U.S. Poverty Campaigns

Weekly Update | September 29, 2015

“The devastating effects of poverty must be eliminated. The existence of poverty exacts a heavy price from us all whether we are aware of it or not.”

– RESULTS Tampa volunteer Susan Datz in a September 23 letter to the editor in the Tampa Bay Times

“Congress must put working families first.”

– RESULTS Detroit volunteer Alexander King in a September 24 letter to the editor in the Detroit Free Press

In This Week’s Update:

• Got Two Minutes? Send in an LTE and Urge Your Actions Networks to Do the Same (September Action)
• Got Ten Minutes? Make One Last Push for Op-eds and Editorials (September Action)
• Got Twenty Minutes? Help RESULTS Continue to Support You in Your Advocacy Efforts
• Help Us Grow in Kansas City, Chicago, and Raleigh
• Quick News
• Upcoming Events

Quick Action: Send a Letter to the Editor about Poverty and the EITC/CTC

Got Two Minutes? Send in an LTE and Urge Your Actions Networks to Do the Same (September Action)

Last week, Pope Francis spoke to Congress about poverty: “The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes.” This is what you – as RESULTS volunteers – are doing. You’re making a long-term, sustained effort to address the root causes of poverty. One method is by educating lawmakers and the public about the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). As recent Census data shows, the EITC and CTC lifted almost 10 million people out of poverty last year. The EITC and CTC are waging that constant fight against poverty and hunger the Pope spoke of. Use the Pope’s visit and the new Census data to send a letter to the editor today urging lawmakers to save key provisions of the EITC and CTC before they expire and send millions back into poverty.

TAKE ACTION: Take two minutes to send a letter to the editor to your local paper about the protecting families who receive the EITC and CTC. Use our online LTE action to start your letter but be sure to edit it to make it personal and to call out your members of Congress by name. If you like, use excerpts or themes from the Pope’s speech to Congress as a hook for your letter(s).

Send a message to your Local Action Networks. After you’ve sent your letter, send a message to your Local Action Networks, family, and friends urging them to send a letter too. You can cut and paste the alert below into an e-mail or Facebook post to them:

Take action today! Join me in standing up for millions of working families, many who face the threat of poverty if Congress doesn’t save key provisions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Use RESULTS’ easy action alert to send a letter to the editor to your local paper about protecting America’s working families. http://capwiz.com/results/issues/alert/?alertid=59692501&MC_plugin=2201

Got Ten Minutes? Make One Last Push for Op-eds and Editorials (September Action)

Thank you to everyone who has worked hard this month to get media published using the new Census poverty data to save the 2009 provisions of the EITC and Child Tax Credit. So far this month, you have gotten 19 media pieces published (3 editorials, 2 op-eds, and 14 letters to the editor). Congratulations! Each piece you get published reminds members of Congress that their constituents care about the decisions they make and want them to heed Pope Francis’ words: “A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk.”

Next month, we will be reconnecting with tax aides about protecting the EITC and CTC in upcoming tax negotiations. Announce your presence in advance by getting an editorial or op-ed published about the tax credits. Once published, send it to the tax aide and let them know you’ll be contacting them in October to follow up (more details next week). Remember, getting media published is not just about education lawmakers; it’s letting them know you have political power. But that power works only if you use it.

TAKE ACTION: Take ten minutes to follow up again about your editorial request and/or op-ed submission. Sometimes it takes multiple follow-ups for anything to happen (just like with lobbying Congress). Call or e-mail them this week to check on the status or if you have yet to make a request, do so now. The September Action has all the information you need, including links to an introductory e-mail to a writer, our updated EITC/CTC editorial packet., and a writing sample to get started on an op-ed. You can also find media contacts in our Media Guide and other helpful information in our September U.S. Poverty National Webinar resources. If you need help preparing for or following up on your request, or editing help with a request or op-ed, please contact Jos Linn at [email protected].

Send to your members of Congress. When you do get published, send a copy of your editorial, op-ed, or LTE to the tax aides in your House and Senate offices. Let them know what you and your local RESULTS group are capable of. You can find aide names on our Elected Officials page. Again, please contact Jos if you have questions or need help.

Got Twenty Minutes? Help RESULTS Continue to Support You in Your Advocacy Efforts

We want to thank all the groups and individuals who have raised funds for RESULTS already this year, whether through events or Friends & Family campaigns. To the groups who have pledged and committed to events and campaigns in the coming months – keep up the great work! 

If you have not yet taken the opportunity to participate in a fundraising campaign in 2015, we invite you to join other grassroots volunteers in committing to help RESULTS meet our fundraising goal of $100,000 through the Grassroots Fundraising Campaign by the end of this year. That figure can seem daunting, but we all know the difference our collective impact can make. Every amount you raise – no matter how big or small – helps us reach that goal.

TAKE ACTION: Take twenty minutes to help us meet our $100,000 goal through our simple Friends & Family Campaigns! You can get started in three easy steps:

1. Set a goal for the amount you want to raise. 
2. Create your own Friends and Family Fundraising page. Our current campaigns that are already in place, and actively being used, are already set up here:
   • Friends and Family (a general page with no specific designation or event tied to it)
   • Celebrations: In honor of a birthday, milestone, holiday, etc.
   • 35th Anniversary: Celebrating RESULTS 35th Anniversary
   • Virtual Thanksgiving Page
   • Race to End Poverty: To use with a physical challenge such as a walk or run
   • Other online resources can be found on the website to help make your planning of your Friends & Family Fundraising page easier to manage (Contact Jen DeFranco ([email protected]) or Jerusa Contee ([email protected]) for assistance) 
3. Invite your friends and family to donate to your page.

