U.S. Poverty Weekly Update July 26, 2016
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | July 26, 2016
“I urge our members of Congress to ensure no Arizona workers are taxed into poverty by expanding the EITC for low-income, childless workers. We can’t ask Arizonans to pull themselves up from their bootstraps if they can’t even afford to buy boots in the first place.”
– RESULTS Arizona REAL Change Fellow Casey Dreher in a letter to the editor in the in the Arizona Republic
- Got Two Minutes? Keep Pushing for Face-to-Face Meetings During the Recess (July Action)
- Got Ten Minutes? Invite Convention Attendees to Witnesses to Hunger Exhibit in Philadelphia This Week
- Got Sixty Minutes? Get Ready for Town Halls with Candidate Engagement Training
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Action: Schedule Face-to-Face Meetings for the Summer Recess
Got Two Minutes? Keep Pushing for Face-to-Face Meetings During the Recess (July Action)
Have you requested a face-to-face meeting with your representatives and senators for the current summer recess? If not, now is the time to do so. With each day you wait, the more their scheduled gets filled up. Sadly, very few lawmakers are going to actively work to eradicate poverty on their own – they need you to remind them that workers who cannot earn enough to make a living need members of Congress to do something about it. That families living one financial crisis from poverty need members of Congress to do something about it. That children living in hunger need members of Congress to do something about it. You are their voice – please use it!
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to request face-to-face meetings with your representatives and senators for the congressional summer recess which runs through September 5. Use the July Action for language and tips for your requests, as well as Laser Talks on the issues you can discuss. Find DC scheduler names and contact information on our Elected Officials page. If you cannot get a meeting, ask if your members of Congress will be holding town halls or public events during the recess. Once you do get a meeting or plan to attend a town hall/event, please contact Meredith Dodson to get coaching on what to discuss ([email protected]). Also, after any face-to-face meeting, please fill out our Lobby Report Form to let us know how it went.
Got Ten Minutes? Invite Convention Attendees to Witnesses to Hunger Exhibit in Philadelphia This Week
This week, Democrats from all over the country are converging on Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention (DNC). To take advantage of so many policymakers and advocates in the same location, Witnesses to Hunger is hosting a National Photography Exhibit in Philadelphia to coincide with the convention. The exhibit features pictures taken by members of Witnesses (two of whom, Tianna Gaines-Turner and Angela Sutton, are also part of the RESULTS Experts on Poverty cohort) that illustrate the struggles and triumphs of Americans living in poverty. The purpose is to educate the public and convention delegates about the realities so many families face in Philadelphia and throughout the country. The exhibit is an opportunity for people with lived experiences of hunger and poverty to connect with the public and policymakers about their experiences.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to invite people you know who are in Philadelphia this week for the Democratic National Convention to attend the Witnesses to Hunger National Photography Exhibit. The exhibit is July 25, 27, and 28 at the African American Museum, 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. If you know delegates attending the convention, invite them to come. In addition, contact your Democratic members of Congress and urge them to attend as well; ask DC aides with whom you have a relationship with or recently met with to urge their bosses to attend. Urge people to RSVP via Eventbrite and feel free to share the Facebook invite. Be sure to note that members of Witnesses will be available to meet with people coming to the exhibit and provide them with tours from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm ET each day.
Got Sixty Minutes? Get Ready for Town Halls with Candidate Engagement Training
It’s election season and that means lots of campaigning. Members of Congress running for re-election and challengers wanting to unseat them will be looking for opportunities to court voters. The summer recess (now through Labor Day) provides lots of time for these events and thus you the chance to participate in this process. Attending and asking questions at town halls and campaign events gives members of Congress and candidates an eye into what voters care about. Imagine the impact if each candidate got a question about poverty every time they held an event.
