120322 Results.org-Webinar Series

Please note: This service is being provided in a rough-edited format. Live captioning services provide a meaning-for-meaning summary to facilitate communication access. This is not a verbatim recording of proceedings.

[Waiting for meeting to begin.]

>> KEN PATTERSON: Liz is on and will be talking later. Welcome to the RESULTS national webinar, our last of the year on December 3rd. We're excited about our guest speaker. I want to touch base on our values, anti-oppression values. They're what we anchor ourselves in. It's about how we think about the world, poverty and inclusion. Look at that as a grounding point for how we do our work. With that, I'll hand this over to Joanne Carter, Executive Director of RESULTS.

>>JOANNE CARTER: Welcome to our final webinar of 2022. Special welcome to folks joining for the first time. I'll start with a thank you for continuing. It's the end of the year, but we're not done the work.

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We can hear you.

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>> KEN PATTERSON: Everyone else, please mute your lines.

>>JOANNE CARTER: No worries. Thank you to everyone on the call for the continued push. It's the end of the year, but we've not stopped working in making a difference in congress. If congress takes a yearend tax package to extend corporate tax rates, The Child Tax Credit benefiting families has to be part of that. It's unacceptable to put corporations before families. Expanding the Child Tax Credit has to be a priority in any package.

You've had over 400 congressional meetings and over 275 pieces of media specifically on the Child Tax Credit and EITC. It's probably more since yesterday. That's since November 1st on the Child Tax Credit.

This fall, we set out for congress to pass legislation to impact equity and investments on childhood nutrition, TB and basic education. There have been nearly 17,000 pieces of legislation introduced and 1% directly signed into law. Fewer have bipartisan support. That's what you got done on the malnutrition bill in October. The End TB now act is coming Wednesday for consideration. The house of foreign affairs will consisted the ETB Now act on Tuesday. This is a great action for new folks in the network.

It's my honor to welcome a champion against poverty and childhood justice on the Hill. Being with you is like being at a rock concert for RESULTS people. The network has been working over fall and the last several years on the expanding Child Tax Credit and End TB Now Act. Nobody is more effective a leader and who has done more in congress.

The United States is the world's largest individual donor on ending TB. We want to make funding more available and equitable, there because of Sen. Brown. It's impossible to overstate his role, taking funding from less than $1M to what could be over $400M. On the Child Tax Credit, nobody is more responsible for getting that expanded and reinstated.

To know how committed he is, he said no more big tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy unless the Child Tax Credit is with it. I'll lay down in front of a bulldozer on that one. I play that when I need inspiration. Great to have you. Welcome.

>> SHERROD BROWN: Great to be back for the X number of times. We did these long before Zoom. I remember my first discussions with RESULTS volunteers in Overland, OH and around the state. Joanne saw me. In those days, there was no money for TB because most thought it wasn't a problem in the United States. Then New York had a number of cases and deaths. People started thinking a little about it.

The first request Joanne and I discussed was a request of $10M from the republican appropriations chair committee privately. I said if I give 5M, will you do the full amendment? It's grown partly because of Joanne's and friends in Congress's persistence. It's the persistence of RESULTS. Nobody has scaled the issue of TB and done what you've done over more than 2 decades.

A lot of good things in congress take years. Medicare was introduced by Truman and didn't pass for 15 years. You know the battles on civil rights and other rights. It's groups like you that are persistent and give your time, money and come to conference. Just keep doing it. Meet them where they are.

The first RESULTS volunteers came in the late 90s and early 2000s to town meetings, asking questions and respectful in agreement or disagreement. The assertiveness and aggressiveness is important. Keep doing that.

On March 6 - hi, Jenny - 2021, I'm sitting next to Bob Casey a best friend in the Senate who is right on these issues. We'd been voting for 13 hours and twice went 50-49 because of republican absence and once 51-50 to save the Child Tax Credit. It was on the bill. Both times, we batted away the amendment. We had Mansion, Cinema and others nearby.

I turned to Casey and said this is the best day of my political career because we worked on it for not quite a decade, a long time. It was clear what the results would be on the Child Tax Credit. When the bill passed on March 6, 2021, 2 months to the day of the insurrection, I called Secretary Yellin, a longtime friend, under the IRS and treasury. I said we want these checks out as soon as possible. The IRS commissioner was a Trump nominee but fair. I was fine with him, a good public official.

