RESULTS September 2025 National Webinar Live captioning by AI-Media JOS LINN: Welcome folks, and Jos Linn, director of advocate results, we would get started with a webinar in just a second. Our second director Joanne Carter will kick things off, but just a logistical note. I will be muting all of your lines momentarily. We do ask you please keep the line muted during the webinar unless you were speaking, so we don't get background noise. We are also recording this webinar as well. Let me mute everybody. (Recording in progress) All yours Joanne. DR JOANNE CARTER: Thanks, welcome everyone. It's good to be with you all. And Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS. It is such a key time politically as we head into the fall, so thank you for joining us for this September webinar. I think it is also important in this moment to acknowledge how many in our movement phase targeting and harmed by this administration, and to say we stand in solidarity as a community with all those whose identities and communities are being targeted. I want to talk about this summer and the usually impactful advocacy that took place. This summer our Action Matters Campaign has been attempted not just amp up our advocacy would you have done brilliantly, but also to remind ourselves that every time we connect with a congressional office, our fellow advocate, we remain... -- Whether or not they get published it's putting in lifesaving foreign aid, or the need to reverse harm done domestically on the radar of the newsroom. When you invite neighbors to the first RESULTS meeting after talking about your shared worries with reconciliation cuts, it's giving someone a chance to experience their own power in a new way. Frankly I think at this moment it is helping keep democracy alive. In the summer you met with congressional offices over 90 times, which is over twice the number in the same period last year. You met with Hill offices over 350 times this full year so far, those are enormous compliments, especially now some lawmakers have been hesitant to meet with constituents. He also published again this summer over 100 pieces of media. Significantly higher than the same time last year. Getting RESULTS issues in the media builds our power. Helps make it or cultivate poverty and countability for harmful decisions inescapable. Because we know Members of Congress closely track local media. So even if you haven't gotten to a member of Congress face to face, your message in the local paper is making sure they hear your voice and hear our voices. We've also been making sure the voices grow in strength and number, and I want to give a tremendous shout out to all of you who attended and helped plan record-setting in-person events this summer. The antidote to fear and paralysis is community. You've demonstrated how true that is this summer. Her before we started, many folks came together in August for the Texas-Oklahoma conference, there's an excellent blog on the RESULTS website by her own Errolyn Gray talking how energized everyone felt. Expert on Poverty Tiffany Tagbo led a session on food insecurity. Attendees learned how to tap into technology AI to support their advocacy. But maybe most important of all is attendee and longtime advocate, the energy of a group of committed excited people coming together is infectious, and he felt that continue the work, which I think is true for all of us. I also want to share about an event that took place a couple of weeks ago in Colorado. RESULTS founder Sam Daley-Harris with that to give remarks about a new edition of his book, and everyone anticipated attendance of maybe 25 people, which would have been great by itself. But in the end 80 people came to hear about RESULTS and build community power. Nancy, in Newark RESULTS volunteer who attended summed up by this moment felt like more than a book talk. She said people truly want to know how to make a difference in turning this mess around. We don't have to give up, and we are not alone. This is the importance of community in action. What an incredibly crucial time it is to be building our power. Some of you may have seen the most illegal -- the most recent illegal move by the tepid menstruation to cancel more funding for international assistance previously approved by Congress. Once again it is an attack on global antipoverty and emergency relief funds. What we also so really for the first time in this year was swift and bipartisan pushback from Congress. Senior lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, called out the administration's illegal actions. And you, you helped build support for that because you have been calling out these harmful actions that undermine Congress's power, and reminding Members of Congress they work for their constituents. And that we care about our communities around the world and at home. You'll hear more in the skull about critical next advocacy steps, to ensure lifesaving foreign aid funding approved by Congress actually gets spent. To get the Senate to reject the trumpet misprision budget proposal 2/international assistance even more last year. You all did a remarkable last smack a remarkable job with regularly and getting the house preparations committee to outright reject harmful cuts to key health and education programs for next year. This rebuke to the ministration would never, never have happened without you. You will hear about her critical work to create accountability for the harmful impacts of the reconciliation bill, on access to healthcare, and worsening food and housing security in our communities here in the US. I want to end with a quick shout out to our new advocates. Our grassroots action impact would not of been possible without those of you who came into RESULTS this year. So thank you for jumping in, having meetings and generating media. For speaking to your own lived experience and priorities. Because this collected momentum is the engine that will drive change and also resistance to harm at the local, national, and international level. Now we have a special guest here today whose critical insights and the importance of local action that has reverberating impact, so I'm pleased to hand over the microphone to my colleague TaShon Thomas who will introduce and lead a discussion with our guest speaker: State Sen. Kim Jackson of Georgia. Sen. Jackson, welcome. Sean, over to you. TASHON THOMAS: Thank you Joanne and thank you for attending, good morning and afternoon to some of you all is well. Kim Jackson services Senator for Georgia state district 41 representing portions of the County. Sen. Jackson also serves as Senior Vice President of Programs for the state innovation exchange, a collaborative on elected officials, circus assurance, and civil society leaders, to up create the conditions for racial, gender, social and economic justice for all. Kim motivated build a safer, fairer, and more prosperous Georgia, and bring diverse forces of the district to the capital including immigrants, refugees, and people living on largess. (Audio Issues) In a short time with her today we will have a brief Q&A. Ask if you do have questions, to place them in the chat. While we will likely not have time to get to them all, we will do our best to ensure all of your voices are heard. Once again we want to welcome Sen. Jackson for being with us this morning.... Have a brief introduction by the senator, basically what is SiX and its mission? How are other states a part of SiX, and how does that interact with our federal...? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: You for having me and taking time on a Saturday to learn how to be better advocates for yourselves, your neighborhood, and ultimately for our entire nation. I really appreciate the opening remarks from the Executive Director, speaking to have fundamentally we have to work together to save our democracy, so I'm grateful to be... legislators across the union. This date international exchange, SiX as we call it, is a network of state legislators across all states, including and additionally DC, Puerto Rico, and other (Indiscernible) is made up of all that which litters one DC case, City Council persons, who are working together to bring progressive change, progressive policies, to our states. Ultimately with the design towards creating a better world. The world that is relief of poverty, a place where everyone has opportunities to thrive. We do that through partnerships with those people on the ground, through communities and districts, with our constituents, national organizations like you all, but also with smaller courts of legislators were interested in what people might call a little niche area. Agriculture and food systems. Who would have thought a bunch of progressive legislators would get together on a monthly basis and talk about how we might be able to save our environment through progressive egg as opposed to vague act and type things. As part of what we do. Share with one another different policy ideas, support one another, and we collectively – because fundamentally at SiX, I think this is true for many state legislators. Now more than ever we are clear it is states who will have to save this democracy. The federal government has pushed so much onto us. So we will think creatively, we will think inspiration only. It will be up to state lawmakers to find a way to find a path. Also to use our influence to change our federal government is behaving as well. That's a little about SiX, a little about me briefly. I missed a legislator, I've served since 2021, and represent a portion just outside of Atlanta Georgia. I am a farmer, I come from a family of farmers, my wife and I are urban farmers in Atlanta. We have two little boys that you might hear, some little kids talking in the background. So I apologize, hopefully they won't be too disruptive. TASHON THOMAS: No worries at all, we love the kids here at RESULTS. Thank you so much Senator for your opening remarks as well. Second question, and kind of transitioning from what you just mentioned in regards to the state federal relationship, the state legislator how do we see the federal budget reconciliation bill impacting Georgia in regards to Medicaid and SNAP, and what are you also hearing from your colleagues across the country in regards to its effects in their respective states? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: So I will start with Georgia and then zoom out more broadly. I will say that all state legislators across the nation are all concerned about the reconciliation budget will stop -- Bill. There is significant harm on the horizon, but I do want to note that the federal lawmakers who make these choices, it was a political lens towards delaying some of the worst impacts, to after the election, and folks there were not paying attention. Because some of the most harmful things as it relates to the cuts to SNAP and both Medicaid benefits will not happen until people have already gone to the ballot box. I want to highlight that for folks. Because you're not feeling it in your pockets or your neighbors are not seeing the SNAP benefits being cut, it is coming unless we take some real innovation. As it relates to Georgia specifically, what we know is if these actions go in place by 2034 we will lose over 1 million people on our insurance plans. That is accommodation of both Medicaid mac -- Medicaid and ACA. The reason why ACA enrollment in particular here in Georgia is because the supplement or just not going to be there. When I have people in Haiti or Georgia who can afford premiums on a daily basis, but we're looking at premiums that will be increased by 4 to 5 times as much. I will say in Georgia while we are a strong healthy economy, our state budget cannot fill that gap, it will not fill that gap. So you will have people, who will no longer have Medicaid, or really access to health insurance and ACA. Additionally in Georgia in particular, there is difficulty around some added work requirements. We are actually the test case in Georgia already for what added work requirements are, because we have them. We have a pathways program that is Medicaid light, tubular Georgia did not expand Medicaid, we credit a program called pathways that has a requirement. Pathways has been in existence for over a full year. We have less than 10,000 people enrolled in pathways. Less than 10,000. When we know that over half a million people are eligible. Why do we have so few people enrolled? Because of work requirements. But not that people aren't working, because the paperwork required to prove you were either working or have a mine who is under the age of 16, or your volunteering or student. The paperwork is so extraordinarily difficult that Georgia today has less than 10,000 people enrolled in our program. That is a preview for the rest of the country of what will happen should the big ugly budget, these reconciliation pieces come into full effect. That is kind of a warning, I think we are a bellwether for many people. Zooming out of Georgia here's what we know about Medicaid in particular. Over half of the children receive Medicaid for their source of health insurance. So every time major cuts being made to Medicaid, anytime changes are made to your enrollment process, African way that happens, our children are the first ones being at risk of not having access to healthcare. That is a large concern every single legislator is really thinking about, or some issues thinking about your neighbor, loving and caring for them well, it's over deeply concerned about. Second is Mamma, the SNAP requirements will be shipping again. It will take time to implement. Some larger states with more revenue will probably be able to back bill some of that, but rural states like mine, farm states, they won't be able to fill in the gap. You will see hundreds of thousands of people who will start to go hungry, but there's more. The other piece that makes this difficult is there is a ripple effect. When fewer people are on SNAP, there are fewer people able to shop for groceries at the local grocery store. If you are a rural grocer running the one Piggly Wiggly IGA, and from the country, from the cells. I know the little grocery stores. If you are a rural grocer and have a fear finances from SNAP benefits and is subtly cut, your grocery store is at risk of closing. The same way we see fewer people with insurance, when they are no longer insured, we see rural hospitals closed. We are intimating with this Bill for both hospitals and for groceries, when people don't have access to food for grocery stores, you lose jobs, and the ripple effect it is to get worse. Farmers will have a place for their food to go. So rural Georgia, roll places across the country, farming states in particular are very much at risk of being harmed deeply by these Bills, and there is great concern across the states for legislators who were in these places. TASHON THOMAS: Thank you so much for that. First off it shows the negative impacts we have been preparing our advocates to talk about in regards to this Bill, but to see what the impacts will actually be on the state level and continue to be. It's something we are really stressing inner advocacy meetings with our Members of Congress. Right now I am going to actually pass it over to RESULTS Georgia volunteer, Lola Green, for the next question. STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: Hi. LOLA GREEN: Hi Senator, how are you doing? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: Good to see you. Will the MACU too, thank you for the work you do and I am loving the agricultural work aspect of it, it's so important. Really a way to pass it on to others who do not have that generational aspect in their family, so thank you for your advocacy and what you do. My question is many people are feeling disillusioned with the government right now, and question whether speaking to legislators whether at the state or federal level really makes a difference. I know I hear that a lot with my organization, Urban Indigo. From your perspective as a state legislator, how do you see the power of constituent advocacy? And what lessons might carry over to influencing members of Congress? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: I very much understand why people might be feeling disillusioned around government right now. To be clear, I am as well. Sometimes I tell people as a person serving in Georgia legislature, I just have a front row seat to the massacre that's happening. And to the ways people are being left behind. I very much understand that. I will say, they win when we give up. So as hard as it is, as much of a close review you might have, or distant view, to what you have. We cannot give up, because if we give up we lose. And so many people lose alongside of us. Do not be discouraged. I will say as a sitting legislator, constituent forces matter, the matter more than most other voices. I can give a really clear example for my own work as a State Sen. When I was first elected I came in with a list of things I wanted to achieve. Some ideas I had. But I had a constituent who wrote me, this little tip for people who send emails. They put in the subject line, I'm a constituent, please read. As a person who wants to be reelected in the future, you pay attention to the people who are constituents because they vote for you, right? I read the email, or email was directly related to an issue related to stocking and the ability to be released from your lease if you were a victim of stocking. She connected me to a number of agencies that deal with victims of stockers. Long story short was started with an email from a constituent saying I am a constituent, please read, resulted in the passing of a law that now allows all Georgia citizens who are survivors of stocking and domestic violence to be released from their lease without any penalties from the landlord. It was an email, a constituent email, that really sparked that kind of call. It remains true today. So much legislation, I could speak directly from the state level. It happens because of a phone call, email, visit from a constituent. Either in your office, whether at Capital or local office. Those conversations, putting faces to the stories and issues, they do matter and change things. This is true on the federal level, it's a little bit harder. Depends on who your legislator is. I will say there are some big things, some really big boulders that can feel hard to move. But when our voices are collected, it can make a difference. You could see things change. I know RESULTS yourselves, you've seen results from your advocacy. As bad as the big ugly bill is, it could be worse and it's not. And I believe fundamentally it is because of constituent voices raised that called out certain things, that made that type of thing slow down. The last thing I will add, this wasn't exactly your question. I think it's related. I have a dear, dear friend of mine who lives in a deeply conservative state, with a legislator whose ballot doesn't look like anything she would want it to. But she had a need, she needed to be able to get out of her mortgage. Because of a domestic violence situation. I told her, you need to call your congressperson. That is something that can help you with. She said, "no, no, he doesn't agree with me, I'm queer, all these things." I said call him, and she did. She called him, and his office helped, because that's their job, and they still do constituent services. Most legislators, red or blue, don't really care. If you have the right ZIP Code fits within their district and their job and services, they will take action. She was able to get out of her mortgage and move her family to safety as a result. Please don't write off your legislator, even if they don't full on things you want them to. LOLA GREEN: Thank you so very much, you answered that beautifully. Thank you, thank you, thank you. TASHON THOMAS: Absolutely agree, thank you Lola for asking the question. I am actually going to merge a question that appeared in the chat with one we have as well. When it comes to the unknowns we are experiencing in our country, how do you handle the overwhelm and uncertainty, but also how do you balance being senior vice president of a in organization, also being a state legislator, with also being a wife, a mother, and a farmer, how do you balance it all? And what keeps you motivated and encouraged? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: Thank you, I get that question so often. I think balance is a little bit of a mess. It's not balanced. Nothing is ever really quite balanced. Because I don't want to have an equal weight for the work I do, state legislature, I don't want to take the same amount of time as it is for me to raise my two little boys. I have an 18 month-year-old and a four-year-old, I will tell you now. I just proportionally spend more time with them than I do the other things, and I'm glad about that. I don't think balance is something I really try to seek. But I will say, I have a great community. One of the opening comments from your executive director really stuck out to me. She made the statement the antidotes to paralysis, and to fear, it might not be quite the right word. The antidote is community. That's been so true for me. It is true in the work I do. It's actually a principal and value to all of our six legislators. At SiX fundamentally believe in collaborative governance, which is really about community. Building community around the work we do to influence policy to make sure it's strong. That's how I try to live my life. I don't want a farm by myself. We very much have a community of people who work with us. We have a thriving community garden. Part of the firm is community garden, people coming. They work the section can help others. When my family had COVID, they took care of our entire section as well. Community has been really key and influential to the work I do. That's also true at the Capitol. I serve in the Georgia legislature, a difficult times were a lot of the things (Indiscernible) I value. I tell people the scoreboard is baked and often, and I'm often on the losing side of that scoreboard. But out in the hallways and