U.S. Poverty Weekly Update April 4, 2017
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | April 4, 2017
“I told Paul Ryan what it’s like to be poor. I wonder if he remembers me now.”
—RESULTS Expert on Poverty Tianna Gaines-Turner in a April 4 op-ed in the Washington Post
- Got Two Minutes? Prepare for the U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday at 12:30 pm ET
- Got Ten Minutes? Set Up Meetings to Talk Tax Reform during April Recess (April Action)
- Got Twenty Minutes? Register for the RESULTS International Conference… And Bring a Friend
- It’s Go Time – Get Trained to Grow Our Movement
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Media Action: Keep the Pressure on Congress to Protect Anti-Poverty Programs
| Take Action! |
Got Two Minutes? Prepare for the U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday at 12:30 pm ET
Join us for the RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar this Saturday, April 8 at 12:30 pm ET. As we are now in the final stretch of the RESULTS First 100 Days Campaign, we’ll be looking back and looking ahead on this month’s webinar. We’ll acknowledge and celebrate the great work you did in helping stop the House health care bill and then look at the next big push we’ll be working on – tax reform. We are pleased to welcome Anna Chu, Vice President for Income Security and Education at the National Women's Law Center. She will help us better understand how tax reform could impact poverty in the U.S. and programs designed to alleviate it. We’ll also help you get ready for the April recess and hear from one of our Experts on Poverty as well as your fellow volunteers. Please plan to join us.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to remind your local RESULTS group about the RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Grassroots Webinar call this Saturday, April 8 at 12:30 pm ET. Coordinate with your group where you will meet for the call. The webinar is done through Fuze meeting. To join online, login at http://fuze.me/32255914 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32255914#. Plan to log in or call in no later than 12:25 pm ET. The slides for the April Webinar will be available later this week on our National Webinars page.
Got Ten Minutes? Set Up Meetings to Talk Tax Reform during April Recess (April Action)
With major health reform seemingly on pause, talk is now focused on tax reform. This is a major priority for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI-1) and President Trump. Sadly, their priorities seem to be just as misguided as they were during the health care fight – again lavishing big tax breaks on the wealthy and corporations while doing little for those in the middle and at the bottom. They will then use the loss of revenue to justify cuts to anti-poverty programs.
Starting this weekend, Congress will be on recess until after Easter. With Congress on recess, you can start letting them know Americans did not send them to Washington to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It also gives you the opportunity to highlight more effective tax policies such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, which lifts millions out of poverty each year. For example, a town hall question during the recess might look like this:
"There was a lot of attention on inequality in the last election, yet some in Washington are pushing forward tax breaks for the wealthy while many are struggling. Can you share about your priorities in tax reform – in particular, what you are doing to support tax policies for working families instead, like the Earned Income Tax Credit?"
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to contact your House and Senate schedulers and request face-to-face meetings with your members of Congress during the April recess. Also, ask them about any upcoming town halls or public events their bosses are doing (also look at https://townhallproject.com/). The April Action has tips for your meetings and town halls, as well as background on tax reform. This is a great way to finish your local First 100 Days Campaign. As you get these events in your calendar, please enter the meeting info into our First 100 Days Meeting Tracker: http://tinyurl.com/100daysmeetings and contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to set up a lobby prep call to get you ready. We’ll discuss the April Action and upcoming recess on this weekend’s National Webinar as well.
Got Twenty Minutes? Register for the RESULTS International Conference… And Bring a Friend
We are just three and a half months from the 2017 RESULTS International Conference. With a renewed sense of civic engagement sweeping the nation, this is a pivotal event for us and for the movement to end poverty. With multiple trainings on how to advocate and organize in your community, veteran and novice advocates alike will have a wealth of offerings to choose from. In addition, the end of July is likely to be a key time on our issues, with tax reform negotiations in full swing right before Congress goes on its month-long recess in August.
But most of all, what makes the RESULTS International Conference so important this year is you. If you asked previous Conference attendees from any year what their favorite part of the Conference is, they would say the people. They’ll tell you it is more like a family reunion than anything else. And with people from all corners of the world in attendance (and adding to the family), you will walk away a changed person. So what are you waiting for?