By July something, the first checks went out through December and a bigger check in early winter as tax season began. We couldn't get it renewed despite efforts of us, RESULTS and other groups. It dropped the poverty rate by 40% and upward of 90% of children qualified. Some on the upper level of the ones that qualify didn't get the whole 250 or 300. That's fine. We aimed at the poorest people in our country, dropping the poverty rate by 40%. What's not to love about that?

2 million kids and their families benefited. Imagine if it were still going to get that vote and make it permanent or extend it another year. How much easier would it have been for families dealing with inflation to get through the day? Because of RESULTS's work, so many Americans in the last week of the month just have to be creative, denying themselves food. In the book Evicted, the author says, "The rent eats first." That's 250 and 300, which makes a difference.

It's everything in these negotiations. Schumer and almost every democrat will say they're not voting for anything for corporate interests or the wealthy unless we get the Child Tax Credit. We're continuing to push as you should when talking to Members of Congress. Advocacy online, letters to the editor, and individual calls to Members of Congress and staff - most of you have a relationship with the right person in these offices, which is key. There's turnover because it's a big place. Keep building those relationships.

I'll close with a story. Every year in March or April, I ask 3 republic and 3 democratic colleagues in the Senate to join me on the floor, taking turns cutting it into 7 pieces and reading Dr. King's letter from the Birmingham jail, beautiful writing in addition to the moral high ground that King tried. This letter was to the white "moderates." Dr. King, we're with you and believe in voting and civil rights but not too fast.

King's patience had run out. In the middle of the letter, the part I like the most says, "Progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability." That's really what RESULTS is about. You know these things that you advocate for, from making TB a priority in our government, which you've done successfully but don't rest, and getting the Child Tax Credit and showing what it means, pushing until we get republicans through. It means everything. Keep at it.

I'll stop there for questions or getting on with your meeting. Thanks.

>>JOANNE CARTER: Thanks for being a resolute leader on the Child Tax Credit. In the midst of everything happening, put that front and center. One of the most inspiring webinars done was last year after the American Rescue Plan. You signed up to be on the webinar after the tax seat votes. I remember that being the best day of your life and what it proved possible.

>> SHERROD BROWN: Best day of my work life. I have kids and grandkids that it hasn't transcended. Close enough. You can say that.

>>JOANNE CARTER: Drop questions in the chat. Maybe we'll start with a question from Ohio's Ginnie Vogts.

>> SPEAKER: While we push for congress or the Child Tax Credit in the yearend tax package, what can we think about longterm to increase momentum for permanent changes that dramatically reduce child poverty longterm? Whether this passes or not, we need more of a long-term plan.

>> SHERROD BROWN: We do. I would leave it to you as an organization to decide your priorities. I'll work with you on that. That's why I've always fought. I know what we ended up with, annual rather than permanent. The permanence goes a long way to eliminating poverty longterm. This is verifiable that there's a 40% reduction like that when monthly checks went out.

I start saying it's what your organization decides among yourselves. There are lots of places where you can focus on education, various issues around dignity of work as you are with the Child Tax Credit and ITC, and food issues. I think it's up to you. I'd stay specific and big rather than broad. The fact that you won on TB and Child Tax Credit temporally is impressive for an organization. What you figured out is you do big things but not too many at once. I'd get it back to you and decide what you want. I'll work with you on it.

>> SPEAKER: I'll be in touch.

>>JOANNE CARTER: We're committed to working with you on permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit, housing and rental issues. It's figuring out together how we build the political support that we need. That takes us to the next question from David from Indiana, a grassroots advocate and now staff working on the Child Tax Credit issues. Over to you.

>> SPEAKER: Thanks. Thank you for being here. I was in Washington DC earlier this week and sat with Sen. Todd Young for 30 minutes. We had an engaging conversation about the Child Tax Credit and the yearend tax extender bill. To what extent have you been speaking with republican colleagues about a yearend tax bill and how important you think it is for RESULTS volunteers to continue engaging with GOP offices on this really important policy?

>> SHERROD BROWN: I spoke with Todd Young in the hall last week about the Child Tax Credit. He referred to your meeting. I can't tell where he is. I know he's more predisposed to support it than most republicans. I don't really understand their animosity toward it. He's not wild about any tit for tat. He said you can't hold up the R&D or corporate tax benefits to get this because you're not going to get this. What was your read talking to him?

