RESULTS Weekly Update September 30, 2025

Quote of the Week

“Instead of making it harder for families to get by and thrive, Congress should focus on ensuring that the fundamental human rights of housing, health care, food and public education are more readily available, not less.”

– Alexis Cortes, RESULTS Fellow from Tacoma, in her September 22 op-ed in the Elizabethtown (KY) News-Enterprise

(Is this newsletter too long; didn’t read (TL;DR) the whole thing? Scroll to the bottom for the most important points or the “TL;DR”)

National Webinar this Saturday!

Join us this Saturday, October 4, at 1:00 p.m. ET, for a motivating, celebratory National Webinar. The current class of RESULTS Fellows will graduate October 29. In advance of that, we’re highlighting Fellows past and present on this edition of the webinar. Former Fellow and current congressional staffer Freedom Richardson will share insights from Capitol Hill. And former Fellow and RESULTS St. Louis volunteer Sarah Miller will co-lead a media training. But they won’t be the only terrific voices you’ll hear. Make sure you’re registered and mark your calendar!

Facing a government shutdown, we continue undaunted

We recognize the frustration of watching as the country faces the prospect of a government shutdown tonight at midnight. While Congress has had months to finalize the FY26 budget (i.e., the appropriations bills), they are reaching the budget deadline with no deal. But our focus of priorities — and specificity of message — haven’t wavered. There will eventually be budgeting for FY26. Any budget must fully fund anti-poverty programs. And it must feature language stating that money appropriated will be spent efficiently as directed.

Transform your disappointment, your frustration, and even your outrage into action. Ask Congress to do their job. They must pass a budget — a budget that protects and supports everyday people.

Contact congressional offices and write your local media. Tell Congress to pass a final budget that addresses the following four points:

• Ensuring that agreed-upon funding is protected and spent as directed.
• Funding global health and education initiatives at the same funding level (or higher) as the House Appropriations Committee, with an emphasis on championing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in this replenishment year.
• Funding Housing Choice Vouchers and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) at levels that speak to current need.

As you reach out to Congress, you can also request that your legislators co-sponsor a new key piece of legislation. The Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 repeals SNAP cuts in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA). A companion sign-on letter is available for your local RESULTS group to sign onto to show local support for the bill.

As has been the case all year, the Action and Allies page is available to you with resources for lobbying materials and media support. If your writing— to the media and to Congress — needs support, our Action Center offers letter templates you can customize as well as action sheets for group action-taking and laser talks you can also adapt for a letter to the editor or a lobby meeting. Reach out to RESULTS staff for any help you might need.

Continuing the 600 Voices Media Campaign

Thirty publications (or more) in this last week! That’s the kind of quick pace you all are achieving during this fall’s 600 Voices Media Campaign. Frustrated by what’s going on? Want to inform your community about our issues and what’s at stake? Want to say thank you to a member of Congress who has pushed to protect anti-poverty programs during the budgeting process? For any of these and more, one of the best things you can do is write and seek publication in your local media. Think of the newspaper opinion pages as the community watercooler. It’s the place where your neighbors talk about what they care about. It’s a place where those who represent you can find out what’s on constituents’ minds. Through your personalized letters, through your powerful op-eds, and by informing and inspiring editors to write on a topic, you change the conversation.

If we keep up the current media pace, we will achieve the goal of our 600 Voices Media Campaign. The goal? To reach 600 published media pieces by December 31. Let’s keep going!

Passing a poverty-alleviating budget. Funding Housing Choice Vouchers and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) at the needed levels. Championing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Co-sponsoring and passing the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025. Choose your topic. Then use our letter templates and our EPIC laser talks to write and submit your next letter today. (And mark your calendars for a U.S. Poverty Policy Forum on Thursday, October 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Learn how we are preparing for final FY26 budget negotiations, with a focus on ensuring that protected and funded housing and nutrition programs. The forum will also inform your writing. Register today!)

The citizen voice is a core essential for democracy. If we don’t speak up for the end of poverty, someone or something else will fill the silence. Don’t give away your turn. Be part of the conversation. Will you write and submit a letter or op-ed today? And then will you support a fellow advocate to do the same?

TL;DR (too long; didn’t read): Plan to join the October National Webinar on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET; keep telling Congress to pass an anti-poverty budget utilizing our Action and Allies page resources; and help us meet our 600 Voices Media Campaign goal by December 31.

Quick Links: Action Center, Events Calendar, National Webinar recordings