Global Fund is key to Millennium Goals by Winstone Zulu

Global Fund is key to Millennium Goals

By Winstone Zulu

When President Obama comes to the United Nations this month to discuss the Millennium Development Goals, I hope he’ll talk about the tremendous impact of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Actually, I hope he’ll do more than talk about the Global Fund’s impact. I hope… No, I pray he will announce a new three-year commitment of $6 billion that will not only allow the Global Fund to continue its life-saving work, but also expand its reach to finally turn the tide on diseases that have terrorized millions.

Without the Global Fund, much of Africa would be falling apart now, which was the case at the turn of the century when AIDS was killing off so many mothers and fathers, teachers and civil servants. In 2003, however, when Global Fund-backed programs began placing patients on antiretroviral therapy, hope was restored.

In Zambia, where I live, the difference is miraculous.

It’s hard for outsiders to fully grasp the devastation that swept across the continent in those years. Whenever I visited Lusaka, I was afraid to ask the whereabouts of people I knew. Oftentimes the answer was, “Didn’t you hear?” Nothing else needed to be said.

It wasn’t only friends and acquaintances I lost during that horrible time. All four of my brothers, their immune systems likely compromised by HIV, died from tuberculosis because they lacked access to $20 worth of antibiotics that could have cured them. They left behind over a dozen children who grew up without fathers.

The AIDS epidemic in Zambia was so bad in the mid ’90s that employers would train two people at a time for an accounting job, knowing that one would die within a year or two. The worst of it, though, was the children left orphaned. So many of them had to drop out of school and go begging in the streets for food.

This grim scene changed when the Global Fund started supporting programs that provided treatment for people with AIDS and TB.

Now when I visit a town and ask, “Where’s John?”, the answer is not “Didn’t you hear?” The response is more likely to be, “He went to Botswana for work” or “He went to South Africa to go to school.”

In short, the Global Fund stopped the terror that was literally draining the life out of our society, our culture and our economy. The Global Fund has helped deliver AIDS treatment to 2.8 million people, detected and treated 7 million cases of TB, and distributed 122 million bed nets to prevent malaria.

To deliver these results, the Global Fund created a new model of development assistance. Developing countries assess their needs and come up with their own proposals and the amount of funding needed to achieve measurable goals. An independent panel of experts evaluates proposals, and grants are awarded. Countries are then held accountable for achieving the goals in their proposals, with progress measured on a regular basis.

As we near the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, it’s clear that the Global Fund can play a decisive role in achieving the goals related to global health. In our interconnected world, these are goals that, if achieved, will lift all nations, not just the poor ones.

Last year, President Obama announced a six-year, $63 billion Global Health Initiative. Committing just $6 billion of this over the upcoming three years to the Global Fund would help ensure the success of the President’s Initiative, leverage other donor resources for the Global Fund, and help achieve some truly remarkable goals. With sufficient resources, the Global Fund can help ensure that by 2015 no children are born with HIV, malaria is no longer a public health scourge in much of Africa, and dangerous drug-resistant strains of TB are under control.

Having witnessed Zambia before and after the Global Fund, I much prefer the latter. Rather than return to those dark times, which could happen if support for the Global Fund waivers, let us usher in a new era, one where children have mothers and fathers to care for them, and a where a friend’s absence is more likely to be a cause for joy instead of sorrow.

Is Obama Backing away from the fight against Global AIDS?

This is an interview with Dr. Paul Zeitz- the executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, a position he's held since 2001. Over the past decade, he's led GAA to promote universal access to prevention, treatment and care, among other issues. As backlash against the Obama administration’s policies on global HIV/AIDS continues to mount, Dr. Zeitz shares his perspective with Change.org.

Click Here for the Interview


Here is an exerpt:

Q: One of President Bush’s signature acts was the creation of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — the largest single effort any nation’s yet made to scale up HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. PEPFAR was a major victory for activists around the globe. How has the program been impacted since Obama took office?

Back in 2008, President Bush decided that before he left office, he wanted to authorize another 5-year PEPFAR cycle. Senators Obama, Biden and Clinton all cosponsored the bill to reauthorize the bill, known as the Lantos-Hyde bill, committing the U.S. government to providing $48 billion over five years [2009-2013]. It was a truly historic act by then-president Bush to really take the initiative to the next level.

During the 2008 campaign, Obama signed a pledge committing to $50 billion for global AIDS spending for the period of 2009-2013. He also spoke at the Saddleback Church HIV/AIDS conference and verbally committed to increasing global AIDS spending by at least 1 billion per year, if he was elected.

Then he got elected, then the transition team started governing, and within 18 months, everything’s changed.

Q: Since Obama took office, what about his administration's approach have you found particularly disheartening?

We’d had breakthrough with Bush. Global leaders and stakeholders had committed themselves to universally scale up aids prevention and access to treatment. The whole global international community was in solidarity with the goal of universal access to prevention and treatment.