>> SPEAKER: He shared that sentiment with me. He didn't understand the connection. Why would these 2 things go on the same bill? I shared that the connection I saw was in 2017 in the TCJA bill. That was the reason that the R&D credits are expiring as part of that bill, which did a good thing for the Child Tax Credit in doubling the amount but didn't increase who was eligible. Those are 2 issues in the bill to be fixed. This is an opportunity to pair those things and fix those 2 elements of the TCJA.

He hadn't heard that from anyone that that was the connection. That made more sense to him. I can understand that. He said that he saw how important the Child Tax Credit was. He sees the impact that it made. I think he's open to it. It would be great to see conversations going on.

>> SHERROD BROWN: I'll go back to that. It was a good way to explain it to him. To me, the connection is it's more hard ball. What you've done is masterful. I'll engage with him that way.

To me, it's hardball. Corporations almost always get what they want from republicans and too often from democratic colleagues. That's the case here again. For moderate and low income people, they need leverage. I'll do what it takes. If we can get the permanent Child Tax Credit, I'd be willing to do tax breaks for corporations that I don't want to vote for. That may be morally debouched for some. I remember the 2014 tax cut. I talked to Trump leading up to that. 6 or 7 senators were involved from the finance committee. I gave the corporate freeloader bill. There were 2 bills that did both of these things, giving tax breaks to corporations that paid workers well and didn't fight unions and made them pay more if they did those things. Also with the Child Tax Credit.

I'll do what it takes within moral and legal limits with the Child Tax Credit. Young seems more open. Your conversation and mine shows that. He's more open than most but doesn't like bargaining this way. I don't know how else you get it. Some of these corporate tax breaks are almost inevitable in congress because of their power. R&D makes a good case, not tight shut but pretty good. It's not as good as we make on the Child Tax Credit or ITC. We use whatever leverage.

Your conversation pinpoints the importance of getting a republican or three who makes this a priority. We haven't done that. One that doesn't want a deal but likes the Child Tax Credit. I think voters would move elections and republicans toward supporting it. We've fallen short.

>>JOANNE CARTER: We just did a fly in with 20 meetings with key republican senators and others that felt important around the Child Tax Credit. This is why we did it. There are questions in the chat building on this. What do you say to republicans about the Child Tax Credit? Why haven't people embraced this given how much people are struggling and its impact? We continue to work on this with you and the media and the fly in that we did. We'll share the downloads on that with staff.

Anything else about what to say to republican colleagues?

>> SHERROD BROWN: I haven't reached them either. Much of politics since 2016 has been puzzling to me. I don't have great insight.

>>JOANNE CARTER: We'll continue to work on it with you. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it sets back TB for the first time. We have increased deaths and new cases for the first time in a decade. We can get the End TB Now Act passed. What would you say to colleagues about that?

>> SHERROD BROWN: Opioid had more deaths, second per capita in the United States. During the pandemic, nobody was talking about opioids as much. People weren't interacting. Kids weren't in school and things to help deal with opioids. We weren't able to do those things. Everything took a backseat, including TB control and infections. You know more than when you started but scale up again.

People's ears are more open. During TB, we used to say how many died from TB, AIDS, and other illnesses, including malaria. I remember those 1, 2 and 3 million a year if I remember right. People were astounded by that. People are learning those numbers and seeing the consequence. Those who have been with RESULTS for 10 - 20 years remember the American public thought TB was a 19th or early 20th century illness. They didn't think we had TB in this country or internationally.

RESULTS taught people that TB is a terrible illness and widespread in immigrant and poor populations. We have to continue on.

>>JOANNE CARTER: With COVID-19 coming down, it's the single biggest infectious rate in the world. People in the chat are committed to following up with senators for these next days and weeks and in terms of the Child Tax Credit. I think we're about at time.

I'm grateful for your leadership. We're mobilizing and will continue. We couldn't do this without your leading and making this a top priority and being resolute on issues and persistent longterm on things like TB.

>> SHERROD BROWN: We couldn't do it without engagement of RESULTS and volunteers around the country. Thank you to all. Good to see you. Thanks.

>>JOANNE CARTER: Thanks for being a partner. Great to be with you.

