U.S. Poverty Weekly Update August 18, 2015
U.S. Poverty CampaignsWeekly Update | August 18, 2015
In This Week’s Update:
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Quick Action: Take the REUSLTS International Conference Survey
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Got Two Minutes? Give Us Your Preference(s) for the National Conference Call DateLast week, we held our first U.S. Poverty National Conference Call on a non-Saturday in a number of years. It was an experiment to see what people thought of doing a call on a different day and time. We want to know what you think of moving the call each month going forward. We ask that you consider the options below and e-mail your preferences to Jos Linn at [email protected]. Feel free to rank the choices in order of preference if you’re available for more than one. Here are the options we’re considering:
The deadline to respond is this Friday, August 21. We will make a decision as to the date of the September call early next week, so as to give you plenty of time to plan. We appreciate your patience and flexibility in this experiment and look forward to getting your feedback. |
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Got Ten Minutes? Have You Checked about a Town Hall This Week? (August Action)Congress is still on recess for another three weeks. Have you checked recently to see if your representatives or senators are going to be in your area during that time? Have you asked to meet with them or inquired about local town hall meetings? This is the time to do it – and not just once but repeatedly. If you checked about a meeting or town hall last week and nothing was scheduled, call and check again this week. Town hall meetings, in particular, are apt to being scheduled at the last minute so if nothing was scheduled last week, it does not mean that nothing will be scheduled this week. As with everything in advocacy work, vigilance is key. On last week’s U.S. Poverty National Conference Call, we discussed the importance of town hall meetings with MacKenzie Nicholson of Every Child Matters – New Hampshire. She provided some great advice for making the most of these events, including the importance of building relationships and what to do if your question does not get asked. You can hear all of MacKenzie’s tips in the recording of the call, as well as helpful information from ECM in the calls slides and summary, on our National Conference Calls page. The message in these meetings is simple – protect working families by saving key provisions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). Remember, these credits are a key part of addressing the wealth gap, especially the racial wealth gap. As noted in the report Beyond Broke: Why Closing the Racial Wealth Gap is a Priority for National Economic Security, co-authored by 2015 RESULTS International Conference speaker Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, making the EITC and CTC provisions permanent is a necessary component for reducing racial wealth inequality. Even the New York Times noted this week that the racial wealth gap is still very much a problem. While saving the EITC and CTC provisions alone will not solve the problem of wealth inequality in America, failing to save these provisions will certainly make it worse. Members of Congress and candidates need to know that. TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to contact your House and Senate schedulers to ask about meetings and town halls in your area during the remaining weeks of the August recess. See the August Action for tips and resources to help with preparing for town halls (see the July Action for a guide on setting up sit-down meetings). You can find scheduler names and contact information on our Elected Officials page). Also see our Conference Resources page, which has numerous resources from our recent International Conference to help you prepare for your meetings and events, including our latest EITC/CTC Lobby Request Sheet and state fact sheets on our issues. Also see our August National Conference Call resources on our National Conference Calls page to help with preparing for town halls. When you do schedule a meeting or plan to attend a town hall, please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]) (Meredith Dodson is on vacation this week) to set up a call to help you prepare. Also, please fill out the RESULTS Lobby Report Form to let us know how your meetings or town halls went. We sincerely thank MacKenzie Nicholson of ECM for appearing on our National Conference Call last week. We greatly appreciate what she shared and are grateful for all the work of Every Child Matters in raising awareness of issues that impact at-risk children and families. |
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Got Twenty Minutes? Practice the New RESULTS “Who We Are” Laser TalkFor those of you who attended the 2015 RESULTS International Conference, you know that we not only learned new ways to talk about our U.S. and Global Poverty issues, we also learned a new way to talk about RESULTS. RESULTS has been working with marketing experts the last few months to come up with a new RESULTS Laser Talk designed to inform and enlist new people in our cause. See for yourself: RESULTS is a movement of passionate, committed everyday people. Together we use our voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty. As volunteers, we receive training, support, and inspiration to become skilled advocates. In time, we learn to effectively advise policy makers, guiding them towards decisions that improve access to education, health, and economic opportunity. Together, we realize the incredible power we possess to use our voices to change the world. Volunteer advocates are backed by in-depth research, the legislative expertise of RESULTS staff, and detailed training. We learn to write letters, work with the media, and meet with members of Congress. With every hour of our