Keeping the Motivation UP!

I had a tough run this week. 11 miles training for my RESULTS fundraising half-marathon run. The distance wasn't even what made it so hard. It was the fact that I had to get it done while my 9-yr-old was getting ready for school. It was broken up into chunks while I was multi-tasking. Here's what it looked like:

Starting back again at zero
miles is depressing after
running 6 already!

• 5 miles on the treadmill before anyone got up
• Wake daughter
• 2 miles outside while husband was still home
• Make sure kid's doing chores and eating breakfast. Goodbye to husband
• 4 more miles on the treadmill

5+2+4=11. Whew.

Two miles outside made kept up my spirts
for the 9 miles on the treadmill

It's incredibly hard to keep focus on an exhausting task when you are interrupted and doing other things at the same time. Inertia can sometimes be your friend since an object in motion tends to stay in motion. But it can be your enemy since an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Getting back onto that treadmill was the hardest thing I've done all month.

This is not unlike what happens when you play the long game in activism, working on an issue like global vaccines. We fight and lobby for immunizations for children to secure funding for the GAVI, the vaccine alliance and fight diseases like polio, measles, and rotovirus. Sometimes we have big wins, but sometimes there are long distracting pauses in the legislative process during which life happens. Congress is in recess. Kids soccer games, choir performances, and scouting activities happen. School happens. We forget about what we were doing and when appropriations season (the time when Congress decides how much money to give in a year) or pledging time (the time when the President decides how much the U.S. should be giving) comes around, we have to fire up our engines all over again. But I do. Because this is important. Way more important than my run this morning.

It's so easy to think that we can let the issue go because vaccines are kind of a no-brainer in the fight for global health. They are a "best buy" when you think about the value of a low-cost vaccine that buys a child lifelong protection from disease. How do you even put a value on the precious life of a child? And the value on the dignity of a mother who was protected by immunizations as an infant so she can work to provide for her own kids free of illness?...priceless. With all the benefits to saving lifes and bolstering of world economy, you'd think that it would be automatic for Congress to pass adequate funding.

But it's not automatic. 

It's a fight. Every. Time.

One of my Twitter followers saw my updates urging people to tweet the White House to ask the administration to pledge $1 Billion over the next 4 years for GAVI. He did take the action, but said something insightful. He stands up for issues that are little known or publicized, like human trafficking - which is very admirable and I strive to do the same - but tweeted that he expects our elected officials to take care of those widely known issues without his input. 

I'm glad he voiced this. I understand that viewpoint and it's true that it's hard to stand up for all things all the time. Sadly, though, it's just not true that lawmakers do the moral and smart thing even if the benefits are well-known. I've been on the losing side of advocacy battles, too, when child health programs have been slashed on the state or federal level. 

This is why it's important to keep up the momentum and remember to strap on your shoes and get back in the race at those key moments for global vaccines...like this moment. Right now!

We are on the cusp of the pledging event where all the world's nations will send representation to Berlin to publicly say how much they will pledge to the GAVI Alliance. We want the U.S. to step up and pledge $1 billion over 4 years to the GAVI Alliance, which will have the effect of saving 6 million kids' lives.   

Will you join me in getting back in the game?

Three EASY ways you can join the fight for children's lives:

1. Sign this petition from the ONE Campaign to the White House.
2. Tweet the White House with this message: "Friends, PLEASE Retweet: @WhiteHouse save over 6M kids' lives by pledging $1B over 4 yrs to @GAVI #AYAAction #VaccinesWork"
3. Call the White House by dialing 1-888-213-2881, which will connect you directly to the White House comment line. When the operator comes on the line, tell them: “I am asking President Obama to help save 6 million children’s lives by pledging 1 billion dollars over the next four years to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Thank you.” (If you're worried about this one, go see my past blog about how easy calling in really is.)

I hope you will join me in taking one or all of these actions. Even taking all of them would take less than 20 min, but have enormous impact on our planet while costing you no money...except for your taxes and you have every right to weigh in on what they are spent on. Help us keep up the motivation!

When Force of Will Becomes Force of Habit

I advocate every day.
Yep.
Every. Day.

This wasn't always so. I didn't ever really understand what advocacy was until my thirties. So, how does one go from not doing anything about poverty at all to taking action to fight it every single day? How did I go from overcoming my nervousness and writing to my member of Congress through sheer force of will...all the way to phoning my elected officials by force of habit? For me, it started with a Lenten promise and a ONE bracelet.