>>MEREDEITH DODSON: Thanks for the great questions. I appreciate Sen. Brown and his staff. I'm thrilled to introduce Liz Clerkin, one of Brown's friends. They're behind Liz.

[On screen.]

Liz will tell about her experience in Washington DC this week.

>> LIZ CLERKIN: Thanks. Can everyone hear me? OK. I was in DC this week for the targeted lobby effort on the Child Tax Credit. Those new to RESULTS - we used to have a big international conference in DC with about 500 participants for a couple of days with speakers, training and on the Hill about the World Bank and a variety issues. There were 12 of us there last week. At least one of our senators plays a key role on Child Tax Credit negotiations, with most on the finance committee. It was different than being with 500 people but rewarding in its own way.

To prepare, I read everything I could find on the RESULTS website about the Child Tax Credit. I'm traditionally a global volunteer, so it was important to get up to speed on the Child Tax Credit and be ready to meet the tax aide. I researched my senators and knew what committees they were on and their voting record. I made appointments with tax aides, researching them.

I was lucky to get into DC the day before. Those who could arrive early spent the afternoon doing a lobby prep session with RESULTS staff in their office, which was helpful. I spent too much time planning what I was going to wear, including what shoes to take. I settled on being sensible and comfortable. The tax aides aren't paying attention to your shoes.

We had about 20 in person meetings with Senate offices, including my 2 senators, Cortman and Brown. I have to say that that conversation that you just heard was the kind of conversation we heard on the Hill.

Looking back on the meetings, it was really an important and interesting time in the middle of strategic discussions and sharing information with offices. It wasn't unusual to go to office A and then to B and have the aide ask what you're hearing from office A. That was an interesting experience to have.

We were also there in an important time, before the end of the year. Congress is making critical decisions. Do they go on with this bill or a continuing resolution and come back in January? The finance committee is talking about balancing what parties want in final packages. We were in the middle of discussions, sharing information with aids, discussing strategy and advocating for the Child Tax Credit. It was a key time to be there and advocate for expanded benefits.

I think we'll see the last impact. It was inspiring to be in the midst of discussions and have a voice on the outcome.

>>MEREDEITH DODSON: Thanks, Liz. It was great to see folks come in person on a targeted basis for this event with people on the Hill.

[On screen.]

You heard from Sen. Brown about what's going on on the Hill. Conversations are happening. This is the time in the last few days that democrats and republicans are talking to each other about what it looks like for what they'll get done for now and the end of the year.

[Speaker reading: Goal.] [On screen.]

This is likely a temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit. This is helping build momentum for permanent poverty change to reduce hardship and housing instability for millions.

Many saw this data on our webinar on November 17th. It's a reminder that 19 million children are left out of the full value of the Child Tax Credit. We also have state specific numbers that you can use in advocacy on this. We'll put a link to the chat and include follow up materials.

We saw huge reductions in child poverty largely in part because the full Child Tax Credit was available to 19 million children and their families. We're back at current law, leaving families out of the full value of the Child Tax Credit. That's why our action is really key.

I'll talk about a couple specific things you can do. I really see that you are playing what could be the most critical role in this final push in the next couple of weeks. You've played an important role over the last months and years on the Child Tax Credit on the EITC. Your work makes a large difference.

Anything can happen. Congress might not pass much legislatively between now and the end of the year or not do anything on taxes. The ingredients are there. This is a prime opportunity to get something passed and build in the years ahead. You are the tip of the spear. After spending a day on the Hill with a dozen of you, reviewing reports from conversations with even more congressional offices, you made the difference in getting this across the finish line.

The number one action that you, action networks, broader networks and anyone that can tap in should call, email, use social media and weigh in with the messages seen.

[On screen.]

We'll participate on Wednesday, December 7th for a call in day. You don't need to wait. I'll put a link in the chat to the action alert page to take action after the call today. Make your voice heard.

In addition to taking action and communicating the main office of our senators, we need to make sure the point person reaches out to each of the Senate tax aides directly. That's the one person in RESULTS who is the point center for your office. State the impact the Child Tax Credit has had for you and your comment.

[Reading questions on screen.]

If you get a meeting with aides or a senator, reach out for the latest developments and coaching from RESULTS staff.

Third, our December action is pushing on media. We shared on the Hill last week. Keep up public pressure. Media in the coming days is the perfect excuse to circle back to Senate offices.

