U.S. Poverty Weekly Update April 15, 2014

April 15, 2014

Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice

New and Urgent in This Week's Update (Two-Ten-Twenty Actions)

Latest from Washington, DC

Organizational Updates

Got Two Minutes? Register for the RESULTS International Conference – Last Day for Early Bird Discount!

Today is Tax Day and like every April 15, people hope that filing their taxes will result in a little extra cash. Well, we have another way for you to get some extra cash, but you’d better act fast. Today is the very last day to register for the 2014 RESULTS International Conference at the discounted rate of $165. After today, the registration rate goes up to $240. Why not save yourself $75 by simply registering today at: https://results.org/events/IC_2014/. You can use that extra cash to take your spouse on a nice date, donate it to your favorite charity, use it to offset your hotel or transportation to the conference, or save it for a rainy day. Don’t miss out – Register today!

Also, today is also the deadline to apply for the REAL Change Fellowship. This is a great opportunity for people 18 and 28 years old to have a great experience in DC and make a difference back home. Apply today at https://results.org/realchange.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes and register for the RESULTS International Conference TODAY! Don’t miss out on the last day of the Early Bird registration discount of $165. We have a great line-up planned for this year’s conference, with NPR’s Tavis Smiley, Children Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, World Bank President Jim Kim, and many more. You can see a full agenda on our International Conference page as a pdf and Word document. Also, if you’re 18-28 years old and want to help end poverty in the U.S. and around the world, apply for our REAL Change Fellowship. The deadline to apply is also today.

Got Ten Minutes? Finalize the Details for Your April 29 Tavis Smiley Event (April Action)

On Tuesday, April 29, RESULTS is hosting a national “virtual town hall” with National Public Radio host and anti-poverty advocate Tavis Smiley! Mr. Smiley is the host of the late-night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS, as well as The Tavis Smiley Show and Smiley & West both from Public Radio International (PRI. He is also the author of 16 books, including his latest New York Times best-seller  The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto, co-authored with Dr. Cornell West. His forthcoming text to be published in September 2014 is Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year.

This event, similar to the event we did in 2012 with author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich, is a great opportunity for outreach. Mr. Smiley’s national reputation is a great draw for new people you want to get involved with your local RESULTS group. We have provided you a number of resources on our Tavis Smiley Outreach Event page to help you get ready. With only two weeks to go, let’s make the most of this opportunity.

IMPORTANT: This event is a live webinar so please be sure to choose a venue with internet access for your local event. To receive the webinar access information, one person from your group must register for the event at: https://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=3826&seid=12. We urge groups to participate via webinar if at all possible; we will have a conference call option available (details soon) but it requires an additional cost for each person/site calling in.

TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to finalize plans for your local events on April 29. Note: this event will be a webinar so please choose a venue with internet access, if possible (we will have an audio only option as well). Here are just a few of the resources to help you get ready from our Tavis Smiley Outreach Event page:

If you need help brainstorming ideas or planning for your event, please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]) or Meredith Dodson ([email protected]).

Got Twenty Minutes? Keep Inviting People to the April 29 Event with Tavis Smiley (April Action)

We have two weeks until the RESULTS Virtual Town Hall with Tavis Smiley. As mentioned above, this event is not only designed to inspire and inform current RESULTS volunteers, but also entice new people to get involved. Getting new RESULTS volunteers for your local groups is essential in keeping your groups strong and healthy. New voices bring new energy, new insights, and new opportunities to make a difference. The Tavis Smiley event is tailor-made for your group to have a successful outreach event. Much of the planning is taken care of. All you need do is find a location, have materials (see above), and invite people to come.

It’s this last thing that is so important – personally inviting people to attend your event. While we have lots of resources to help you on our Outreach Event page, they need your personal touch to work. Mass e-mails and Facebook invitations are great at getting the word out to a broader audience, but they may only net you a few people at best. It is when you take the time to invite someone personally to your event will you find the best success.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to invite guests for your April 29 outreach event. Look at the list of possible invitees and start contacting them. The April Action has helpful information and tips for making your outreach event a success. In addition, our Tavis Smiley Outreach Event page has lots of resources to help you invite people to your local event on April 29, including outreach flyers, an invitation laser talk, sample e-mail invitation, and more. If you have questions about inviting people to your April 29 event, please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]) or Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) for assistance. Good luck!

Meet Face-to-Face with Representatives and Senators

Congress is on recess the next two weeks. RESULTS has a goal of meeting with every representative and at least one-third of senators where we have coverage. Right now, our U.S. Poverty volunteers cover approximately 100 representatives and 58 senators.  To date, you have had 19 meetings with 17 different representatives and 5 meeting with senators. This is a good start start but we need to kick it up a notch. Recesses like this are the best opportunity to meet with them face-to-face to talk about expanding economic mobility in America. Remember that we cannot create the political will to end poverty without these interactions.

TAKE ACTION: It’s not too late to meet face-to-face with your members of Congress during the April recess. Contact your House and Senate schedulers today (find contact info on our Elected Officials page) so you can get on their schedule as soon as possible. Use our downloadable meeting request letter or our online version to make your requests. Be sure to put in requests for all the representatives your group covers and both senators in your state. Also, please ask the scheduler about any public events or town halls your members of Congress may be holding during the recess and plan to attend to ask a question. You can find questions on our U.S. Poverty Town Hall Questions page. Also see our U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary for an overview of our 2014 issues.