It’s that easy. The funds raised through our events and Friends & Family Campaigns are unrestricted funds that allow RESULTS to support us as advocates, as well as maintain its independence to work on the issues and strategic projects where we will have the most impact. 

Help Us Grow in Kansas City, Chicago, and Raleigh

RESULTS is working to expand (or reenergize) our network in new areas. If you live or know people in these areas, please plan to participate.

RESULTS Kansas City Call Tomorrow Night. RESULTS Grassroots Manager for U.S. Poverty Campaigns Jos Linn is working with new REAL Change Fellow Tadeo Melean to start a new RESULTS U.S. Poverty group in Kansas City, MO. Tomorrow, September 30 at 7:00 pm CT, Jos and Tadeo will be hosting an informational call about RESULTS to generate support for starting a group in KC this fall. To participate, login online at: http://fuze.me/27491886 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 27491886#. If you live or know people in the Kansas City area, please help us strengthen our presence in the Midwest by attending or inviting others to attend tomorrow night’s call.

RESULTS Chicago Call on Thursday Night. Jos is also working with advocates in Chicago to restart our U.S. Poverty group there. Jos will be hosting a RESULTS informational call for people in Chicago this Thursday, October 1 at 7:00 pm CT. As with KC, we’re looking to generate support to start a group there later this fall. To participate, login online at: http://fuze.me/27491886 or dial in at (201) 479-4595, Meeting ID: 27491886#. If you live or know people in the Chicago area, please attend or invite others to attend Thursday’s Chicago call.

RESULTS Raleigh Group Start on October 15. RESULTS U.S. Poverty Organizer Kristy Martino will be traveling to Raleigh, NC next month. Kristy is working with RESULTS Expert on Poverty Ruth Innocent, who shared her story on this month’s National Webinar, to start a new group there. RESULTS will be hosting a group start meeting on Thursday, October 15, 6:30-8:00 pm ET at the NC Justice Center. If you live in Raleigh or know people who do, RSVP on our Eventbrite page: results-nc.eventbrite.com 

Also, Kristy and other RESULTS advocates in the Northeast will be attending the RESULTS Northeast Regional Conference, Saturday, October 17 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET. Regional Conferences are a great way to get new training and to connect with RESULTS volunteers you don’t see often. The event will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 20 Forest Street in Stamford, CT. To attend this event, register here.

Quick News

Government Shutdown Likely Averted. Congress has likely dodged another federal government shutdown, with the deadline to fund the government only a day away. This is a major change in less than a week. With the funding for Planned Parenthood prompting some conservative members to threaten to shut down the government until that funding was eliminated, it looked as if a shutdown would occur. However, Speaker of the House John Boehner’s stunning resignation announcement last Friday has reduced those chances greatly. The Senate is moving a “clean CR” (continuing resolution) through today, which funds government agencies and services (including Planned Parenthood) at current levels through December 11. It is expected that Speaker Boehner will shepherd the bill through the House tomorrow. Assuming it passes, we are far from out of the woods. With many big issues still unresolved (debt ceiling, sequestration, highway funding, tax extenders), this fall is likely to again be very tumultuous one in Washington.

New Study Highlights Racial Wealth and Income Disparities. A new report, Bootstraps Are For Black Kids: Race, Wealth, and the Impact of Intergenerational Transfers on Adult Outcomes is highlighting the impact of adult transfers of wealth to their children based on race. Based on 2013 data, the report shows that when black parents transfer their wealth to their children for higher education or homeownership, the gaps in education and homeownership rates between those black children and their white counterparts narrow. However, these transfers did not reduce the gap income and wealth. “Among those who received financial support from parents, the median income is $98,066 for whites and $69,306 for blacks; median net worth is $63,000 and $35,996, respectively.” Read more about the report at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

NETWORK Call-in Day on Anti-Poverty Funding. From our friends at NETWORK: “Today, dozens of Catholic Sisters and other NETWORK activists are joining me on Capitol Hill with a simple message to Congress: Heed Pope Francis's call and "keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty"! As our budget deadline looms near, some in Congress seem content with playing political games at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in our nation. Please take less than ten minutes today to call both of your Senators at (888) 496-3502. Your voice is critical in ensuring that we have a faithful budget that restores economic opportunity, invests in America, and cares for vulnerable members of our society.” For more information and messaging as what to say when you call, go to the NETWORK Action Alert.

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: House: October 10-19; Senate: October 10-18. Request face-to-face meetings.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty National Webinar, October 10 at 12:30 pm ET. Join the meeting online at http://fuze.me/28130766 or dial in by phone at (201) 479-4595, meeting ID: 28130766#. Listen to previous conference calls and meetings on our National Webinars page.

RESULTS Introductory Call, October 14, at 9:00 pm ET. If you want to learn more about RESULTS, register for an upcoming Intro Call on the RESULTS website.

RESULTS U.S. Poverty Free Agents Calls, October 20 at 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join online at: http://fuze.me/27491886; or by phone at (201) 479-4595 and enter Meeting ID: 27491886. For more information, contact Jos Linn ([email protected]).

2016 RESULTS International Conference, June 25-28, 2016 in Washington, DC. Save the dates!

If you have a question, comment or suggestion for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board, please e-mail them to RESULTS Grassroots Board Member Lydia Pendley at [email protected]. You can download RESULTS’ most recent Annual Report at: https://results.org/about/annual_report/.