By 2001, I'd done plenty of fundraising and service charity work, but "advocacy" was an odd, scary sounding word to me...until I realized that it's simply speaking out about something you care about. It took some Bread for the World members at my church to show me that it could be just a simple act of writing a letter, an email, or making a phone call. Yet that didn't mean it was easy. I was rather afraid someone from a senate office would call me back to challenge me, saying, "What did you mean by that!?" For me to write that first letter was not the most natural thing. My heart raced when I made my first phone call to my U.S. representative.

Once I realized I could have more impact with advocacy than direct service and saw that it fit into my life better, I recognized that advocating for better anti-poverty programs was hard for me, but something I wanted to do more because of the potential to have so much more impact than serving people at the soup kitchen one person at a time. So, I decided that for the 40 days I observed Lent (a Christian time of reflection, discipline, and sacrifice), I would put the white ONE bracelet on in the morning. When I had taken some sort of action - wrote a letter, made a phone call, sent an email, wrote a letter to the editor, etc - I got to take the bracelet off. I found that once I'd come so far, I wanted to keep going. After 40 days, I was just used to doing it. I also learned from congressional offices that persistence is a critical characteristic of people who get their attention.

Some UK researchers concluded that it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit. I believe it takes the doing of something regularly and repeatedly to get used to it. Plus - and I find this with exercise - it is inspiring to set a goal and keep up a good habit. I'm reluctant to let go of my goal when I don't want to lose progress I've made. Hm...this is Alcoholics Anonymous strategy, too, isn't it? Well, I also found that when I was happy with myself and impressed with what I had accomplished, I wanted to do more. That's likely why the RESULTS core values resonate with me:

"Instead of waiting to be inspired to take action, we realize that being in action inspires us." 

Now, it's years later and I have even more reasons to do something every day. Now that I've even travelled to Uganda to meet families who need such basics as vaccines, clean water, education for their kids, how can I stop when I've looked into their eyes and shared smiles together? 

Insider Images

I love it when I find campaigns that encourage other people to be in action every day as well...like the Shot@Life Blogust campaign where leaving a comment on a blog each day in August unlocks a donation for a vaccine for a child in the developing world. I like promoting that campaign because it's fun and by sharing it, I inspire other people to get involved and take action every day.

Every. Day.

FIVE YEARS OUT: AN UPDATE ON THE MDG- event in Chicago

The Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs and the ONE campaign present a public event on the Millennium Development Goals on Monday, Sept 27 at the Chicago Club. See below for more info on this fantastic event!
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

PUBLIC PROGRAM

FIVE YEARS OUT: AN UPDATE ON THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Singer and Goodwill Ambassador against Malaria, UNICEF
Liesl Gerntholtz, Director, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
Josh Lozman, Chief of Staff to the CEO and Senior Advisor on Global Health Policy, ONE
Moderated by Sheila Nix, U.S. Executive Director, ONE

With only five years to go until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York, September 20-22, to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. The goals—adopted at the UN Millennium Summit of 2000—aim to dramatically reduce poverty, hunger, disease, and maternal and child deaths. Join us for an expert panel discussion on the current state of the MDGs, with a particular focus on the progress of initiatives to reduce infant and maternal mortality, and what is needed to bring about sustained change by 2015.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka has been at the forefront of South African popular music for 20 years. An internationally recognized artist, entrepreneur, and humanitarian, she is also UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador against malaria, an ambassador for Roll-Back Malaria sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization, and a trustee of Tomorrow Trust, a program to educate orphans and other vulnerable children. She founded and presides over the Princess of Africa Foundation, a charity dedicated to fighting malaria.

Liesl Gerntholtz is director of Human Rights Watch’s women’s rights division and an expert on women's rights in Africa. She has written extensively on violence against women and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. Before joining Human Rights Watch, she worked for some of the key constitutional institutions promoting human rights and democracy in post-apartheid South Africa, including the South African Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality. A lawyer by training, she has been involved in high-profile, strategic human rights litigation to promote women’s and children's rights.

Josh Lozman is currently chief of staff to the CEO and senior advisor on global health policy at ONE. He previously served as ONE’s U.S. policy director. Prior to joining ONE, Lozman was a policy consultant at the Center for Global Development and a grassroots coordinator for the Global Health Council. He earned his M.B.A. and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Johns Hopkins’ Health Policy and Management department, where he is a Sommer Scholar.

