U.S. Poverty Weekly Update November 29, 2016
U.S. Poverty Campaigns
Weekly Update | November 29, 2016
“The holiday season can be particularly demoralizing for people who are working hard but who are still unable to make ends meet. Allowing low-income workers like veterans, farm workers and janitors to keep more of what they earn under a policy called the Earned Income Tax Credit is a good way for Congress to support struggling working families.”
– November 21 editorial in the Houston Chronicle generated by RESULTS Houston volunteers
- Got Two Minutes? Send a Quick Letter to the Editor about Protecting SNAP (December Action preview)
- Got Ten Minutes? Invite New People to the December 10 National Webinar
- Got Twenty Minutes? Give to RESULTS on this #GivingTuesday
- Quick News
- Upcoming Events
Quick Action: Urge Lawmakers to Protect Important Anti-Poverty Programs
| Take Action! |
Got Two Minutes? Send a Letter to the Editor about Protecting SNAP (December Action preview)
Advocates and policy wonks are furiously working to assess the priorities of the new Trump Administration and Congress. The outlook at this point does not look good. We expect the new Congress to waste no time in attempting to make radical changes to the social safety net. One of the big targets could be the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps). Leaders in Congress have been gunning for SNAP for years now and with a Republican President more amenable to their efforts, they might finally get their wish.
SNAP is the first line against hunger in America, serving approximately 45 million people per month. Cutting the program or converting it to a block grant to states would be disastrous for hungry children and families nationwide. If Congress is contemplating these changes, it’s up to constituents like you to let them know that you won’t make it easy for them. Use the media this month to stand up against efforts to roll back our national commitment to end poverty in America.
TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to send a letter to the editor urging your members of Congress to reject efforts to cut or block grant SNAP. Use our online SNAP media alert to send your letter today. Be sure to edit the alert to mention your members of Congress by name (including newly-elected ones). Once you’ve submitted your letter, consider sending another one to another paper in your state and forward the alert to others you know and urge them to submit letters too – the more media we generate, the more Congress will think twice about gutting SNAP.
Our December Action will be out in the next week. It will focus on generating media about protecting important safety net programs from cuts and structural changes in the new Congress. We’ll have detailed talking points for powerful letters and op-eds for you soon. Get started now by sending in letters today about protecting SNAP.
Got Ten Minutes? Invite New People to the December 10 National Webinar
Americans in poverty and the programs designed to help them face an unknown future after this year’s election. As we learned during out National Outreach Webinar with Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, it’s going to take a movement of grassroots advocates to face the challenges and opportunities our nation will face in 2017 and beyond. Hopefully you had potential new advocates join you for that webinar. These people can join you as the vanguard of the movement to make poverty history.
If you have not followed up with these new people, please do so now. Use the momentum of the election and the webinar to engage them more deeply in this work. An easy and effective way to follow up is to invite them to our next monthly National Webinar on December 10. This webinar will be a joint event with our Global Poverty volunteers from the around the country. We’ll celebrate successes from 2016, hear stories from volunteers, and preview what’s ahead for RESULTS and our work in 2017. For new people, this webinar will be great opportunity to learn more about RESULTS and our most important asset – you, the volunteers.
TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to invite new people from our November Outreach Webinar to attend the RESULTS December National Webinar on Saturday, December 10 at 2:00 pm ET. This will be a great way for them to get to know RESULTS better and add them as regular volunteer to your group. Contact them this week to let them know when and where your group is meeting for the webinar (plan to do another reminder next week). Be sure to also invite people who could not attend the November webinar. If you have questions, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].
Got Twenty Minutes? Give to RESULTS on this #GivingTuesday
We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. We’re proud to share that together you raised over $12,000 for RESULTS as part of our 2016 Virtual Thanksgiving Feast (VTF)! These funds will help ensure we have the resources to hit our expansion goals and respond to changing priorities. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the 2016 Virtual Thanksgiving Feast a great success!
Many of you are keeping your campaigns going for a few more weeks – that’s great! The fundraising pages will stay open through the end of the year so feel free to continue sending your donation requests.
Since VTF ended last week, we’ve had Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now it’s #GivingTuesday. This is a global day of giving as a way to give back to the organizations doing good work in the world. We urge you to give to RESULTS as part of #GivingTuesday. Your donation to RESULTS or RESULTS Educational Fund today will ensure we have the needed resources to continue the fight to end poverty, including supporting our First 100 Days strategy (meeting with congressional offices in early 2017 about ending poverty; more details to come) and helping us get RESULTS groups in all 50 states!
TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to give to RESULTS or RESULTS Ed fund on this #GivingTuesday. Your donation will help us help you create a world free of poverty. Please donate today at: https://secure.results.org/givingtuesday.
Also, for those of you wrapping up your VTF campaigns, please remember to send a thank you email to your supporters. Also, let us know your thoughts on your VTF experience by filling out our post-VTF Campaign Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/ok0oarvqhFwzQ9cJ2. We want your feedback to help improve VTF in the future.
Quick News
Set Up Meetings with Members of Congress. With the potential threats to anti-poverty programs in 2017, RESULTS is making a strong push to meet with as many congressional offices as possible during the Trump Administration’s first 100 days. Get started now by requesting meetings for December or early 2017. Find the scheduler names for your House and Senate members on our Elected Officials page and call or e-mail them with a request for a meeting (or use our online form to write your request letter). If you have a new member of Congress starting in 2017, start with their campaign website to find their contact information. If you need help with scheduling meetings, please contact Jos Linn ([email protected]). Once you get a meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson ([email protected]) to help you prepare and share resources for your meeting.
Sign Your RESULTS Group on to SAVE For All Letter. The Coalition on Human Needs and hundreds of national, state, and local organizations (including RESULTS) are part of the Strengthening America’s Values and Economy (SAVE) for All Campaign. SAVE for All agrees on four guiding principles: federal priorities must (1) protect and assist low-income and vulnerable people; (2) invest in broadly shared economic growth and jobs; (3) increase revenues from fair sources; and (4) seek savings from reducing waste in the Pentagon and elsewhere. SAVE for All is currently circulating a sign-on letter for organizations addressed to the incoming Administration and Congress. We strongly urge your local RESULTS groups to sign onto this letter. To read and sign your group on, click here.
Sign Your RESULTS Group on to Child Care Letter. 2017 may also provide us opportunities to improve things for families living in poverty. President-Elect Trump has opened the door by singling out child care as a key issue for families during the campaign. It’s important to make our voices heard on the overall need for increased child care funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which serves low-income families. The first sign-on letter from the Child Care/Early Learning Coalition calls on President-Elect Trump to increase funding for CCDBG. We urge your local RESULTS group to sign on so the coalition can get as many states and organizations as possible represented. Have someone from your group contact Faith Powell at [email protected] to tell her to sign your local RESULTS group onto the letter by Thursday, December 8.
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 staff vacations: Jos Linn, December 17 – January 2; Meredith Dodson and Kristy Martino, December 21 – January 2.
RESULTS Joint U.S. and Global Poverty National Webinar, Saturday, December 10 at 2:00 pm ET. Join online at http://fuze.me/32255914 or by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32255914#. Listen to previous webinars on our National Webinars page.
RESULTS Introductory Calls, Monday, December 12 at 9:00 pm ET and Friday, December 16 at 1:00 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, December 13 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. To participate, login in at http://fuze.me/32256018 or dial by phone at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 32256018#.
RESULTS Offices closed, Saturday, December 24 – Monday, January 2. Happy Holidays!
RESULTS International Conference, Saturday, July 22 – Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC. More details soon.
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/.