But what if don’t know how to find these events. Or what to do when you get there. Or what question to ask when called on. Or perhaps you’ve been to dozens of town halls and you want coaching on how to up your game. RESULTS is here to help. We are offering a series of “Candidate Engagement” trainings over the next few weeks that will help you make the most of these events. Come learn how you can make your voice heard with lawmakers and candidates at town halls this summer and fall.
TAKE ACTION: Take sixty minutes to attend one of RESULTS’ upcoming Candidate Engagement Trainings. These trainings will provide you the tools to use at candidate events including how to find events, how to formulate a question, how to increase the chances of getting your question asked, and how to follow up. These training webinars will be held on:
- Wednesday, July 27 at 9:00 pm ET
- Monday, August 2 at 12:00 pm ET
- Tuesday, August 16 at 9:00 pm ET
To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#. If you have questions, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].
Quick News
Use Conventions for LTEs about Poverty. The Democratic National Convention is this week in Philadelphia. Just like last week with the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, this event is already getting a lot of coverage in the press. Take advantage of this attention to generate your own media about the need for candidates to address poverty in America. Use our online letter to the editor alerts to send a letter about expanding the EITC, protecting SNAP, or both. Personalize your letter(s) by mentioning a story about the conventions in your local paper. If you’d like help with your letters or want someone to look it over before you send it in, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].
Take the RESULTS International Conference Survey. Please give us your feedback about the recent RESULTS International Conference. Your feedback tells us what we should keep doing and what we can do better at our annual conferences. It only takes about ten minutes but the information you provide is invaluable to us. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016RESULTSConf to take the survey today.
Invite People You Know to Southern RESULTS Outreach Meetings. This weekend, RESULTS U.S. Poverty Organizer Kristy Martino will begin a southern U.S. swing to drum up support for our U.S. poverty work. She will be in Baton Rouge, LA on July 30, Birmingham, AL on July 31, and Jackson, MS on August 2. If you know people in these areas, please contact Kristy at [email protected] for details on how they can attend.
Join the Road to Rio Challenge Before August 5! It's not too late to join the Road to Rio Friends and Family Campaign, but it’s getting close! RESULTS volunteer advocates like you around the country use your voices to influence political decisions that will bring an end to poverty. To do that, we need funding to provide you the support that helps you be successful. The Road to Rio Campaign will raise $50,000 to go directly toward supporting volunteers. When you join the Road to Rio Challenge, you are inviting your friends and family to invest in ending poverty. But we only have until August 5 to raise the $35,000 we need to unlock the $15,000 incentive match. Will you join us? We have resources to help you succeed in engaging your community and our development team is ready to help. Please contact us today at [email protected] to get involved!
Farewell to Hunger Fellow Keithlee Spangler. This is the last week that Keithlee Spangler, our Emerson Hunger Fellow, will be at RESULTS. Her last day is this Thursday, July 28. Keithlee has been a tremendous asset to us here at RESULTS, helping us research deeper into our tax policy and wealth gap work, attend congressional briefings, develop materials to help RESULTS volunteers stay informed, and manage sessions at this year's RESULTS International Conference. She was also the primary author of the policy portions of our U.S. Poverty Campaigns Background Packet. We will miss Keithlee's skills and talents at RESULTS, but fortunately she will not being going far; she has accepted a position with our friends at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. We wish her the best of luck in her new position and look forward to seeing her again at future RESULTS events. Thank you, Keithlee!
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.
Congressional Recesses: July 18 – September 5 (House and Senate). Request face-to-face meetings. After your meeting, please tell us how it went by filling out the RESULTS Lobby Report Form: www.tinyurl.com/RESLRF.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, July 27 at 9:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
RESULTS Introductory Call, July 29, at 1:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, August 2 at 12:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, August 13 at 12:30 pm ET. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
RESULTS Candidate Engagement Training, August 16 at 9:00 pm ET. To participate, login online at http://fuze.me/33195710, or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID 33195710#. Note: U.S. Poverty Free Agents should attend this training in lieu of our August support call.
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 download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report at: https://results.org/about/annual_report/.