Sheila Nix (moderator) is the U.S. executive director of ONE, and is responsible for ONE’s advocacy, communications, and campaign efforts in the United States. She has extensive experience in federal and state politics, and most recently was a senior vice president at the Strategy Group. Prior to her political career, Sheila was an associate at Arnold and Porter LLP.


This event is cosponsored with ONE.

The Chicago Club, 81 East Van Buren Street, Chicago, IL 60605

5:30 p.m. Registration and cash bar reception
6:00 p.m. Presentation and discussion
7:15 p.m. Adjournment


Learn more and register online at thechicagocouncil.org

Fight Global AIDS&TB with Twitter!

Do you have a twitter account or know someone who does? Here's a really easy way to support the Global Fund. The White House is going make a decision very soon whether or not to provide our fair share to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria..maybe even this week. A broad movement like this on Twitter can really show a swelling of public support for this idea to a President that understands that social media is a real force.

Please take this action from the ONE campaign...
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Personally, I tweet about a lot of things: bad movies, favorite Onion articles, proud accomplishments in the world of novice cooking—but today I'm using Twitter to do something a lot more remarkable and I hope you will too.

Right now, I and thousands of others are tweeting directly to President Obama, asking him to increase support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years. We need you to join us:

Click here to tweet!

Because of advances in science and technology, we now know how to prevent a baby from being born with HIV. And if the Global Fund gets the funding it needs over the next three years, virtually no baby will be born with HIV by 2015.

Unfortunately, the President proposed a cut to the Global Fund and we need to change his mind.

One tweet might not make a huge difference—but thousands of tweets from all across the country really can get his attention. We built a very simple tool to make it easy for you. Check it out:

Click here to tweet!


I signed up to become a ONE member back in 2005 – and for me, there are a handful of campaigns that really stand out. This Global Fund campaign is one of those.

I can't thank you enough for all you've done with ONE.

–Ginny Simmons, Deputy Director of New Media, @ONECampaign

P.S. Not on Twitter? You can still help out: just forward this email to someone you know that is on Twitter, and tell them it’s time to collect on that favor they owe you. We really appreciate it.

Bill and Melinda Gates and ONE Webcast

From Melinda Gates...


When I visited Ethiopia earlier this year, I met Tsion, a hard-working young woman in the government’s Health Extension Program. She is trained to tend to pregnant mothers, who otherwise would rely on traditional attendants unable to stop internal bleeding or resuscitate newborns. Tsion has helped take the terror and fear of death out of childbirth for hundreds of women.

As a ONE member, you've worked hard to protect U.S. investments in the world's poorest countries. Now Bill and I need your help to tell Tsion's story, and others—so more Americans realize our tremendous progress improving health around the world and are moved to support America’s continued leadership in global health.

Please join us on Tuesday, October 27, at 7 PM (EST) for a live online presentation titled “Living Proof: Why we are Impatient Optimists.” RSVP to watch:

http://www.one.org/us/gatesspeech/rsvp.html?id=1275-3720093-ES1vU6x&t=2

Through our foundation and visits to the field, Bill and I have been deeply touched by personal stories of lives changed for the better. Thanks to 30,000 trained health extension workers like Tsion, access to health care in rural areas is rapidly expanding. And the health of Ethiopian children and women is improving.

That’s why, when it comes to global health, Bill and I are optimists—but we’re impatient optimists. We need to build on this success now, by expanding it to even more women in Ethiopia and helping families in other countries benefit from what Ethiopia has learned.

Sharing success stories is one of the most important things we can do to motivate and inspire others in the fight against global poverty and disease. Please RSVP to join us for the webcast, learn for yourself how U.S. investments in global health are changing the world, and share the proof with your network:

http://www.one.org/us/gatesspeech/rsvp.html?id=1275-3720093-ES1vU6x&t=3

Thank you,

Melinda French Gates
ONE member


PS. I wrote more about my experiences with Tsion in Ethiopia for the ONE Blog. Read my entry here: http://www.one.org/r?r=236&id=1275-3720093-ES1vU6x&t=4

Barbara Lee introduces res: 1% of GDP for foreign aid

Feb 25, 2009, Rep Barbara Lee of California Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced legislation expressing support for providing, on an annual basis, an amount equal to no less than one percent of United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for non-military foreign assistance programs. Click here to see the announcement on her website.

"Yay!" that it is even an official resolution to consider, debate and inspire public discussion no matter what is in it! I don't yet know the particulars of the resolution or how it is being received, but I did think it was interesting is that ONE wasn't immediately jumping all over this. They are probably just being prudent and taking their time to develop a proper statement about it, but ONE activists in her district have been talking about how they are waiting on ONE's position...saying that ONE is waiting for the bill to have bipartisan support.