Once you get a meeting or town hall scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) for individualized coaching on what issues and messages to use in your meeting. Also, plan to take a copy of our Economic Mobility and Early Childhood lobby request sheets to your meetings.

Join Free Agents and Media Calls Tonight, Intro Call Next Week

The RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents will be meeting tonight at 9:00 pm ET for their monthly support call. These calls are designed to support volunteers in areas where there is no active RESULTS U.S. Poverty group. On this month’s call, we’ll talk about actions you can take during the April recess and the Tavis Smiley event on April 29. If you live in an area with no RESULTS group, would like to connect with other volunteers, and get trained in taking action on our issues, please join us. To participate, dial (443) 453-0034 and enter passcode 703096.

Also this evening, the RESULTS Media Team will be holding their monthly support call at 8:00 pm ET. This group meets monthly to help volunteers who want to improve their media advocacy skills. This is a great opportunity to learn from seasoned advocates on how to make a difference using the media. To participate in the call, dial (712) 775-7300 and enter passcode 954747#.

Finally, if you are new to RESULTS or know someone who might like the work we do, plan to join our next RESULTS Introductory Call. These 30-45 minute calls provide a good overview of RESULTS and how you and others can get involved. Attendees have found these calls very helpful and has helped RESULTS gain valuable new volunteers in the work to end poverty. The next RESULTS Intro Call is Friday, April 25 at 1:00 pm ET. To register for this or another upcoming Intro Call, go to: https://results.org/take_action/become_a_results_activist/.

Quick News

House Passes Ryan Budget; Join Webinar on Thursday to Understand Its Impacts. Last week, the House passed its FY 2015 Budget Resolution, nicknamed the “Ryan Budget” after House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI-1). The vote was 219-205. The budget would have devastating effects on anti-poverty programs; 69 percent of the cuts would come from programs helping low- to moderate-income Americans. The budget cuts SNAP, Medicaid, the EITC, and discretionary programs like Head Start and child care assistance, while also cutting taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations. To better understand the impacts of the Ryan Budget, our friends at the Coalition on Human Needs are hosting a webinar this Thursday, April 17 at 3:00 pm ET. The webinar will demonstrate how the Ryan Budget will affect communities and how you can push back against these repeated efforts to balance the budget on the backs of low-income Americans. Go to the CHN registration page to register for webinar today.

Join NWLC Webinar on Making a Difference in an Election Year. The National Women’s Law Center is hosting a webinar this month “ to look beyond the early learning community to look at tangible examples of what other communities have done to elevate their issues during elections.” The webinar will feature guest speakers who will share examples from their experience running advocacy campaigns and share the latest on what works, including successful online advocacy. This is a good opportunity to learn how you can make ending poverty part of the agenda during this year’s elections. The webinar is Thursday, April 24 at 2:00 pm ET. Go to the NWLC registration page to register today.

For updates on all our U.S. Poverty Campaigns, see our U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary page on the RESULTS website.

Fundraising Update – Friends & Family Website Now Open

Our Friends & Family fundraising website is up and ready for you to start your campaign and ask your loved ones to give to RESULTS! You can register your own personal fundraising site at http://tinyurl.com/2014RESULTSFriends This is an excellent way to engage your donors and action networks with our International Conference in June, whether or not you are able to attend in person. Contributions to RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund help us to make our conference a success as hundreds of our volunteers travel to Washington DC to speak out for people in poverty. 

The money raised from this campaign is some of the most valuable donations we receive! It pays for the excellent support you get from RESULTS staff to coach your group and give you up to date, accurate information for your vital advocacy work. It helps us put on a stellar International Conference in Washington DC to mobilize hundreds of activists to visit their congressional DC offices in person. It also helps us take on cutting edge, powerful issues not covered by other activist groups or foundation money.

The campaign lasts all throughout 2014, so you can participate when it works best for you! The online site makes it easy for you to ask your friends to give to RESULTS and track your donors. You can register yourself on this site in about 5 minutes. If you have questions, please contact Cindy Levin at [email protected].

Announcements

Give Feedback to Grassroots Board Members. The four RESULTS Grassroots Board Members (Heide Craig, Lydia Pendley, Ginnie Vogts, and Beth Wilson) would like to hear from you if you have questions or ideas about RESULTS and our work. Send your questions or suggestions to Heide at: [email protected].

RESULTS Activity Calendar

(See a complete calendar on the RESULTS website)

Upcoming Congressional Recesses: House and Senate: April 14-25. Request face-to-face meetings.

Tuesday, April 15: RESULTS Media Support Call, 8:00 pm ET. (712) 775-7399, passcode 954747#.

Tuesday, April 15: RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, 1:00 pm ET and 9:00 pm ET. (443) 453-0034, passcode 703096.

Saturday, April 26: RESULTS Southern California Regional Conference, 9:30 – 5:30 pm PT in Laguna Hills, CA. You can RSVP at our Facebook page or contact Jos Linn for more information ([email protected]).

Tuesday, April 29: RESULTS National Outreach Event with Tavis Smiley, 8:00 pm ET. Register for the webinar here. Find out more at our Tavis Smiley Outreach Event page.

Saturday, June 21 – Tuesday, June 24: RESULTS International Conference, Washington, DC. REGISTER TODAY!

RESULTS Contact Information

Main Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 466-1397, 1101 15th St NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005. If mailing a donation to our DC office, please address the envelope to the attention of Cynthia Stancil.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff:

The RESULTS U.S. Poverty Update is sent out every Tuesday via email to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our U.S. poverty campaigns.

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