time, we multiply our impact through advocacy — whether helping change policy to support millions of families putting food on the table or helping raise billions of dollars for the world’s most vulnerable children. RESULTS advocates are not paid lobbyists: we are volunteers. We come from every corner of the country and around the world. We prove that every voice has power – and that by bringing all of our voices together, we can change the world. This is a great new tool to educate lawmakers, the media, and members of your community about RESULTS. But it only works if you use it. As we’ve said many times, you the volunteers are the best advertisement RESULTS could ever hope for. You lead by example and that gets the attention of other people who want to know more. This new Laser Talk can help you when those conversations arise. It gives you a great way to talk about your work with RESULTS and why you do it. Please use it! TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to practice the new RESULTS “Who We Are” Laser Talk. Read it silently and then out loud several times to become familiar with the wording. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, ask a friend or family members to listen to you say it and then ask for their feedback. This will help you become more comfortable with the language and give you insight on how to personalize the talk for yourself. If you need someone to practice with, ask your Regional Coordinator or contact Jos Linn ([email protected]; (515) 288-3622) for coaching. We’re happy to help you make this Laser Talk your own. |
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Don’t Forget to Fill Out the Conference SurveyOn last week’s U.S. Poverty National Conference Call, we got to hear some informative and inspiring shares about the recent RESULTS International Conference. It was a great event that many rate as one of our best. But we want your opinion of the conference. If you have not done so already, please take a few minutes to fill out the 2015 RESULTS International Conference Survey. Your feedback is essential in helping us make our annual conference worthwhile. Let us know what you thought and how to make it even better next year. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for next year’s conference – June 25-28, 2016 in Washington, DC. |
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RESULTS Support and Outreach: Free Agents Today, Indiana Trip a Success, Look for Us in Tennessee Next MonthDon’t forget that the RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents will meet today, August 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET for their monthly call. If you live in an area with no active RESULTS U.S. Poverty group and would like support in taking action on our issues, please join us. RESULTS Grassroots Manager for U.S. Poverty Campaigns Jos Linn will host the call. You can join online at: http://fuze.me/27491886 or by phone at (201) 479-4595 and enter Meeting ID: 27491886. For more information, contact Jos at [email protected]. Jos also just returned from a very successful trip to Indiana. Last Wednesday, he met with members of the RESULTS Indianapolis U.S. Poverty group where they discussed the recent RESULTS Conference and plans moving ahead for the group locally. They are a passionate and inspiring bunch. Jos then traveled to Evansville, IN for several days of meetings. Jos met with several local homelessness groups (even training one on the EPIC Laser Talk), did an outreach meeting with the Evansville group that netted two new members, toured a local organization serving Evansville’s low-income population, and spoke on a local radio station about RESULTS. It was a wonderful few days and Jos is grateful to the Evansville group for providing him these opportunities to connect with the community. It is exciting to see Indiana quickly becoming a haven of strong and effective anti-poverty advocates. If you’d like to get involved with either the Indianapolis or Evansville groups, please contact Jos and he will get you connected. Jos is also working to start groups in Kansas City, MO and Milwaukee, WI in the coming months. Meanwhile, RESULTS U.S. Poverty Organizer Kristy Martino is traveling to Memphis, TN on September 3-4 to do outreach and is also working to start a new group in the Raleigh, NC area. If you know people in Memphis, Raleigh or other parts of the South, please contact Kristy at [email protected]. |
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Upcoming EventsGo to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events. Next Congressional Recesses: House: July 31 – September 7; Senate: August 8 – September 7. Request face-to-face meetings. Take the RESULTS Grassroots Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJYGK9B. RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Call, August 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join online at: http://fuze.me/27491886; or by phone at (201) 479-4595 and enter Meeting ID: 27491886. For more information, contact Jos Linn ([email protected]). RESULTS Introductory Call, August 28 at 1:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website. Nominate RESULTS Grassroots Board Member. We have an open Grassroots Board seat this year. To nominate a grassroots volunteer to the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please send the person’s name to [email protected] or call 202-783-4800 x152 no later than September 15. 2016 RESULTS International Conference, June 25-28, 2016 in Washington, DC. Save the dates! Find a list of the RESULTS U.S. Poverty staff with contact information on the RESULTS website. If you have a question, comment or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail them to RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Lydia Pendley at [email protected]. You can download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report at: https://results.org/about/annual_report/. |