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes (or less) to register for the 2017 RESULTS International Conference, July 22-25 in Washington, DC. Go to www.resultsconference.org to submit your registration today. Right now, RESULTS volunteers can register for the amazing low price of only $150, which is available until May 15. Also, if you want to attend the Conference but need a little financial help getting there, RESULTS has a small scholarship fund available to help people with Conference expenses. Preference goes to existing, active volunteers. You can apply for scholarship assistance at www.tinyurl.com/RESULTSScholUS.
If you are still unsure, invite someone to go with you. Adding friend, relative, or colleague will only enhance your experience for the better. To help, check out our new International Conference video. Share it with people you know and invite them to join you in DC this summer. We also have a new brochure to help you get the word out. Help us make this the biggest and best Conference yet!
It’s Go Time – Get Trained to Grow Our Movement
Growing the movement to end poverty is a top priority for RESULTS this year. With so many new people looking for ways to engage in advocacy, we have a great opportunity to bring countless new advocates on board. We need your help with this effort. Doing outreach in your communities gives new people a personal, local connection, which makes it easier to get involved. But not everyone is comfortable with or versed in the best practices of outreach. To help you, RESULTS is hosting It’s Go Time: Tools and Practices for Engaging your Community in Advocacy. On this webinar, we’ll discuss why sharing our skills and doing outreach is important right now, outline the various kinds of outreach you can do, hear shares from groups who’ve done successful outreach this year, and share the resources RESULTS has available to help you. We’re hoping this webinar will become a series where you can receive on-going training on effective outreach. Please plan to join us. The webinar is next Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. To join, login at http://fuze.me/34577774 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID# 34577774#.
Quick News
Check Out Our New Media Map. RESUTS volunteers have done a fantastic job generating media about protecting anti-poverty programs. To date, you’ve had 135 media pieces published in 2017! To honor this feat, we’ve created a new Media Map documenting all the media you’ve gotten published (starting after the November election). Share it with your Local Action Networks and on social media to celebrate your success and effectiveness. Then add more to the list by submitting your own letter to the editor today.
Surprise, Surprise! Medicaid Recipients Already Work. In the wake of the health reform bill defeat last month, many governors are expected request “waivers” from the federal government to allow them to impose stricter work requirements on Medicaid recipients in their states. Sadly, this is once again an example of lawmakers pushing policy based on assumptions and myth rather than actual facts. Axios reports (from Kaiser Foundation data) that the majority of Medicaid recipients already work (59 percent). And of the people not working, only about 8 percent fall into the category of being able to work but can’t find it. As you follow up with congressional offices from your recent actions, be sure to share this information with them.
Tax Day: Advocates to Send Congress Many Happy Returns. This Tax Day, April 15, will include much more than tax submissions (actually due April 18 this year). Advocates will be out in full force pushing to more fairness in the tax code. These Tax Day Marches will include many groups, include the SAVE Coalition of which RESULTS is a member, which is pushing for a tax code that protects low-income and vulnerable people, invests in broadly shared prosperity that raises incomes across the economic spectrum, increases revenues from fair sources, and seeks responsible savings by targeting wasteful spending in the Pentagon and elsewhere. You can find local marches at http://taxmarch.org/.
Please Send in your Group Plans. We’re in the final stretch of our First 100 Days Campaign. Even at this late date, we still want your First 100 Days plan. We’ll use them to build on the next round of planning in May. Submit your plan to: www.tinyurl.com/First100Plan today.
Upcoming Events
Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events. Also, find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website.
Upcoming Congressional Recesses: House and Senate, April 10-21.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, Saturday, April 8 at 12:30 pm ET. Participate at http://fuze.me/32255914 or (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32255914#. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
RESULTS Webinar: It’s Go Time – Tools and Practices for Engaging your Community in Advocacy, Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. To join, login at http://fuze.me/34577774 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID# 34577774#.
RESULTS Introductory Call, Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an Intro Call on the RESULTS website.
RESULTS “New Jim Crow” Book Club Webinar, Thursday, April 13 at 8:00 pm ET. Join this conversation around the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (session #3). Please review chapters 4 and 5 of the book before the webinar. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/34326078 or dial in by phone (201) 479-4595 Meeting ID: 34326078#.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, Tuesday, April 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/32256018 or dial by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32256018#.
RESULTS International Conference, Saturday, July 22 – Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. Registration today!
If you have a question, comment or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail them to RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Vanessa Garcia at [email protected]. You can view the most recently published minutes from Board meetings on the RESULTS website, as well as download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report.