gallery above me is a community of people who are cheering me on, supporting me. And so many of my other colleagues who were there with me on the floor. That's how I do it. I don't despair. I will also say I'm a (Indiscernible) race, I'm a clergy person, that's really my actual job and something I do really well. So I have three other women who are an Episcopal priest, they been walking alongside of me for 15 years. And we take turns with each other of being in despair, being mad at somebody, so I definitely have my squad of clergy I will call to be like, "look, I need you all to really – to put some energy towards really hitting this person for me right now. I can't hate them because I have to go and talk to them tomorrow, and have a bill I want to pass. So I need you to hate them for me for a minute so I can do my work, and then I do that for them." So there is a community, there's power in this work that I think helps me not despair. The last thing I will say, run particularly where we find ourselves within the nation. I am in Georgia, a black queer woman living in Georgia. I know what it is like to live under oppressive policies designed fundamentally to either eradicate my existence, or certainly make it more difficult. I live that on a daily basis. I think many Black folks around the nation understand what it is and are under authoritarianism already, yet I have found a way to thrive. So I am not without that, because I know my own experience there are ways to thrive. The government opposes it. And I come from a people, long line of people, you know what it is, figured out how to thrive. When the government is designed to trick you down. That's what gives me hope and keeps me up in the morning. This community around me. But also a deep awareness that there are people, myself included, who have been fighting against oppression for a long time. And we are still finding our way. TASHON THOMAS: I really want to thank you for that. I think we all needed to hear that, as we've been striving and working over the last couple of months as advocates. Trying to ensure our Members of Congress are doing what is best for their constituencies, and to see what their votes have been. It's been disheartening, but that gives us hope of what you just mentioned. I have a couple or questions and see if you have popped into the chat as well, I will do my best to try to merge some of these together. I will probably only have time for one more. As we are working once again to advocate to our Members of Congress, what something, a message you would like for advocates to get across when it comes to the correlation between the state level and federal? STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: I think it's going to be really important for individual advocates, and advocates as a group, to impress upon the federal Congress people/person that the states cannot make up the gap. California is almost its own, it has a huge GDP. It's a very powerful huge revenue source. Even California will struggle, – California has been settlement in places like Georgia forever. Grateful for that observation, but they are not going to keep doing it anymore. Blue states have already made their commitments. They're not going to keep doing that. Those of us who live in red states in particular, farm states, rural states, so many states listed. I would say there are about 28 states that are at great risk. Our budgets, state budgets, cannot fill the gap. So we have to impress upon our federal representatives that we need, there is a reason why we operate as a country, totality, as a fullness. Because there are places that will be left behind. One of the reasons I got into politics, because I was in college and remember, I was sent out there and I'm not going to get it 100% right. The basic meaning of it was where you are born, the ZIP Code you are from was predictive of whether or not you remain in poverty for the rest of your life. Based on the ZIP Code in which you are born and lived. I hurt my heart so much as an 18-year-old, that I made it my life to saying I don't want that to be true in the future. What we know right now is the state you live in. If you live in a state like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, I could keep going. We know if federal government doesn't need to send the funds down that they have in the past. That it will be a predictor for the ability of our children to succeed. A huge predictor of life expectancy for people who live throughout, particularly the cells, but again I am also saying about Midwestern global areas as well. We can't just sit back, and blue states and Bigler. He can't just say hey, we're good. We got ourselves. California, they can fund themselves. We can't do that. Read the federal government to step in and fill the gap so programs like – I will give you a great example from Georgia. Our feeding program for the summer, and Georgia 7% of children receive every single meal they are going to eat during the school year, they get it for free at school. That's all the foods they eat. One summer time comes, without school, they don't eat unless we have some repeating programs. Our summer feeding programs keep kids alive. Keep them able to come back to school. Those things are on the chopping block. You want to talk about determinants of health and future outcomes, if we don't have those feeding programs, those kids will not – the ZIP Code they live in, the state they live in will be their destiny. It's imperative we speak up to our federal agencies and let them know. The last thing I want to say about this is we have people currently serving in the federal government, his home state, you can figure that out. You will need to raise money, it's up to you. Sure. I hear that but fundamentally we know the dollars just don't add up. Without help from everyone, this is not over. That would be my encouragement. This is about lives, this is not about an ability to thrive, it's about realize being at stake if we don't have the federal government step in. And it is not too late. Sony of these things don't go into effect. You can make a law, you can unmake a law, trust me I have done it before. TASHON THOMAS: I love having this conversation, and would absolutely love to continue it today, but we don't have that much time left. I'm going to give you a couple minutes to have any closing statements that you want to make or words of encouragement that you want to give, but thank you so much for coming and talking to us today. We truly appreciate it. I hope to have a continued relationship with you and SiX, and uses state legislator moving forward. STATE SEN KIM JACKSON: Thank you all so much for having me. It's a great honor to be here. Deeply grateful to all of you offer the advocacy work you do, for the ways you engage with your neighbors, with her friends, with her communities to fight on behalf of others. So appreciative of that vision, the vision I think so many to share funding to make sure everyone has an opportunity to thrive. That poverty is illuminated, whether that's in South Carolina where I come from, or across the world and South Sudan. So grateful for that shared vision. I hope you walk away from this conversation with a bit more help. In the last thing I want to say: I know you have all done a lot of work and continue to work on the federal level, and pushing your federal congressperson, senators, to