Because of the nature of the negotiations about finding the compromise and that we know the only thing on the table is temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit, I'd suggest those talking about a permanent Child Tax Credit expansion reframe your media pieces or edit that out. That's our longterm vision but not what we expect congress to deliver in coming weeks. It's not on the table.

I went to bed thinking we could be looking back. It's RESULTS volunteers and folks on the call and networks that we represent that get us across the finish line in historic policy to reduce child poverty. We're grateful for the work you have done and will do to get us across the finish line.

>> CRICKETT NICOVICH: I hope you hear me. At the end of this year, we've been talking about this all along. The big package may have extenders and the Child Tax Credit bit but appropriations work in it. If we're in any conversations ongoing, we want to say that we want an end of year spending bill to pass an omnibus, combining funding priorities across issues and make sure that we have increases in the end of year spending bill across foreign aid priorities.

As you've been blowing up all year long, we early on talked about funding for ending the TB epidemic and funding priorities around preventing childhood and maternal deaths, focusing on nutrition, and pushing for increased resources around global education. We've been working to improve and increase funding across these as part of the omnibus package that we hope will pass.

We also work around legislation around these 3 issue areas across the House and Senate to move bills forward to improve equity and impact of programs that we annually get funding for.

Since August and our fall campaign, we've pushed for these 3 bills, the End TB Now, the Nutrition and Treatment Act and the education reauthorization. The nutrition bill was introduced to the House and Senate and through to the full floor earlier this year, a huge win. This fall, we dove in on the TB bill and global education bill, the latter passing the House but not the committee on the Senate. We pushed to get marked through the Senate foreign relations committee to the Senate floor to pass into law.

The TB bill was noticed in the business committee for the Senate foreign relations committee this meeting on Wednesday. The READ act is also noticed -

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We have 2 bills that we've been working on this year, both in the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday.

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>> KEN PATTERSON: We lost Crockett. Hopefully, she'll make her way back.

>> CRICKETT NICOVICH: We want to do it, too.

>> KEN PATTERSON: Are you back? You may want to turn off your video.

>> CRICKETT NICOVICH: Sorry, I didn't know that I'd stopped.

[Host troubleshooting.]

>> KEN PATTERSON: We've lost Crickett. Reinforce work on the Senate bills, asking them to work with foreign relations in the House and Senate. Their voices make a difference toward pushing them forward. I understand that even if you support this that we don't want to wait to get to the floor. Weigh in on this by the foreign affairs and foreign relations committee.

Here are your committee members put up there. Are you back?

>> CRICKETT NICOVICH: Yeah. The Senate foreign relations committee - I don't know why Markey is highlighted, but he's a cosponsor of the End TB Now Act. Menendez is the eland cosponsor along with Young of Indiana. If your Members of Congress or senator is on this list, call them on Monday and say to vote for this in committee and vote this out of committee on Wednesday when foreign relations moves to approve the bill.

We have the House foreign affairs committee. Bera is the lead on the End TB Now Act. Talk to members on the House side on the majority. That's the minority. It's Bera and Salazar on the House side. Call on Monday. Talk to these members of the House foreign affairs and Senate foreign relations committees. Vote to move them to the floor this congress. We want all checkmarks across to pass into law for the end of the year. Thank you so much. We'll put out an action alert on Monday to make sure that we're getting our voices heard and people here to pass these bills. Thank you so much. That's the end of my slides

>> KEN PATTERSON: We're turning this to Lisa.

>> LISA MARCHAL: Hi, can you hear me?

>> KEN PATTERSON: Sounds great.

>> LISA MARCHAL: It's wonderful to be with you. We'll see the face of Alicia Stromberg, but her voice isn't cooperating. I want to credit her. Her enthusiasm is helpful. I want to credit her for some of these words. I want to see if we can launch the poll. Including you, how many people are with you? We'll celebrate where you are in the network and how many of you there are. How many people are with you. Mark that in the poll.

In the chat, put your city. Where are you calling from? We'll start to see how many folks there are. Look at those cities. We have well over 100 people on today. In some places, more than one is joining. You're doing it as a duo. One place has 4 people. Fantastic.

This is a chance for us to take stock of all of the fabulousness that's gone on in 2022 thanks to you. Thank you for participating in that. It's great to see how far and wide you are.