I mean, this is what many anti-pov groups have been pushing for...ONE more than any of them. So I hope they come out with a supportive statement soon...supportive of Rep. Lee's commitment if not for the details of the legislation. Anyway, I thought the existence of the resolution might make a good launching point for some media writing about foreign aid since ONE, Bread, RESULTS, Oxfam and everyone else are agreeing that no matter how much or how little we are spending on foreign assistance, we ought to be doing it wisely by reforming the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

ccyl

Let's Talk Bread: Feb recap

I'm a bit late on this, but here is the recap from the last "Let's Talk Bread" discussion. We had activists from Bread for the World, RESULTS and ONE as well as general concerned citizens at this lively discussion about foreign aid and the need to reform it this year. Anyone interested in networking with Chicago activists fighting global poverty is welcome to join us at our next meeting: Thurs., Mar. 26 from 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at United Lutheran Church, 409 Greenfield Street, Oak Park.

This recap was written by Zach Schmidt from Bread for the World's Chicago office. Feel free to continue the discussion by commenting here!
-ccyl
_____________________
Hi everyone!

Thank you all for a lively and fruitful discussion last night. Many people were talking and sharing their thoughts, listening and challenging each other to more deeply engage the issues of hunger and reforming US foreign assistance. It was a great night! Thank you all for allowing me to help facilitate discussion.

As promised, some of the key points/themes that stand out in my mind are:
-the tension between demanding or asking or expecting certain actions
-from whom actions are demanded/asked/expected (from our leaders, from our neighbors, from ourselves)
-responsibility
-ways in which we are currently engaged in advocacy and activism (from clicking on The Hunger Site to organizing a group of moms to write letters to their representative)
-what is required so that all might have the basic essentials for a decent life (sacrificing luxuries, redirecting a small percentage of US GDP toward the Bottom Billion, reforming US trade policy, putting the issues before our legislators and demanding/asking/expecting a response, etc.)
-some different arguments for the importance of reducing poverty and hunger (especially, the self-interest argument(s) vs. the moral argument(s))
-why people still suffer from hunger (e.g., lack of sustained awareness of hunger)
-most people, when faced with the reality of extreme poverty and hunger, will be amenable to the need to help. The problem is people are not aware in a way that deeply grips them on a daily basis.

As I said last night, I did not take notes, so this is from memory. I apologize if I am missing someone’s great contribution! And I would invite people to Reply to All and continue the discussion via email.

Have a blessed week!

ONE poverty petition to the candidates

From the ONE campaign...

In the past week, more than 30,000 ONE members have signed our petition to Barack Obama and John McCain asking them to keep their poverty-fighting commitments to the world’s most vulnerable people. Together, we’re proving that, even in tough times, we stand up for our principles. And so far, it’s working. Since our campaign began, the candidates have continued to stand by the promises they made earlier in the campaign.

Now we need to keep the pressure on, and to do that we’re going global and breaking records. This Friday, October 17th, through Sunday the 19th is the “Stand Up and Take Action” weekend against poverty, when we’ll join the Global Call To Action Against Poverty and the U.N. Millennium Campaign to set a new Guinness World Record of 67 million people standing up, literally, against poverty – 1% of everyone on earth.

Click the link to add your name to the petition below. Show John McCain, Barack Obama and the world that Americans are serious about keeping our commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals and halve extreme poverty and global disease by 2015. When you do, we’ll also add your name to the millions around the globe who are standing up against global poverty this weekend.

Dear Senators Barack Obama and John McCain,

As you work to find a solution to the global financial crisis, please do not waver in your support for the world's poorest people. It is now more important than ever to stand up for effective, efficient solutions that save millions of lives, strengthen the global economy, and win the hearts and minds of people around the world. I’m keeping my commitment to fight global poverty, and I ask you to do the same.

Tonight, John McCain and Barack Obama will take the stage at Hofstra University to debate one last time. At each of the last two debates, they’ve been asked what should be done to solve the current financial crisis. That’s a difficult question, but backing away from poverty-fighting commitments is absolutely not the right answer. Cutting off investments in life-saving solutions to some of the most wrenching global issues of our time would devastate millions of people and do nothing to get us out of the current financial mess.

A faltering economy doesn’t change who we are or what we believe in. And, just as we expect our elected leaders to help our neighbors here at home during these tough times, we also expect them to extend a helping hand to our global neighbors in their struggle against poverty and preventable disease. It’s the American thing to do and it’s one investment we know will pay off in the form of a safer, more prosperous world for all of us.