do the right thing. Thank you for that. But don't forget your state legislators. We live down the street from you, we stopped at the same grocery stores, our kids go to the same schools. Talk to us, because what we do at the state level, it really matters. And at the end of the day it will probably be the thing that saves our democracy more than what we see out of the government in Washington DC right now. So reach out to your state legislators. Thank you all so much! TASHON THOMAS: Thank you so much, once again thank you Sen. Jackson for attending and coming with us today. It was very, very insightful and impactful for us as we move our policies forward. So thank you again. Now we will switch gears a little bit and go into our policy campaign updates. I will start from US Poverty policy campaigns, then Mike colleague Crickett Nicovich will continue with our global side of things as well. Where are we right now in terms of US policy? As lawmakers finally returned to the capital after a long six week break, The most critical legislative item looming is the deadline to fund our government. As members are working to build consensus around appropriations, we must continue to remind them of their harmful decision to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cuts funding for several antipoverty programs including SNAP and Medicaid. The damage caused by this legislation will be felt for generations to come. We cannot let neighbors forget they chose to cut social services for the least among us to give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us. Let me repeat that. Our members of Congress chose to give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, while cutting social services for the least among us. So as states begin to study the impact of the OB EA on funding of state programs, as Sen. Jackson mentioned. They will also be at the general loss of services to their constituencies. For example in Texas, 1.72 million Texans will lose health coverage. In Iowa, 23,000 islands will be at risk of losing some of their food assistance if not all. And in Florida, one of the most depressing stats is as many as 1.07 million children in Florida will get nothing from the 200-per-child increase in the Child Tax Credit simply because the parents who often work important low-wage jobs, don't earn enough. You can find more information on the negative impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on your state by visiting the link in your chat. Of course we want to thank our friends are the center of budget and policy for sending us that information as well. And we will send this out to you via email as well, but the link will be in the chat. As mentioned earlier, Congress is currently in negotiation to provide funding for government programs and services. As will be discussed in our Global Policy section, the top administration has unilaterally held a congressionally designated funding for foreign aid your pocket rescissions. We cannot, I repeat cannot, allow this to occur regarding domestic antipoverty programs. We must tell a Members of Congress that simply enough is enough. Congress must fund antipoverty programs such as WIC, Housing Choice Vouchers, SNAP, Medicaid and others, and ensure the White House spends the funds as required. No long-term continuing resolution, nor foliar appropriation bill should pass without directives to the administration on funding these critical antipoverty programs. So what is it we are asking you all to accomplish this month? Reach out to your House and Senate offices urging them to support antipoverty programs and budget negotiations, they must understand the cuts they made with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have harmful impacts, especially when it comes to the current appropriations request that they had. They fund these programs to meet the growing needs, and must find these programs to meet the growing needs. Also, if your member of Congress is from the Democratic Party. We urge them to cosponsor the restoring food to your -- restaurant food security for American families and fairness act of 2025, I know that is a mouthful. Basically what this bill does is repeal all the harmful impacts of the SNAP cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That information should be placed in the chat as well, and we will send out more information. Once again, if your member of Congress is from the Democratic Party, we would love as many to cosponsor the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025. Finally, remember your local media plays a vital role in our advocacy work. Continue to submit your letters to the other and better medical readers of the disastrous impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on your state. Right now, we should use every chance we get to remind people the best way to protect our democracy is by actively participating in it. Continue to speak up, call out our members for their dangerous decisions, and ensure they reverse these harmful cuts to antipoverty programs. As Sen. Jackson said earlier, they win when we give up. Once again enough is enough. Here are some resources that will help you when you're reaching out to your congressional offices, and submit your letters smack your letters to the editor. As always if you need help, have questions or need more coaching for taking these actions, please reach out to a RESULTS staffer. With that I will pass it over to my colleague cricket alt will go over our global poverty section. -- Global Policy section. Live captioning by AI-Media Hi everyone, Crickett Nicovich, director of policy and government affairs at results mac, and man is it an interesting time in DC. And your advocacy continues to be ever, ever important. Next slide. As you have seen this year, the ministry and has done everything it can to grab power, to make unilateral moves to slash funding across all these antipoverty programs. Introducing the global programs as a test case of how much pressure Congress will stand. You have to stop work order, the legal and dismantling of USA, following by terrible presence budget request. Then a global rescission package to Québec the fiscal year 2025 appropriations that Congress already approved. And made all these pocket positions and impoundment to detain and holdback these resources from being spent. They are trying everything. There's a lot of metrics we haven't seen before, but it comes down to one supple thing. This illustration is trying every thing it can to go back spending on antipoverty programs that meet the basic needs of people. But it is not up to the administration, Congress has the power of the purse. It is our job as advocates to remind them to wield it. Over and again at every turn, Congress has protected the global health and evolvement programs that save lives and fight poverty. And we have to keep pressure on them so they know their constituents are paying attention, and Americans care about how the US shows up in the global community. I have heard directly from some offices that they haven't heard as much as they should, so definitely reach out soon. So where we are. For FY 26 you asked and Congress answered. Reminder Southside global spending bill for the state fund operations Bill, now known as the national security and related programs appropriations bill. It's gone through the full committee, and they maintain funding for all of