What have you done? So often, we work so hard in advocacy that we don't take stock and a breath to think about it like Joanne mentioned at the top of the call. Do you realize what you've done together? Here are highlights by the numbers. The year isn't done. These are minimum numbers. Not everything has been reported yet. We have a minimum of 401 lobby meetings. That's when we put these slides together a few hours prior. Joanne had different numbers today in some cases.

[Reading from slide.]

What did you do on media? Fabulous.

[Reading from slide.]

There are cities, towns and places all over the country - WVU, Fort Worth, Nova Southeastern, Dallas, Chicago, etc. - with those engaged in reaching out through tabling and one-on-one conversations or a fundraiser. Spectacular. So many participated in the November 17th post election webinar. A number of people were invited and followed up. Incredible.

With those highlights, we'll do breakouts with 5 per room. Ken will break people out. You want to click the button that says join. If you need a captioner, stay in the main room.

[Reading from slide.]

We'll have about 10 minutes. Join the room when you get the prompt. If you need a captioner, stay in the main room. We'll have a conversation. Monitors are putting the question in the chat.

[See chat.]

Enjoy your conversation.

[Breakouts.]

[Transcriber note: Please stay in the main room if captions are required.]

>> LISA MARCHAL: Thanks to our captioner for staying in the main room. What RESULTS victory are you celebrating from 2022? Jump in to say where you're from and what you're celebrating. Anyone have anything to share?

>> SARAH LEONE: I'll kick us off and hopefully get shy folks to share. I'm celebrating everything that advocates have gone through personally and on Capitol Hill. I'm proud that we made it through 2022 with a couple of weeks left. I'm proud of everything advocates have personally accomplished, an overarching conversation. I'm grateful for all of the advocates.

>> KEN PATTERSON: Four letters to the editor were published on the Child Tax Credit in the San Francisco Bay Area. Make sure we have those letters. This is perfect timing in reinforcing the Child Tax Credit. Get letters to your action networks to contact that they saw media pieces in the paper. Excellent.

>> LISA MARCHAL: Thank you, Sarah and John. Something else that you're celebrating? A victory?

>> SARAH LEONE: Alicia doesn't have a voice. She's celebrating personal transformation with volunteers when stepping outside of their comfort zone and put into action, especially new volunteers.

>> LISA MARCHAL: Thank you for that.

>> KEN PATTERSON: I was thinking about the accomplishments this year. In the beginning of the year, we started with the Global Fund replenishment and pushed administration to be vocal about its pledge that the president put in his budget for the $6B budget with the appropriations and the 3 global bills. Then it's slugging it out on the Child Tax Credit. This has been a hard campaign. Folks have stayed persistent. It will be important to do that through the balance of the year.

We look at the media pieces generated on the Child Tax Credit, hundreds with phenomenal work. We haven't heard from some offices, but we realize we need to keep this with Members of Congress. There's much at stake. I want to give everyone a PUPO award for persistence. Lots of celebrating.

PUPO stands for persistence usually pays off, something we've adapted at RESULTS. If we stay with it, we'll likely see results.

>> LISA MARCHAL: Super. Thanks. Others like to share? Something that you're celebrating? Feel free to speak up or put it in the chat.

Something I'm celebrating is the continued presence and partnership of the advocates with different particular experiences and skills. In the network, we have folks with us for a long or medium time or is brand new. People bring fresh perspectives from other media in advocacy work, work in the world or other organizations. You've got folks in specialty cohorts, like the fellows that inject new skills, leadership and energy into new groups. You have experts on poverty with willingness to share. It threads in a web of effectiveness. Everyone is willing to engage with each other and bring out the best in each other. We see that all of the time. It's inspiring.

[Reading from chat.]

Our group in Washington- Kitsap, brought in 2 new members who are already enthusiastic and active. Fantastic.

[Reading from chat.]

Celebrating folks reengaging their outreach efforts, especially on a November 17th event, inviting a new person, lead or friend to attend and join our movement counts. OK.

Any other thoughts? Proud of our action network managers and new advocate mentors for all of their coaching and leadership. Folks will be welcomed back to this room in 1 minute. Take this time for any last thoughts or things you're celebrating at the end of 2022.

[Reading from chat.]

Celebrating all the wonderful work of advocates who came to DC this week. Particularly how wonderfully a few new advocates did in their meetings.

