U.S. Poverty Weekly Update March 28, 2017
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | March 28, 2017
“Block granting Medicaid will hurt Utah. The inflexible funding means less health care coverage. We don’t cover enough, and cuts bode poorly for the thousands of Utahns in need.”
—RESULTS Salt Lake City volunteer Elizabeth Ellingson in a March 22 letter to the editor in the Deseret News
- Got Two Minutes? Celebrate Your Advocacy Victory
- Got Ten Minutes? Use the Health Care Victory to Inspire Others into Action (March Action)
- Got Twenty Minutes? Use Health Care Victory to Prepare for the Next Fights in Congress (Media Action)
- Join Next Session of “The New Jim Crow” Virtual Book Club This Thursday
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Media Action: Remind Congress that Americans Want a Strong Safety Net
| Take Action! |
Got Two Minutes? Celebrate Your Advocacy Victory
Last week was a whirlwind of grassroots activity. With Congress poised to repeal the Affordable Care Act and end Medicaid as we know it, your letters, e-mails, phone calls, social media posts, etc. turned potential disaster into a major policy victory when House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI-1) pulled the American Health Care Act from consideration. Your actions helped save 24 million people from losing the health insurance. You prevented countless deaths that would have resulted in lost health coverage. You ensured that low-income children, parents, seniors, and persons with disabilities can still get the critical health care they need. This is no small feat and it’s worthy of recognition and celebration.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to celebrate the power of your activism. Congratulate yourself and your fellow group members for the actions you took the last few weeks in opposition to House health care bill. Be sure to also reach out to your Local Action Networks to congratulate and thank them for their efforts. Advocacy is a team effort and when you play a part in the fight, you get to share in the victory. Congratulations and thank you!
Got Ten Minutes? Use the Health Care Victory to Inspire Others into Action (March Action)
Last week’s defeat of the House health care bill was most certainly a victory for grassroots activism. Your advocacy helped shore up opposition to the bill among House Democrats and moderate Republicans. Remember, in the House, the majority rules. Had all Republicans voted for the bill, it would have passed. But with House Speaker Ryan working to appease the more conservative members of his caucus by making the bill worse, you helped hold together the coalition of representatives by making them understand how this bill would hurt to low- and moderate-income people in their districts.
This victory is the perfect opportunity to reach out to new people in your community and urge them to get into action. In a time where many people still believe that their voices don’t matter, last week proved otherwise. We have more fights ahead of us – tax reform, the 2018 budget, SNAP and the Farm Bill, and possibly health care again. Use your victory to remind people that their voices do matter… and we need them now.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to contact a people in your community about getting into action. If they took action on the health care bill, thank them and remind them that this is only the beginning. We need a sustained effort to protect anti-poverty programs over the long term. Offer to do a presentation or training on what they can do using our new Outreach Resources (PowerPoints, Action Sheets) and the March Action (sample agenda). If you need help with outreach, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].
Also, plan to join our upcoming training webinar It’s Go Time: Tools and Practices for Engaging your Community in Advocacy. We’ll discuss why sharing our skills and doing outreach is important right now, outline the various kinds of outreach you can do, hear shares from groups who’ve done successful outreach this year, and share the resources RESULTS has available to help you. The webinar is Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. To join, login at http://fuze.me/34577774 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID# 34577774#.
Got Twenty Minutes? Use Health Care Victory to Prepare for the Next Fights in Congress (Media Action)
Last week’s health care victory was an important moment for grassroots advocates and the millions of people who stood to lose from the House health care bill. But sadly, this was only the first of many such fights ahead. Next up is (likely) tax reform – something both Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump want to get done this year. While this will provide us an opportunity to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), it will also most certainly include large tax cuts for the wealthy. If passed, leaders will use the loss of revenue from these cuts to push for deeper cuts to programs such as SNAP and Medicaid. Send a message now telling your members of Congress to protect anti-poverty programs going forward.
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to send a letter to the editor today urging Congress to continue to protect safety net programs. Use our updated media alert to send your letter today. Be sure to take a few minutes to personalize your letter and mention your members of Congress by name. If and when you get published, please send a link to your letter to Jos Linn ([email protected]).
Join Next Session of “The New Jim Crow” Virtual Book Club This Thursday
Please join us this week for our continued virtual book club on The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Our first session on March 16 was a great discussion exploring the relationship between racism, mass incarceration, poverty, and advocacy. We look forward to an even better one this week. Even if you missed the first session, you are still welcomed to participate. The webinar is this Thursday, March 30 at 8:00 pm ET. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/34326078 or dial in by phone (201) 479-4595 Meeting ID: 34326078#. Please read chapters 2 and 3 of the book before the webinar.
Quick News
Make a Difference in DC This Summer. Have your seen our new International Conference video? It shows you all the reasons you should join us in our nation's capital July 22-25, 2017. The RESULTS International Conference is a chance to use your voice to change the world. Listening, sharing, learning, networking, and advocating with hundreds of others just like you who are committed to the end of poverty. Registration is now open at early bird rates! And use our new brochure to invite others to apply for the REAL Change Fellowship (which includes Conference scholarship monies) or to invite anyone to attend. Then share your excitement on Twitter or Facebook and boldly ask someone new to join us in DC this summer.
- Sample Tweet: Feeling a call to action? Join @RESULTS_Tweets this summer in Washington and talk to Congress face-to-face. www.resultsconference.org
- Sample Facebook post: Congress needs to hear from you. This summer, meet with your representatives face-to-face. https://youtu.be/9HIQzUtpdM0. @RESULTS #Voices4RESULTS
President Trump’s Child Care Plan Skews Benefits Upward. Check out this new RESULTS Blog post from our new Hunger Fellow Ashley Burnside on President Trump’s new child care plan. Sadly, most of the benefits from his proposal would go to wealthier families while low-income Americans would still struggle to pay for care for their children while they work.
New EITC Report Released. Last Wednesday, the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) released a new policy brief on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) called “Enhancing and Expanding the EITC for Low-Wage Workers”. This brief provides recommendations for Congress on how to further improve and expand the EITC. It also challenges common misconceptions about the EITC, such as that it has high levels of fraud, and summarizes the positive attributes of the program.
Make Face-to-Face Meeting Requests. Congress will be on recess in mid-April (April 10-21). Use their time at home to set up face-to-face meetings to talk to them. Finish our First 100 Days Campaign with a flurry of lobby meetings telling Congress to end poverty in America.
Please Send in your Group Plans. We’re in the final stretch of our First 100 Days Campaign. Even at this late date, we still want your First 100 Days plan. We’ll use them to build on the next round of planning in May. Submit your plan to: www.tinyurl.com/First100Plan today.
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 Congressional Recesses: House and Senate, April 10-21.
RESULTS “New Jim Crow” Book Club Webinar, Thursday, March 30 at 8:00 pm ET. Join this conversation around the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Please read chapters 2 and 3 of the book before the webinar. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/34326078 or dial in by phone (201) 479-4595 Meeting ID: 34326078#.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, Saturday, April 8 at 12:30 pm ET. Participate at http://fuze.me/32255914 or (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32255914#. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
It’s Go Time: Tools and Practices for Engaging your Community in Advocacy (Webinar), Wednesday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. To join, login at http://fuze.me/34577774 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID# 34577774#.
RESULTS Introductory Call, Friday, April 12 at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an Intro Call on the RESULTS website.
RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, Tuesday, April 18 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. To participate, login at http://fuze.me/32256018 or dial by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32256018#.
RESULTS International Conference, Saturday, July 22 – Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. Registration is now open!
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 view the most recently published minutes from Board meetings on the RESULTS website, as well as download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report.