our priority global health programs. Even slightly increasing the nutrition funding level. While basic education funding was less than last year, it received only a small cut. It was encouraging to see the House refused those cuts, while the overall bill received less funding than last year, it was ultimately not supported by Democrats because of those cuts. Our antipoverty priorities, everything you asked for during appropriation season, were fortunately protected. That's because of you speaking up. Again, the bill passed the full Appropriations Committee, but it was on a partyline vote. On the Senate side, we are expecting a similar Bill, hopefully slightly better. They have committed to making it bipartisan. The bill was able to be marked up in committee in a week, but as of Friday those discussions have stalled. So we have to get you more details soon. But because of that stalling, it means you have more time to make an impact with congressional outreach. Your last-minute pushes to ensure the Global Fund language around the 1:2 match in the Senate bill is incredibly helpful. Meaning every one dollar that the US gives, we are pulling in and leveraging two dollars from other countries to help fund the fight against AIDS and malaria. We also have to keep the funding strong across all of our issue areas, and you reaching out has a huge impact. So really keep it up. Lastly, in Congress annually appropriates international funding, they allow USAID two years to spend it. Knowing it takes time to secure the contracts and quality programs with countries and implementers, they give them that leeway, that time period. Again as TaShon mentioned at the beginning of his, the menstruation has sent yet another $5 billion precision package to Congress to cut the previously approved global funding that the administration has been sitting on and not programming all of this year. These are development resources that expire at the end of the fiscal year on that number 30th. We don't expect it to include global health, but development assistance means basic education programs, our wash, water and sanitation programs, some of the food security programs, so stuff we really do care about. This whole rescission at the end of the fiscal year, where it would expire on September 30, is known as a pocket rescission. It's the first time the omission is try this maneuver, but already Republican Senator Susan Collins, the chair of the Senate operations committee, has openly called it illegal. Remember, it was the Senate that fought back on that last rescission package of 9 billion. They fought to ensure a carveout to save those global health programs, and it was really important. And it was all of your advocacy to push back that really made a difference. This is again a test to see what Congress will do to push back on the cuts before sending for the rescission packages that target other domestic spending resources, and that's what we can't see. We can't see that happen. Well, we expect lawsuits and for this to go to the courts. Their actions we can take right now. Reach out to your Members of Congress, tell them to reject these decisions, and take action to extend the deadline to expand these resources at the end of year negotiations. All of this comes down to telling Congress to stand up, use the power of the purse. They must protect and spend the global health and develop funding, and reject all decisions. -- Reject all decisions. I want to say many of you have reached out to us about actions to aid Gaza. As folks have seen, a family was officially declared on August 22 in Gaza, -- famine. There were still in your total blockade of food and medical supplies from reaching those in need. Each passing day of more violence and no relief is a death sentence for so many children and families. RESULTS has added an action alert on a website, this last week they sent it out. It can be shared far and wide. Again the US joined the global community with concrete actions to end the suffering. We must call on Congress to do everything they can to end the blockade, Frio hostages, and allow for the free flow of aid to help relieve the famine. Thanks so much. Now Lisa Marchal with grassroots actions. LISA MARCHAL: Hi everyone, I just want to check. Do we need time for anything else? SPEAKER: I think we have time for Q&A if folks have questions. TASHON THOMAS: As we go into that section I just want to clarify the legislation of which I was asking folks. If you have democratic members to sign up for the legislation, the goals there is that the Bill itself is not been introduced yet, but we're trying to get as many cosponsors as possible on it before it is introduced. We do not yet have a Bill number, but we have a title they can start. SPEAKER: Who do they contact? JOS LINN: And thinking in that document they put in the chat at the bottom, there is a list, there's enough they can contact in the offices that are introducing the Bill. CRICKETT NICOVICH: (Indiscernible) office and Congresswoman (Unknown Name). And they have the email associated right there. JOS LINN: I would just add, they decided a quick thing about that. We mentioned there was a Democratic Bill, who left out Republican sign on this bill but they are not likely to sign on. You could certainly ask Republican member to do it, but we don't expect them to, just because most of them voted to enact SNAP cuts in the first place. That is why it is more likely to get Democrats on it. Are there any questions folks have for policy folks, we have about five minutes available if you have questions about stuff covered, and would be stuffy of course is about we did not cover. Feel free to put it into the chat or come off of mute to ask your question. CRICKETT NICOVICH: And Randy, I wouldn't be able to answer. I see the question. If individuals and got asked for funds to give them relief, will this help or is it better to donate to organizations providing relief? I think there are a lot of great organizations doing good work. If you have direct connections to someone and you know those folks in Gaza, or of connections to those folks, I think that is definitely up to you. But I think it really is about ending the blockade so more resources can get in. JOS LINN: Looks like Lynne has a question. Go ahead Lynne. You were on mute Lynne. SPEAKER: Sorry, forgot I was on mute. I put it in the chat but just want to say I've had really good luck this last year, taking new volunteers, people who care about these issues, to meet with Members of Congress and share their personal stories. We have always done that sort of thing. I am asking I guess specifically TaShon. As we start to see people in the community being hurt by these cuts, can we make it a real personal effort? I guess I am asking everyone who is listening. To get those people to encourage them. They want believe talking to their legislators matter, but to get them. Because I can think of a couple of Republican members near me. If they started getting every week a call or two about a family that is having trouble saying, "please Congressman, can you help me? They will get tired of those calls. In the office is going to want to support policies that stop those calls from coming in. Is that a strategy we should start using locally? TASHON THOMAS: Yes, absolutely. I will say was the bill is horrible, one of the shining lights in it is they actually put implementation