The impact of that is clearly explained by Sen. Brown and expanded upon by Meredith. Absolutely. Last thoughts on celebrations for 2022 before welcoming back fellow advocates?

Judy, are you speaking? You might be speaking to someone else. Thanks for sharing. In a few seconds, everyone will be coming back.

[Main session.]

>> LISA MARCHAL: Thank you for the enthusiasm and carbonation in the room in celebrating things at the end of the year.

[See chat.]

Share something in the chat that you celebrated in your breakout room. Let us know what victories you are excited about and carry you into next year. We want to see those. We'll make space to do that.

I want to transition to a few more things that we're celebrating. One fabulous thing we do regularly is welcome new advocates/volunteers, over 200 this year. It's exciting to see the movement grow. Thank you so much for jumping into action, on the fly in or other places.

I want to celebrate everyone on the call that got someone started as a volunteer. You showed up in your community, attended a town hall and built someone up. Outreach and partnership coordinators do something special in cultivating community connections and partnerships with likeminded organizations. Many of them are in training in New Orleans eighth colleagues Grey and Beales learning to do this more. We're grateful.

With all of that, thank you for your partnership and for supporting each other in this movement. We have so much to celebrate and be proud of. Now I'll pass this to Yolanda Gordon for more celebrations.

>> YOLANDA GORDON: Hello, everyone. I'm manager of expansion and advocacy. I'm filing in for Lakeisha McVey who manages the poverty program. I want to celebrate the Experts on Poverty.

[On screen.]

These 8 individuals are some of the most amazing people I've met. Sometimes, we don't make as much progress as we'd like and it's easy to lose faith in success. Advocacy is a marathon, long and exhausting. We sometimes get tired. When I interact with our Experts on Poverty or see them knock it out of the park on a Facebook ad, I remember why we do this. Three workshops were designed at the international conference, a webinar with 160 organizations in attendance on reimagining the pillars of the White House Hunger conference, working with the NAACP on the Child Tax Credit expansion, etc.

There was a podcast on graving Lashawn Marshall and her son lost earlier this year. These people inspire us daily. If interested in checking out the work, you'll find it on the Experts on Poverty website.

Shifting to the RESULTS fellowship, I recruit young adults every year. Thanks to every group leader, new advocate mentor, RESULTS volunteer and staff that support fellows as they navigate their advocacy journey with RESULTS. Congrats to the 2022 cohort. The 11 months together shaped the upcoming cohort. Your work on our campaigns hasn't gone unnoticed. I'm excited for leadership opportunities that you're exploring within our network.

You want to move forward into more leadership opportunities. Congratulations again. So excited to have you in our network and our alumni network. Can't wait to see what you do in the future.

>> SARAH LEONE: Thank you so much, Yolanda. I've worked on the RESULTS grassroots impact team for 2 years. Before that, I was a fellow and volunteer for the previous 5 years. RESULTS has increased capacity of volunteers through their action network, a loosely organized group of individuals who don't have as much time to give to RESULTS and advocate. They have lives. Things happen. Sometimes, we don't have that time. They still want to be involved.

We give them 2 actions twice a month adding to 30 minutes every month. They are cultivated by their local RESULTS groups and supported by Action Network managers. I want to celebrate accomplishments over the last 2 years. This isn't all of them. There are too many to count. I'm still finding accomplishments.

When we first revamped our program 2 years ago, we had 20 Action Networks and have 39 in 26 states with potential for 11 more now. Those 11 groups don't have a manager or are looking. We've had Action Network managers host and create media trainings in Washington, media published in Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Alaska. We've had more. We don't catch some because they're doing it so often and because they're so loosely organized.

We've had members join the November meeting post election as invited by managers. These folks agreed to 30 minutes a month. To hop on an hour long webinar to talk about what's happened in the election says a lot about the relationship-building between the network and manager.

Some have had Action Network members join their RESULTS group. This is the biggest thing you could have happen. You do such a good job and inspire and empower them enough that they want to dedicate more than 30 minutes. This happened in Nebraska and Alaska. Shout out to the over 50 Action Network managers. We love the shared leadership profile. If you're interested in running an Action Network, contact me. I'm Sarah Leone.

To learn more or join the celebration, we have 2 sessions at 1230 and 8 PM on December 14th for an end of year Action Network celebration. My email is in the chat with a link to an updated Action Network manager guide, 3 pages with everything you need to know.

