U.S. Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | July 28, 2015

“It’s easy for readers to turn the page or swipe the screen to avoid learning more about the hungry. It’s easier to wear masks at a comic book convention than to look a homeless person in the eye. So I take solace in knowing RESULTS is showing a surge in volunteer participation after 35 years.”

– 2015 Cameron Duncan Award Winner John Breunig in an opinion piece in the Sunday Stamford Advocate

In This Week’s Update:

• Got Two Minutes? Schedule Face-to-Face Meetings with Congress during the August Recess to protect the EITC/CTC (July Action)
• Got Ten Minutes? Fill Out Lobby Report Forms for the International Conference Lobby Meetings
• Got Twenty Minutes? Follow Up with your Representatives’ Congressional Aids with Phone Calls/Emails
• IC Recap
• Next Domestic National Conference Call 
• Upcoming Events

Quick Action: Urge Congress to Protect Working Families

Got Two Minutes? Have Each Person in Your Group Make a Lobby Meeting Request for the August Recess (July Action)

RESULTS’ philosophy maintains that relationships are an integral part to procuring long-lasting change in public policy. By building relationships with decision-makers, media figures, and others in your community, you secure a foundation of trust that ensures change. This month we continue our focus on building relationships with one of the easiest and most effective actions – meeting face-to-face with members of Congress.

We’ve just finished our RESULTS International Conference, and what an incredible job you did speaking up on behalf of hard working families! Now the August congressional recess is fast approaching (House: July 31 – September 7; Senate: August 8 – September 7), so let’s keep our momentum going by using this opportunity to amplify our voices even further. During the August recess we need to urge Congress members to save key Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provisions for working families. To help ensure that you can get face-to-face meetings with your members of Congress in August, it is imperative that you submit your requests now. Many of you know that getting a face-to-face meeting with a member of Congress is often difficult. Asking for those meetings and then following up on your requests is the only way to receive them. As we noted on July U.S. Poverty National Webinar, it’s these meetings that can determine whether or not we reach our goal. Let Congress know that you are a dedicated, committed advocate not only for the end of poverty but also for American democracy where We The People have the right as well as the responsibility to make our voice heard.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to request face-to-face meetings for the August recess (or follow up on requests you’ve already made). We know that doing this for all of your congressional offices could take more than two minutes so divvy up the task among your group members. Assign one office to each person in your group and contact the scheduler today about setting up meetings at your representative’s home office during the August recess. The July Action has information to help you and you can find a Word meeting request and an online meeting request on the RESULTS website. You can find scheduler names and contact information on our Elected Officials page. Once you confirm a meeting, please contact RESULTS Director of US Poverty Campaigns Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to set up a lobby meeting coaching call. 

Got Ten Minutes? Fill Out Your Lobby Report Forms for the International Conference Lobby Meetings

This year’s International Conference, which was both terrific and exhausting, is now finished. Fantastic job everyone using your voice to advocate for poverty issues, specifically the protection and expansion of the EITC/CTC, on Capitol Hill! Now that you’ve met with your members of Congress and their aides, please, please, please take a few minutes to fill out your lobby meeting report forms. Your lobby meeting feedback is incredibly important to RESULTS so that we know how to best prepare you and support your advocacy work.

TAKE ACTION: Help make RESULTS as effective as possible and submit your lobby report form here: www.tinyurl.com/RESLRF, while the details are still relatively fresh. Also feel free to include any specific feedback concerning the conference that you think is beneficial to report.  

Got Twenty Minutes? Follow Up with Members of Congress Members and Their Staff concerning the IC Lobby Meetings

Last week, RESULTS advocates had over 350 lobby meetings with Congressional offices! Take a moment to congratulate yourself on a job well done. Remember, however, that our lobby meetings were only the start. Now it’s time to follow up on our requests to make sure action is taken regarding them. Follow-up is the only way we have to make sure that our members of Congress and their staff do what they said they would do: it’s how we hold people accountable.

TAKE ACTION: Take between twenty minutes to follow up on your recent lobby meetings in Washington, DC. Call, write, or e-mail the aides in each office you met with. If more than one of you attended the meeting, divide up the responsibilities among the group as to which aide each person will contact (only one person need follow up with an aide). Here is what you can include in your correspondence:

1. Say thank you. Thank the aide for their time and for meeting with you. Be sure to include a thank you to your member of Congress if he/she met with you face-to-face.
2. Reiterate your request. Restate the lobby requests you made during your meeting and what they said they would do (if anything). If you’re following up with tax aides, remind them of the importance for tax parity between businesses and hard-working families; if Congress is going to make business tax breaks permanent, then it should make key provisions to the EITC/CTC permanent as well.
3. Include supplemental material. If you said you would send more information about the issues you discussed or if you want to provide additional info based on your conversations, include it here, e.g. statistics regarding EITC.
4. Schedule a time to talk again. Set up a time to contact the aide again to check on the status of your request.

If you need a refresher on our requests or to review the campaign materials presented at the conference, see the RESULTS Conference Lobby Resources page here: https://results.org/resources/2015_results_international_conference_resources/. Also, if you have any questions about following up with congressional offices, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) or Jos Linn ([email protected]) for help.

Congratulations on an Awesome Conference This Year!

Thank you to everyone who traveled to Washington, DC last week for the RESULTS International Conference, as well as those back home who supported our DC travelers these last few months. We had a great conference this year with inspiring speakers, informative trainings, and an exciting and rewarding Advocacy Day. We had our biggest conference yet with over 500 attendees, including over 100 REAL Change Fellows. RESULTS took Capitol Hill by storm with over 350 lobby meetings over the course of the IC. Your dedication, passion, and vigor propel this organization forward and you – our volunteers — make a significant impact on our issues. Because of each and every one of you, the conference was a tremendous success. But we always are looking to improve it. You can help us do that. In the next couple days, you will receive the 2015 RESULTS International Conference evaluation. This evaluation provides us important feedback from you about the conference – what you liked, what you didn’t like, and how we can make it better. Even if you didn’t attend this year’s conference, please fill out the evaluation. There are questions about why you did not attend that can help us better plan for next year. Keep a lookout and be sure to respond so we can continue to make the experience better for you!

All of the information that we provided throughout the conference can be found here. These resources will continue to be helpful throughout the whole year.

Next U.S. Poverty National Meeting: Tuesday August 11, 2015

This is a friendly reminder that the next RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call will take place on Tuesday August 11 at 8:00 pm ET. On the call, we will review the events at the recent RESULTS International Conference with shares from you about your experiences. We’ll also talk about how we can all keep up the momentum from the conference over the next few months. This will be an exciting and inspiring call – plan to join us!

Upcoming Events

Go to the RESULTS Events Calendar to see a full list of RESULTS events.

Take the RESULTS Grassroots Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJYGK9B.

Next Congressional Recesses: House: July 31 – September 7; Senate: August 8 – September 7. Request face-to-face meetings.

RESULTS Introductory Call, July 31 at 1:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.