dates in there that we can use as campaigns against the Bill itself. For example some of the Medicaid cuts will start to appear January 1. Some of the SNAP cuts start August 1 of next year. What we are preparing at RESULTS is what that looks like. As each part of the way they implement different parts of the Bill. We want you all to showcase and tell those stories of people who will be impacted by those cuts as they start to implement it. So absolutely. And those conversations bring people along who will be directly impacted, as well as those who may not necessarily know them, they will be impacted. Once they start, Sen. Jackson mentioned to cover some more programs are cut, not just once the federal government has cut themselves, but also the once. Public education that states have to maintain their state funds. As though start to come to fruition and more cuts ocher, we will see the ripple effect. We ask you absolutely do that, and we can provide guidance on how to speak on that as though start to come to fruition. CRICKETT NICOVICH: I will take Yvonne's question. In the chat. USAID this Alexis, how is the US to shipping foreign aid? There are a couple of answers to that question. One is status of the global health staff have now moved over to the state department. It is a very limited number of people, but they have moved over. Some of them have the expertise in getting dollars out the door, and are trying to get dollars out the door before the end of this fiscal year. What you've heard is that global health dollars, they are trying to get it out before the end of this fiscal year so they do not meet the same demise of other development assistance dollars and expire. If it expires that money goes back without any other action. The money goes back to the treasury. But for things like development assistance, we do not have staff and several of those places. The idea is if you have money, you will be required to spend, you have to hire staff to do it. That's the only way we are going to be able to get the resources back out the door. Some of the money has been able to move through like the stop TB partnership for tuberculosis work, or UNICEF. I think there's some dollars set up and moving. But for the most part it suffered evolvement assistance, meaning anything like the basic education. Some of the bigger food security. Farming. Feed the future programs, if you remember those. Or even our micro finance line we use to work on. It's funded under development assistance, democracy programs, economic support fund programs. A lot of those don't have staff. And none of those new contracts have gone out the door since the official closing of USAID on July 1. So the point is if we keep the money, they're going to have to hire staff again. It's going to take time. It's not going to be perfect but that's our goal. To push forward and make sure we are putting that pressure on to get that up and going again. Yes, it is really inefficient, but I think that was the goal there. But I think we have some real winning strategies to try to make some of these things move, and getting you all to make those calls, pushing back is really going to be important. TASHON THOMAS: Thank you. We will actually pass it over to Lisa now, as we want to make sure we stay on time with everyone. But if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to any of us on staff. Thank you all so much. LISA MARCHAL: Hi everybody, my name is Lisa Marchal, my Senior Manager was a Grassroots Impact Team, I am here in Indianapolis. Nice to see all of you. Thank you for the great questions you had all day today. We will build on what we just walked through, this is important to us here at RESULTS we support each other with accessible tools for advocacy. And this idea of continual skill building is key to our success as we constantly learn from each other. Over the years we have landed on a few tools that really stand the test of time. One of these is the Epic Laser Talk framework. Today we would like to help you get acquainted, or maybe reacquainted, with this farmer so you can utilize it directly with the information you have heard today. EPIC Laser Talks, again this is a framework that will be effective for crafting a short powerful couple of paragraphs that can serve as the heart of a letter to the editor, or serve as an elevator speech for lobbying. There are other places where you can use this framework, but as we dig into the work of this congressional season, lobbying and letter writing are certainly at the top of our minds. The Grassroots Impact Team is already brainstorming ways to provide except for practicing and utilizing this tool over the next weeks and months. But first we will start at the beginning and begin to see what this tool is all about. After you pick your topic on which you are advocating, and you've identified will be reading your letter or will be listening to her talk. You will be basically choosing about eight sentences or so to create your Laser Talk. As the RESULTS advocate, you typically know a lot about a topic, and we try to provide you access to resources. So this framework, and my cat is really going to enjoy this, if you see him on the edge of the frame. He loves you by the way. This pro-mic will help you make strategic choices out of all of the things that you know, so you can craft a couple of paragraphs that will say fit a 200 word limit, or fit a conversation with a legislator that maybe gets cut short and is not as long as he wanted to be. The epic part of Epic Laser Talk is an acronym. EPIC. It points to the primary core parts of a strong Laser Talk. Engage, problem, and form and call to action. Engage, problem, inform, and call to action. Let's see what this looks like as you put together a Laser Talk for this first example for Global Fund work directed at Congress. E. Engage. This is where you grab attention. Is there a statistic related to the global fund that stop you in your tracks? Do you have a personal reason why this topic is so important to you? You don’t have to share anything you don’t wish to, but your passion around an issue is always compelling. Write a sentence or two based on one of these ideas. Here’s a sample of an Engage segment: At the height of the AIDS crisis, the world came together to create the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Over the past two decades, this partnership has helped save 65 million lives and has always received bipartisan support in Congress. That is an example for Engage. Second, State the problem. What problem in the world needs to be solved? Don’t let the reader or legislator guess what you want to speak about. Be succinct with an explanation that would be clear to anyone new to the issue. Here is a sample problem statement. Despite recent progress in global health, millions of people are still suffering and left behind by their health systems. For example, tuberculosis — the world’s leading infectious disease killer — sickened almost 11 million and killed 1.25 million people in 2023 alone. That is an example of your problem statement. Next, you informed. You informed on a solution. This is a really cool section, because you offer our efficacy goal and you are inspiring hope. Make sure that the solution is explained clearly as a positive step that can be taken, whether it be the passage of a bill or congressional pressure on the administration. Here is a sample