Congratulations to our Action Network managers. I appreciate your hard work.

I want to talk about our new storytelling project, something I'm excited about. We want to hear from you. Everyone remembers stories. RESULTS advocates create stories when you move on Members of Congress to act, publish media read by thousands, etc. Why gather stories about advocacy?

The grassroots entertainment at RESULTS wants to show the world what you do as you do. Story examples could mean getting media published . . . [Reading from slide.]

We want to share your story and talk about the challenge and outcome. Tell us how it made you feel and who it affected. We have a lobby report form. Why do we need this? This is different. That tells who you met with and the details. It's to the point. This storytelling project will be shared through blog posts, international partners and board reporting so people know the great work you're doing.

Nothing is too small. If you took your first action but it was nothing - a prefilled out something - that matters. You took the first step. The link to the form is in the chat. Successes, challenges, barriers and any advocacy story can be shared. There's a list of questions that are to the point. Let me know if you have questions.

We're proud of the work that you do. Sometimes, stories slip through the cracks. There are lots of us. We do such great advocacy. By having this project, we hope to have access to amazing advocacy work. That said, I'm passing it to Jos. Thanks.

>> JOS LINN: Thank you, Sarah. Good afternoon. Greetings from Kansas City. I'm. Here to give our final announcements for the webinar. Thank you so much for being on today. We appreciate your time and advocacy, as well as things celebrated today.

As we talked about in breakouts, we're celebrating successes. If there's something you haven't reported - a lobby meeting or letters to the editor - please let us know. The link in the slides takes you to the reporting page. It takes just a couple of minutes and is helpful to understand and track your successes and celebrate them. Please fill that out.

We're thinking about 2023 in a couple of weeks. We're thinking about how we and if we want to resume in person events, like the international conference, fly ins and regional gatherings. We want to know what you think. These involve you. We have a survey available. The link is there. Someone will put it in the chat, as well. Let us know your thoughts about doing in person events at various times in 2023. We appreciate your feedback. This helps us decide what we want to plan for next year. Fill out that survey.

The survey will be open through midnight on Monday. We'll close it Monday night. Fill it out today or this weekend so we can plan for events in the new year.

With that, we have a few events in addition to the advocacy on the Child Tax Credit and TB work. We have regular support and partner calls this month.

[Reading from slide.]

Sarah is doing an Action Network webinar to celebrate 2022. If you're an Action Network manager or want to learn what Action Networks are like and maybe create one in 2023, they're being held twice that day. That's the wrong date. The right date is December 14th. Join either link to register.

[Reading from slide.]

If you're interested and need coaching on letters to the editor or finding hooks, join the media office hour with me.

[On screen.]

You can also reach out directly if you can't make that office hour. Looking forward to that.

We're looking ahead to 2023. As we finish things, we have work to do in 2022 and want to think about the next year. This is time for group planning. Because of the legislation going on, we want to focus you on that. We'll push group planning in January and spend time on the national webinar talking about that. For groups that want to do planning early, we will have the group planning materials available in mid December. We're finalizing them and hope to have them in 7 - 10 days. Look for that information in the weekly update and in the January national webinar.

I want to emphasize the importance of groups doing the planning this year. We normally have between 60 - 80% of groups planning next year. We have new redistricting, meaning a lot of you will have new Members of Congress elected or switched. It's important to get an accurate sense of who covers whom in our network. Who have we covered? Who do we target for outreach in a district? Please make effort to do planning and get that information completed so we can be strategic in advocacy in 2023 and beyond to continue the amazing success you've created.

With that, our next national webinar is January 7th at 1 PM ET.

[Speaker reading: Note.]

Once you register in 2023, you'll be good for the year. We need everyone to reregister for the webinar. We'll send a link in the weekly update. Then it will be up in January.

I'll turn off the slides and ask Ken to unmute the lines.

Will there be United States poverty forums this month? Yes, United States and global poverty forums are Thursday, December 15th at 8 PM Eastern for the United States and 9 PM ET for global. If congress gets done early, we may cancel. Please plan for them. You can find the link in the weekly update.

Let's unmute and wish everyone great luck on completing this amazing work that we're almost done with and wishing a safe and happy holiday season.

[Well wishes all around.]

[End of meeting.] [223 PM ET.]

[Have a great day!]