U.S. Poverty Weekly Update January 15, 2019
Quote of the Week
“The new Congress is beginning in January and we can help guide them to deal with what matters to us. With our calls, emails and visits, they learn about important issues and initiatives. As a volunteer with RESULTS (results.org), I will be working on this with the goal of ending hunger and poverty in our country and our world.”
– RESULTS Snohomish, WA volunteer Willie Dickerson in a January 3 letter to the editor in the Eugene Weekly (OR)
Got Two Minutes? Submit Your Request for a Face-to-Face Meeting in January or February
Congress is scheduled to take its first recess of the year next week. This is a great opportunity to Set the Agenda with the new Congress. Will they prioritize funding for low-income families who need housing? Will they expand tax credits for working families, so they can afford a place to live, pay their bills, and put food on the table? These are issues Congress should be addressing right now, but they won’t unless you demand it. Get on their schedule now and set the agenda for an America that leaves no one behind.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to the Set the Agenda by requesting face-to-face meetings with your members of Congress. Congress is scheduled to be on recess January 21-25 and February 18-22. Use our updated meeting request (online or Word doc) to request a face-to-face meeting with them during those weeks. If you cannot get a meeting in January or February, ask for the first available date and then meet with their local staff in the meantime. Once you get a meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson for coaching on the specifics you should discuss and be sure to read over our new lobby leave-behinds and plan to take copies with you (look under “I need lobbying materials”). After you’ve had your meeting, please let us know what happened in our Lobby Report Form.
Remember, these meetings are great experience for new advocates, so invite them to help plan and attend your upcoming meetings.
Got Ten Minutes? Schedule Your Leadership and Planning Meeting
We are half-way through January – has your group scheduled its leadership and planning meeting for this month? These meetings will help you set the tone for having a strong, productive group in 2019. Outlining and choosing roles (see more below) will ensure that everyone feels a part of the group and is sharing leadership. In addition, articulating your Set the Agenda goals for the next four months (January through April) will help us achieve what we need to actually set the agenda. Here are our goals as an organization for the campaign:
- Each group meets with each congressional office that they cover (two Senate offices and at least one House office)
- This helps set the agenda because each congressional office that you cover will hear about the importance of housing and tax in the fight against poverty
- Each group has at least one face-to-face meeting with their members of Congress
- This helps set the agenda because when members of Congress see you in-person, they get to know you and your message, thus building the relationships you need to succeed
- Each group brings at least one new person to your local lobby meetings
- This helps set the agenda because it strengthens your group and your message to lawmakers and shows new people – who are vital to this movement – that their voices do matter
To help inspire you, be sure to review the amazing things you did in 2018 to create the political will to end poverty.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to schedule a date and time in January to have your 2019 RESULTS Leadership and Planning meeting. You can find the planning materials on our Outreach and Planning page (under “My group wants to make our plans”). Please be sure to have the 2019 Group Planning Guide with you as you meet, as it will help facilitate your discussion. When you’re done, please submit your completed plan online no later than January 31. If you have questions, please contact Jos Linn for assistance.
Got Twenty Minutes? Have a Good Discussion about Roles at Your Planning Meeting
How you interact with your RESULTS group and wider community is perhaps the most important part of your advocacy. Everything you do with RESULTS – your lobbying, your writing, your calling, your recruiting – flows out from who you are and how you feel as a volunteer. And every volunteer knows that if we want to be successful in ending poverty, we cannot do it alone. We need each other. That’s why RESULTS is a group-based organization and why we encourage you to focus your discussion around the issue of group roles in your leadership and planning meetings this month. Who will co-lead your group? Who will be responsible for connecting with congressional offices? Who will coordinate recruiting new people? Talk all this out this month. When people know what they can do, and what they can’t do, they get inspired. So, take time now to articulate what your group will look like this year. That will go a long way in making you a powerful voice for the end of poverty all year long.
TAKE ACTION: Take at least twenty minutes to talk about group roles in your 2019 RESULTS Leadership and Planning meetings this month. Please set your meeting soon so you can submit your group’s online plan by January 31. Use our planning materials on the Outreach and Planning page (under “My group wants to make our plans”), including a guide on the various roles group members can take on, to help get the conversation started. Please submit your completed plan online no later than January 31. If you have questions, please contact Jos Linn for assistance.
Quick News
Join Webinar Today on How Shutdown Is Impacting Housing (4:00pm ET). The government shutdown is now in its fourth week with no signs of resolution. This has already caused immense hardship to the hundreds of thousands of workers who have furloughed or are working without pay. And soon it may get worse. To learn more, join a webinar today, January 15 at 4:00pm by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) on how the shutdown is impacting families needing housing assistance. Register here to attend. If you cannot make the webinar, see NLIHC’s interactive map on the shutdown’s impact.
Urge Aides to Attend Housing Briefing on January 24. The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign, who spoke on our December 2018 National Webinar, will be hosting a congressional briefing next week to highlight the release of its national policy agenda “Within Reach”, which argues that “Congress must take long-overdue action to ensure that the most vulnerable low-income households can afford safe, decent homes.” The briefing is Thursday, January 24, 1:00-2:00pm ET at the Capitol Visitor Center, Room SVC 212-10. Reach out to your House and Senate housing aides, send them the briefing registration page, and urge them to attend.
Get Your Media Campaign Started Now. On the heels of two record years of media advocacy, get started on another banner year in 2019 by submitting a letter to the editor urging lawmakers to make ending poverty a priority in the new Congress.
Join Researching Your Member of Congress Webinar. Join Allison Gallaher, RESULTS Cleveland volunteer and Regional Coordinator, for her always popular webinar “Researching Your Members of Congress” webinar. This webinar is perfect for helping you learn more about your legislators as you work to get meetings this month. The webinar is Thursday, January 24 at 9:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/136610114 or call (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 136610114.
The REAL Change Fellowship 2019-20 Class Application is Open! Check out and share the online application for this emerging young leaders program.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, January 15, U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join at: https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, Meeting ID: 324 294 681.
Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. All RESULTS offices closed.
Monday, January 21-Friday, January 25: January Congressional Recess. Submit your meeting requests today.
Thursday, January 24: Researching Your Member of Congress webinar, 9:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/136610114 or call (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 136610114.
Thursday, January 31: Please submit your 2019 plans. Submit plans using our online plan summary form and find all planning materials on our Outreach and Planning page.
Tuesday, February 5: RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, 8:00 pm ET. Join at: https://results.zoom.us/j/873308801 or dial (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, Meeting ID: 873 308 801. Find recordings and slides from previous webinars on the National Webinars page.
Wednesday, February 6: RESULTS Action Network Community of Practice webinar, 8:00pm ET. To join, log in: https://results.zoom.us/j/427674133 or dial in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 427 674 133. You can also join our Facebook and e-mail groups.
Monday, February 18-Friday, February 22: February Congressional Recess. Submit your meeting requests today.
Saturday, July 13-Tuesday, July 16, 2019: RESULTS International Conference. Learn more at www.resultsconference.org and share your ideas for speakers and sessions by completing our IC suggestion form.
Find all events on the RESULTS Events Calendar.
Other Resources
Learn more about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
If you need materials (banners, pens, stickers, or business cards) for your local RESULTS work, fill out our Materials Order Form and we’ll send them to you.
If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail Steven McGee at [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports.
Please fill out the new RESULTS Lobby Report Form after any lobby meeting. In meetings that cover both U.S. and global poverty issues, please fill it out twice.
RESULTS Staff directory.