You can stand up for effective, affordable commitments to end extreme poverty and global disease by clicking the link below to add your name to the petition:

http://www.one.org/keepourcommitments/


Barack Obama and John McCain have already gone On The Record in response to the call from ONE members like you, and made historic commitments to end extreme poverty and global disease. In two weeks, we’ll deliver your petitions and give them one more chance to reaffirm where they stand on our issues. Between now and then, let’s Stand Up, set a world record, and make our voices heard as Americans, and as part of a global movement against global poverty.

Thank you for making a difference,

David Lane, ONE.org

Huffington Post on Poverty ('bout time!)

Finally in all this political discourse comes a poverty article in a popular blog about poverty. Huffington Post is pretty far to the Pro-Obama left, so if anyone sees something similar published from the right, please post it in the comment section and I'll give it an entry.

Huff Post:
Obama's Innovative War on Poverty

Sam Stein correctly points out that poverty never came up in the first 2 presidential debates.

"Indeed, as economic observers fret that the ripple effects of the market meltdown could result in greater numbers of underemployed and unemployed, the focus of the campaign remains firmly on businesses and the middle class. During the first debate, when the financial crisis was first coming into focus, "poverty" went similarly unmentioned.

It is, in many ways, regrettable. Not simply because the number of those living in poverty - 37.3 million in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - demands more attention. But because those who have studied poverty-eradication programs say that Barack Obama has a plan that could be historic in its reach and innovation."

It goes on to highlight some of Obama's anti-poverty programs. I will not enumerate them here, but I encourage everyone to look at that post as well as both candidates web sites to learn what they can about how the candidates plan to tackle domestic poverty. I'll leave global poverty out of this post just now, but a visit to http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/ can get you started on that issue as well.

Bono on Wall Street

"I am not qualified to comment on what has happened in the last week where this city has changed shape, certainly psychologically, and in terms of some people's wallets. And I'm not qualified to comment on the interventions that have been put forth. I presume these people know what they're doing. But it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger." -Bono at the Clinton Global Initiative

Link to Clinton Global Initiative (Dig that Rocketeer music that introduces Pres Clinton!!!)

Tell Jim Lehrer to ask a Global Poverty question!

Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates.

It's a shocking figure and in 2008, we need debate moderator Jim Lehrer to ask John McCain and Barack Obama "Just ONE question" on their plans to fight global poverty this Friday.

I just took action with the ONE Campaign and you can too, here:

Ask ONE question, please, Jim!

You can point out that poverty focused development assistance is one of the “civilian instruments of national security” promoted by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and thus very relevant to national security and foreign policy.

Contact Obama's VP Pick, Joe Biden, with ONE

The following is wording from the ONE campain, but I'd like to add my 2 cents. Joe Biden was one of the heroes of the Lantos-Hyde Act (still looking for the link to the op-ed that talks about that...will post soon). The Lantos-Hyde Act, passed in July, is the biggest global health bill in our nation's history. It tackles the triple threat of AIDS, TB and malaria...three deadly diseases of poverty. The passage of that bill was long and complicated...it came dangerously close to being hung up in the Senate. And it might have, if Joe Biden hadn't provided leadership to shepherd it through. Many people on both sides of the aisle deserve credit for the success of Lantos-Hyde...and Biden was one of the leaders.
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Senator Obama finally announced his vice-president choice, Senator Joe Biden - and I just took action with ONE.org to make this national political moment a meaningful poverty-fighting moment.

Click the link below to send Joe Biden a digital postcard letting him know that you want leadership as committed to ending extreme poverty and global disease as we are.

Click here to send a message to Joe Biden

It's important we contact him now, before he gets swept-up in an inevitable blur of coast-to-coast campaigning and crushing national media attention.

A new Ad from the ONE Campaign

From the ONE campaign, a new ad featuring Matt Damon and the voices of others coming together around an anti-poverty message...
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ABOUT THE VIDEO For more than a year, ONE members have been trailing the presidential candidates asking them to go on the record with their plans to combat global poverty. Now we're taking our message to the airways with this major new TV ad. The ad features Matt Damon with different Americans' voices - among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg.

Watch for it on TV and across the Internet starting Sunday, August 24th, but add your voice and share the online video with your friends now.

