month, during our Capitol Hill Lobby Day on June 14.

TAKE ACTION: Kick off Advocacy Month by requesting face-to-face meetings during the Memorial Day recess (May 30-June 3). Here are the policy priorities:

• U.S. Poverty: Prioritize meeting with Democratic Senate offices next week to talk about the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Tell them how the CTC, including the monthly payments, can help families struggling with higher costs from inflation. Ask them to tell Senate leadership that any reconciliation bill must include an extension of the CTC with permanent full refundability and monthly payment option.
• Global Poverty: Ask your legislators to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as we approach the Seventh Replenishment conference later this year. Also, ask senators to co-sponsor the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act (S.2956) and pass it now (just as the House did).
• Resources: See the resources section below for information to help you have a powerful Advocacy Month!

If you have question, please contact RESULTS staff for help.

Make the most of Advocacy Month with our advocacy resources

Advocacy Month is your opportunity to significantly impact on child poverty, global health, and child nutrition. For many volunteers, this is their first chance at lobbying members of Congress. For others, it’s the chance to meet with them in-person for the first time in several years. Either way, this is your chance to have a transformative experience. The guide below shows you how to make the most of Advocacy Month.

1. Register for the RESULTS International Conference. What better way to get pumped up for lobby meetings than attending the 2022 RESULTS International Conference? Join hundreds of your fellow advocates June 4-5 to get informed, inspired, and energized. See the impressive list of speakers we have lined up on this year’s agenda. Then sign up to be a part of it all. The deadline to register is June 2. Register today!
2. Request lobby meetings now. Advocacy Month runs May 30-July 8. Start requesting face-to-face meetings with your senators and representatives now. Congress is on recess next week, so see if you can get a meeting with your senators and representatives as a group. Also, please coordinate meetings with any delegates from your state coming to Washington, DC in mid-June.
3. Attend your state lobby prep meeting. Lobby prep calls help you plan your upcoming lobby meetings with RESULTS staff. They are invaluable in helping you strategize and coordinate your meetings. RESULTS has already begun contacting volunteers in your state to schedule a prep call. Please plan to attend. If you have questions, please contact RESULTS Policy Associate Katie Fleischer.
4. Prepare for meetings using our new resources. Visit our Advocacy Month resources page for background on our issues, laser talks for speaking powerfully, and lobbying materials to use in meetings. Be sure to also review the May National Webinar recording and slides for information on our Advocacy Month requests.
5. Write letters. A great way to bolster your voice in lobby meetings is to deliver letters from constituents about the issues you are talking about. Ask people you know – action networks, friends, family, book clubs, community groups – to write letters to help you in your Advocacy Month lobby meetings. Our May Action Sheets are an easy guide to writing powerful letters on the Child Tax Credit and global nutrition.
6. Attend lobby prep office hours this Thursday. If you have more questions about our U.S. and global poverty policy requests, bring them to our Policy Office Hour this Thursday, May 26 at 12:30 pm ET (click this link to join). You can also listen to the recordings from last week’s U.S. and Global Poverty Policy Forums.
7. Ask for help. RESULTS staff is here to support you in having a great Advocacy Month. If you need help with anything – scheduling meetings, understanding requests, getting a pep talk – please contact us. We are here to help.

Quick News on U.S. and Global Poverty

Media hooks of the week. To help you in your media advocacy, here are suggested media “hooks” this week to use in letters to the editor:

• U.S. Poverty: A new paper from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that cash payments to families with children – such as the CTC monthly payments in 2021 – have a profound impact on poverty and child well-being. This is yet another reason Congress must extend the CTC as soon as possible.
• Global Poverty: Operation Fly Formula is already helping get baby formula to those most in need here in the U.S. It’s proof that when we put our attention and resources toward a problem, we can solve it. It is time we put a similar kind of attention and resources behind ensuring that all children around the world have access to good nutrition. See more in our May Global Poverty Action.

Your FY23 appropriations work finishes in the Senate. You advocated diligently so that our global poverty priorities can take center stage during the FY23 appropriations process, and we’re grateful for your work. So many of you directly submitted FY23 global campaigns funding requests to your congressional offices, asking that offices forward those funding requests to the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee (SFOPS) of Appropriations. More than that, you gathered many signatures on “Dear Colleague” sign-on letters, most recently in the Senate. You helped secure 35 signatures on the Senate global maternal and child health/nutrition letter, 30 signatures on the Senate global tuberculosis letter, and 36 signatures on the Senate letter supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Great work! Full details can be found on the RESULTS blog.

Welcome, David Plasterer! We are thrilled to announce that David Plasterer has joined RESULTS as our new Senior Associate for US Poverty Policy. He will support RESULTS’ policy priorities focused on reducing child poverty in the U.S. and supporting low-wage workers through tax policy and nutrition assistance. David is the co-group leader for the RESULTS Indianapolis U.S. Poverty group. He comes to us from the State of Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, where he was a Grant Manager for victim services agencies. He came to know RESULTS through his previous work at Fathers and Families Center (FFC), a nonprofit which serves low-income fathers in Indianapolis. He met RESULTS Board Member Maxine Thomas at an FFC event and soon began volunteering with the Indy group. He is a graduate of Indiana University and his wife Kari and he are the proud parents of soon to be four children. Welcome, David!

Announcements

Register for the final Diversity and Inclusion 101 training tomorrow. Join our work to dismantle systems of oppression and help reach the goal of having all RESULTS volunteers attend our “Diversity and Inclusion 101” training this year. The training is tomorrow, Wednesday, May 25 at 8:30 pm ET. This is the last session this spring and seating is limited, so please register today.

Join Advocacy Month Office Hour on Thursday. If you have questions about our U.S. and global poverty asks for Advocacy Month, drop in this Thursday, May 26 at 12:30 pm ET to ask RESULTS policy staff for help. Simply join; no registration required. Also, if you missed our Monthly Policy Forums last week, listen to the recordings to hear staff answer frequent questions about our current requests.

Health disparities forum recording available. If you missed last weekend’s Health Disparities and COVID-19: Addressing Inequalities Revealed and Worsened by The Pandemic” hosted by the RESULTS Washington, DC and Maryland groups, you n watch the recording online. It was an excellent discussion on how COVID-19 pandemic has shed light into health inequality across the globe and exacerbated health disparities.

Upcoming Events

Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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

Wednesday, May 25: Diversity and Inclusion 101 training, 8:30 pm ET. Register here.

Thursday, May 26: Advocacy Month Lobbying Prep Office Hour, 12:30 pm ET. Simply join; no registration required.

Monday, May 30: Memorial Day holiday. All RESULTS offices closed.

RESULTS Advocacy Month, May 30 – July 8. Learn more on our website.

Saturday, June 4-Sunday, June 5: RESULTS International Conference. Keynote speaker: Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker. Register today! Also check out our resources for the companion Advocacy Month.

Thursday, June 9: Global Allies webinar with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, 8:30 pm ET. Register today.

Grassroots Resources

Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.

Find actions and volunteer resources on our Volunteers Hub, including our anti-oppression resources. To join the RESULTS listserv for more RESULTS conversation, send an email to [email protected].

Remember to please report your recent advocacy successes in lobby meetings, media, and outreach activities. Also, use our Volunteer Information Form to add or edit volunteer info and to sign up for updates and alerts.

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.