U.S. Poverty Weekly Update July 10, 2018

U.S. Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | July 10, 2018

“Medicaid and SNAP… provide ladders out of poverty for people who find themselves in sudden difficulties like the those brought on by economic down turns or job loss.”

– RESULTS Snohomish, WA volunteer Willie Dickerson in a June 18 letter to the editor in the Missoulian (MT)

Got Two Minutes? Confirm and Log Your Upcoming Lobby Meetings

We are only one week from Advocacy Day – one of the most important days of the year for RESULTS. This is when hundreds of advocates from around world march up Capitol Hill to tell Congress to end poverty now. They will have 200-300 meetings with members of Congress and their staff discussing practical solutions to poverty in the U.S. and around the world.

If you will be in DC, hopefully you already have your meetings set up. If so, please make sure to log each meeting in our Meeting Tracker form (you should fill this out for any lobby meeting you have, whether in DC or at home). This helps us keep track of all the meetings taking place and provide you support. You also want to confirm your meetings with your House and Senate offices. Sometimes congressional schedules can change so you want to make they still have you on their calendars. This will help reduce headaches when you get to DC.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes confirm your lobby meetings for Advocacy Day (July 17) at the RESULTS International Conference. Contact the aide(s) you are meeting with, or the scheduler if a face-to-face, to confirm the date, time and location of you meeting. Also, please make sure each of your meetings is in our Meeting Tracker form. If you have already filled out the meeting tracker and find out that your meeting has changed, please fill it out again with the new information.

Got Ten Minutes? Use SNAP and This Weekend’s Conference as Hooks for New Media (July Action)

Congress is now back in DC, busily working to finish up the 2018 farm bill. With the fall expected to be dominated by the Supreme Court vacancy fight, lawmakers are looking to get the farm bill done sooner rather than later. We could see Conference Committee members named next week, but the key negotiators will still be Sens. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), along with Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX-11), Collin Peterson (D-MN-7), and Paul Ryan (R-WI-1). They face a difficult task. As you know, the House and Senate versions of the farm bill are vastly difference when it comes to SNAP. As evidenced by the Senate debate when harmful amendments to SNAP were either tabled on the floor or behind the scenes, senators are not interested in making big changes to SNAP this year. If they hold that line, House leaders will either have to back down on their demands for new work requirements or risk not getting a Farm Bill passed this year. You can help them make the right choice.

TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to draft and submit one more letter to the editor urging your representatives and senators to protect SNAP in the final farm bill. Urge your members of Congress by name to reiterate their support for SNAP to farm bill negotiators. Read our updated RESULTS Blog post for guidance.

And remember, attending the RESULTS International Conference this weekend is a great hook for your letters. Our Communications Team has a new resource to get Conference-related LTEs published. Check it out!

Got Twenty Minutes? Get Your Action Networks Ready for Advocacy Day Next Tuesday (July Action)

As mentioned above, next Tuesday is Advocacy Day 2018! And it’s important to remember that Advocacy Day is a RESULTS-wide event, not just something for people who are in DC. Everyone has a role to play. While volunteers are meeting with congressional offices to talk about SNAP, they can also be delivering letters people at home have written about protecting food assistance for hungry Americans. That same day, volunteers at home and action network members can call congressional offices with the same message. Imagine what your representatives and senators will think when they learn that in addition to the meetings they did about protecting SNAP in the Farm Bill, they got dozens of letters and calls from constituents with the same message.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to get ready for Advocacy Day next Tuesday. You can start now by reaching out to your local action networks and:

1. Asking them to write letters to be hand-delivered in DC. Send them our one-page action sheet asking them to write a letter and how they can get them to you. If cannot get the original letters, ask if people can scan and e-mail them to you to print off before you leave.
2. Telling them to be ready for a Call-In on Advocacy Day. Next Tuesday morning, in lieu of the Weekly Update, RESULTS will send a call-in alert to everyone in our network. It will ask volunteers to make calls in support of SNAP. Alert your action networks to be on the lookout for an e-mail from you that day urging them to call. Then on Advocacy Day itself, forward the call-in alert to your action network ASAP. Note: if you can, please arrange for someone at home to forward the RESULTS action alert to your action networks next Tuesday. Advocacy Day in DC is quite busy so it’s better to let volunteers on Capitol Hill focus on their meetings while someone else helps contact the action networks back home.

Quick News

Donate to Conference Scholarship Fund. The International Conference Scholarship Fund helps cover the costs of registration, transportation, or lodging for those who wouldn’t be able to attend the RESULTS International Conference. Your tax-deductible gift will help make that possible. Donate now to help support a RESULTS advocate who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend! Funds not used this year will be held over for next year’s Conference.

Watch Parts of the RESULTS Conference Online. So everyone can have the experience of the 2018 RESULTS International Conference (not just those in DC), RESULTS will live stream portions of the Conference online. Go to our Conference website to find the sessions that will be livestreamed. Links to watch will be provided on that same page later this week.

Don’t Forget to Download the Conference App. Do you want to share comments and photos of the Conference, create your own conference session tracks, and access all the info you’ll need with a few swipes on your phone? Then download the 2018 Conference App here, or follow these instructions: 1) Search for an app in the App Store or in Google Play called: “Attendify – Network at Events” and download it; 2) Open the app and search for “RESULTS Conference”; and 3) sign up with your email address. For any questions, e-mail [email protected].  

Both Legislative Background Packets Now Available. Get an excellent overview of our work on how SNAP reduces hunger in America and how housing and tax policy can reduce the racial wealth divide in our 2018 U.S. Poverty Legislative Background Packets. Download and read them before you come to DC or before any lobby meetings you have coming up at home. You can find the packets and other Conference materials on the Conference Resources page.

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 U.S. Poverty staff time off: Meredith Dodson, August 4-19. Jos Linn, July 21-29, August 25-September 3.

2018 RESULTS International Conference, July 14-17, Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. There is still time to register for our biggest event of the year!

U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, Tuesday, July 24 at 1:00pm and 8:00pm ET (rescheduled from today). Participation info TBA.

RESULTS Joint U.S. and Global Poverty National Webinar, Saturday, August 11 at 2:00 pm ET. Participation info TBA.

Other Resources

Get Your RESULTS Promo Materials. If you need banners, pens, stickers, or business cards for your local RESULTS work, fill out our Materials Order Form and we’ll send them to you.

Got a Question for the RESULTS Board? If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail Steven McGee at [email protected]. View published Board minutes on the RESULTS website, as well as our Annual Reports.

Please Fill Out the Lobby Report Form. After any lobby meeting, please fill out the RESULTS Lobby Report Form to let us know how it went. When you have a meeting where both U.S. and global poverty issues are discussed, please fill it out twice.