Click here to see the ad

ONE campaign "Music Builds Tour" in Chicago 8/23

From the ONE campaign...
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Want to rock out and help fight poverty? The ONE "Music Builds" Tour is coming to Chicago this Saturday, featuring Third Day and Switchfoot, with Jars of Clay and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. These groups have a multitude of number one hits, platinum records and Grammy Awards between them, as well as a strong following amongst both faith and secular audiences.

Visit www.musicbuildstour.com to learn more about the event, get the list of dates and venues, and purchase tickets.

This won't be just a typical rock concert. ONE is going to be a big part of the show, as well. Videos featuring ONE will play between sets and focus on three of our most exciting initiatives: ONE Sabbath, the ONE Campus Challenge and ONE Vote ‘08. We'll also have booths where concert-goers can sign up for ONE. And part of concert proceeds go to our partner organization, Habitat for Humanity, to build homes for those in need.

So don't just come...support the cause by bringing your friends, family and coworkers!

The tour arrives at Charter One Pavilion in Chicago on Saturday, August 23rd. This will be a momentous opportunity for ONE members across the Chicago area to get together, have some fun, hear great music, recruit friends to ONE's fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, and contribute to building homes for Habitat for Humanity.

NOTE: The Chicago performance is at 6PM

Improving American Aid

I just finished sending an on-line letter to people of prominence in the effort to improve the quality of foreign aid. Here's a message on behalf of me and the ONE campaign....
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I think it's important that we not only give more foreign assistance, but that what we do give is spent in the most effective way possible. To that end, I just sent a letter to the Director of US Foreign Assistance, the President of the World Bank, and a couple of other important development figures asking them to publish information about what aid projects they are funding.

I hope that you'll join me in taking action by sending a letter: http://www.one.org/international/accra/?rc=accrataf

We've seen aid achieve some amazing things in recent years - like over 29 million more children in school for the first time, and over 2 million more Africans with access to AIDS medications. But some aid money could be spent more effectively, and this is our best chance to make it happen.

Thank you
ccyl

ONE campaign: "On the Record" '08

Here’s a handy little tool from the ONE campaign that lets you compare the preidential candidates’ statements about global poverty.

http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/

These are rather old, they went up sometime last summer. I thought it was noteworthy that Obama and Clinton mention supporting the Millennium Development Goals while McCain did not….then again Clinton and McCain both speak of eradicating malaria and Obama doesn’t. Hard to read much into these early campaign promises. It’s much more noticeable to see that Clinton and McCain are not S 2433 (Global Poverty Act) sponsors because that’s a matter of Senate record.

Writing letters to the editor: online help

Why write a letter to the editor (LTE)? Writing an LTE is one of the best ways to communicate with your community, the media, your members of congress, and political candidates. If you write to their offices, that's great. However, if I wrote to Sen Clinton, it would have little impact as I'm not her constituent. And if I write to Sen Obama, it would be noted when his staff told him "x" number of people wrote to him about global poverty. But consider how many people I'd reach if my LTE gets published:
- The editorial staff sees it and is aware that the paper's readers care about poverty
- The readership sees it and learns more about the issue
- The member of Congress takes special note as their staff scans the media for their boss' name
Then you get extra communication by sending them a clipping with a handwritten letter. Admittedly, it's hard to get published in a national paper like the NY Times as they receive hundreds of letters per day and print only a few. Yet you're still contributing to your cause by writing. If you see a poverty LTE printed in response to a recent article, it's there because many people wrote in about the same thing. So, you might be helping another person get published and the paper will print more news or editorials about poverty because they know their readers care.

Intimidated? Don't know where to start? That's how I felt last year. But by starting small (with my small local paper) and using on-line help from Bread for the World, I was able to quickly get one printed. That was my very first blog entry, too! Here's the BFW website:
http://www.bread.org/get-involved/in-the-media/How-to-Write-A-Letter-to-the-Edi.html

FYI, the ONE campaign has help to write LTE's http://www.onevote08.org/lte/ but I don't recommend this approach. They streamlined it so you can send pre-written letters, which is a giant no-no in the world of media advocacy. I have heard newspaper staff say it's unethical to submit identical pieces to different papers. Each LTE should be unique and responding to something that has run in that paper in the last 7 days. However, the ONE site is a good tool to find the papers in your zip code area and look at some talking points that ONE is espousing.

Good luck!

ONE Vote '08

Hey, look at this neato application on the ONE.org site. It lets you compare the candidates' different responses to questions of global poverty. It gives little charts, but also video with them talking about their opinions. Sweet.

http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/

And there's a petition to sign, too, if you are so inclined!