inform statement. This fall, world leaders will make new pledges to the Global Fund. The U.S. has played a key leadership role for decades. Our pledges bring other donors to the table by committing to matching $1 for every $2 from other countries. That is a sample informed statement. Finally, your call to action. This is your request that, ideally, can be answered with a “yes” or “no.”That is when your persistent comes later when you follow-up to get the yes or no and not live it may be land. It’s a specific ask you have for the listener or reader. Here is a sample: We need bipartisan leadership in Congress to deliver vital funding for the Global Fund. This also encourages other donors to come forward. Can we count on you to commit to continuing the U.S. 1:2 match, and will you also reach out to appropriators to ensure that this is included in the FY26 spending bill? What does this sound like altogether? Listen for the EPIC elements once more. At the height of the AIDS crisis, the world came together to create the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Over the past two decades, this partnership has helped save 65 million lives and has always received bipartisan support in Congress. Despite recent progress in global health, millions of people are still suffering and left behind by their health systems. For example, tuberculosis — the world’s leading infectious disease killer — sickened almost 11 million and killed 1.25 million people in 2023 alone. This fall, world leaders will make new pledges to the Global Fund. The U.S. has played a key leadership role for decades. Our pledges bring other donors to the table by committing to matching $1 for every $2 from other countries. We need bipartisan leadership in Congress to deliver vital funding for the Global Fund. This also encourages other donors to come forward. Can we count on you to commit to continuing the U.S. 1:2 match, and will you also reach out to appropriators to ensure that this is included in the FY26 spending bill? That is how it flows. We do not want to be you hanging without a domestic laser talk. If you want to hear a current laser talk, this one the audience is also Congress. Here is a talk on snap. Listen for the four elements, Engage, Problem, Inform, and Call to Action! Through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Congress enacted the biggest cuts to nutrition assistance in our country’s history. As a result, 4 million children and 500,000 seniors and adults with disabilities will lose access to vital food assistance through SNAP. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called SNAP, helps 40 million Americans put food on the table each month. Most recipients are working families with children, elderly persons, and people with disabilities. The OBBBA cuts will force states to cut vital services and burdensome work reporting requirements will deny children and families much needed help. The Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 would repeal the disastrous cuts to SNAP in the OBBBA. Will you stand up for families and children by co-sponsoring this legislation? So, there you are! The EPIC Laser Talk format remember it is an adaptable, customizable framework for making your lobbying request for the central part of the letter to the editor that will really stand out in a crisp, clear manner. Next week, we’ll be posting these new laser talks on our website. We will send follow-up information follow-up email and subsequent communications, watch out for your weekly update. The key is not to feel you just have to use what we write. We hope those pre-written laser talks are helpful, but we want you all to feel empowered to craft, practice, and present your own laser talks. In your own voice, with your own passion. You’ll see on the slide links not only to our laser talks page, but to some of the data that was presented today. First is a TinyURL link to the data around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Teshon mentioned. Keep in mind, the global fund is expected to release its 2025 report very soon. As this congressional session moves along, there will be plenty of fresh data along the way. They tuned for more ways we will work with this framework so we can all increase our skills for powerful advocacy ahead. Thanks for listening! With that, I’ll pass things over to my colleague Sarah. SARAH LEONE: Thank you so much Lisa, we will get started with the poll. We want to see how many folks are with us in the room. Please go ahead and complete that poll whether you are by yourself or in a room full of people. We will give you a few seconds. How are we doing on the poll you all? JOSS LINN: We have 62% so far folks, making a left -- make it a landslide! Looks like it relaunched again, just fill it out again. SARAH LEONE: This information is really important for us to have. It is important to know who joined us every month. How are we doing? We will start with some of these events. I want to highlight two events, but there are plenty more going on in the next few weeks. We have claiming space, advocating with confidence. Let's build confidence to make every meeting count. We think the series will help you clean your space, sharpen your message, and use motivational interviewing to turn tough conversations into powerful ones. This will take place on Wednesday, September 10, this upcoming Wednesday at 12 PM Eastern. I will be facilitating that with my wonderful colleague Dorothy (unknown name) on the policy team. She will be providing us with, up-to-date global policy information that you just heard from Cricket. Please let me know if you have any questions, no registration is required. Next up we have our quarterly outreach gathering. You can view tools you can put into action right away. We have additional events coming up if we want to keep going through the slides. We have new advocate orientation happening on the 16th and 17th of this month. We will continue on with our global allies returned Peace Corps volunteers. Together women's webinar on the 19th. We have additional monthly support calls for our US poverty free agents as well. (Indiscernible) if you want more information on those, feel free to reach out to myself or other members on the team. You can find all our events and how to register for them on our website Events calendar by going to results.org and clicking Events at the top of the page. Let us know about the missing things you are doing. When you get media published, would be schedule lobby meetings and when you have outreach meetings. Lastly, we would love for you and your group members to join us for the October national webinar. We are very excited to have Freedom Richardson. Most importantly to me and asked, he is a former RESULTS fellow. Advocates were able to meet with his office not that long ago. He is a delight to be with, he has a wealth of knowledge. He is part of the RESULTS family too. That will be on Saturday, October 4 at 1 PM Eastern. That is what we have for you today, we push you coming out and join us. Right now, community is everything. Have to lean on one another and be willing to support each other during these trying times. We look forward to seeing you on October 4 and hopefully between their and the multiple events going on. Hope to see some of you this Wednesday. Feel free to unmute your lines and say goodbye to one another. We will see you soon, thanks everybody!