President Obama and his administration have taken a radically different position. It’s crystal clear that they don’t believe that HIV/AIDS treatment should be made available to everyone, because they think it’s too expensive. I’ve sat and others have sat in high-level meetings in which administration officials talking about how the U.S. government could not sustain the demands of a “treatment mortgage,” saying, “How can we afford this?”

The president has virtually flat-lined [PEPFAR] in his first two budget request. Even more shockingly, Obama has requested cuts to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, & Malaria’s FY2011 budget — this despite how effective the Global Fund’s work has been as a multilateral financing instrument. It’s achieved remarkable results, saving an estimated 4.9 million lives. The Obama administration says they’re committed to multilateralism. So why do they want to cut U.S. government support of the program?

TODAY is Day of Action for Global Education

TODAY is the day to call the White House for Global Education support. This capwiz link should make it very easy and you can let RESULTS know you took the action.

If the link doesn't work, just call 202 456 1414 and ask President Obama to provide $2B for the creation of a Global Fund for Education.

Thank you for taking action to fight poverty today. Feel free to forward this message to others!

Professor Muhammad Yunus Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

From the Grameen Foundation...
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I am delighted to announce that Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank and member emeritus of Grameen Foundation’s board of directors, has been awarded a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Yunus will receive his medal from President Barack Obama at a special White House ceremony on August 12.
I worked with Dr. Yunus for six years in Bangladesh prior to establishing Grameen Foundation with his support in 1997, and I am delighted that he is being honored for his tremendous work on behalf of poor people worldwide. While living there, I saw Professor Yunus’ humble leadership and pathbreaking ideas changing lives and motivating people at all levels of society to envision and work towards a poverty-free Bangladesh. Today, it is a completely different country than when I first arrived there in 1988, and his work has been at the center of those positive changes.
Ultimately, it is his unwavering belief in the power of even the poorest person in a society—whether they live in a rural Asian village or an urban slum in Africa, Latin America or even the United States—to help themselves that inspires all of us here at Grameen Foundation each and every day.
President Obama captured these sentiments wonderfully in his announcement of the awards, saying, "Each [recipient] saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way.“
I am deeply honored that Dr. Yunus has invited me to join him and others at the ceremony and look forward to sharing that experience with all of you.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is this nation’s highest civilian honor and recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the United States, world peace and culture. When Dr. Yunus receives his award, he will be joining a distinguished group of individuals that includes Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Please join us in sending congratulations to Dr. Yunus by clicking here. We will present all these congratulatory notes to him on August 13, the day after the awards ceremony.


Sincerely,

Alex Counts
President & CEO
Grameen Foundation

Write to Obama about Global Education

From RESULTS...
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75 million children do not have access to primary education around the globe. Part of the problem is inadequate development assistance, and another part is a failure to use the assistance we provide wisely. We need new leadership to improved and increase aid, provide better coordination, and develop new mechanisms to support the achievement of Education for All. During his campaign, President Obama pledged $2 billion for a global education fund. Now is the time for the U.S. to realize this vision and lead the world in achieving the Education for All goals agreed to by over 180 nations by creating an effective Global Fund for Education. We have a real opportunity for bold action to stimulate real change.

Grab the opportunity! Write to President Obama and ask him to lead an effort to establish a multilateral Global Fund for Education.

Click here to tack action!

Take 10 Seconds to Secure $1 Billion for the Global Fund

From RESULTS...

Take 10 Seconds to Secure $1 Billion
The Global Fund's Success Is Causing a Shortage of Life-Saving Funds

Hi Friends,

I have an urgent, and simple, request. Hopefully by now, you've heard that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is facing a serious funding shortfall, totalling $5 billion. Unless more money is contributed to the Global Fund in the next few months, existing and future grants are at risk of being cut by 25%. The stakes couldn't be higher. We need your help to make sure the US contributes its fair share for 2009, which means $1 billion in additional funds beyond what has already been approved.

Can you take 10 seconds in the next 24 hours to email President Obama and ask him to include $1 billion for the Global Fund in a supplemental spending bill this Spring?

Unlike the big banks and investment companies that have been before Congress in the last year with their hands out, the Global Fund did not mismanage its money; rather the Fund exceeded expectations and outperformed themselves. This financial shortfall is a result of success, not negligence. Isn't it time, we as a country, rewarded that? We must provide the Global Fund with a commitment for $1 billon in the emergency supplemental.

Ask President Obama to include $1 billion in the defense emergency supplemental to help fill the Global Funds funding gap.

Many groups that RESULTS works closely with are also emailing the White House today. If we all take 10 seconds in the next 24 hours to email President Obama, we can show that thousands of people across this country support the US spending money to not just bail out big banks, but also to save millions of lives.

It's easy. Just click on TAKE ACTION , type in your name, and hit send. 10 seconds to help win $1 billion to save lives - what could be easier than that.

Thank you

Obama signs Children's Health Care Bill (SCHIP)

At long last! The children's health care bill is law! This was in the Chicago Tribune yesterday-ccyl
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Obama signs into law expansion of SCHIP health-care program for children

Passage of $33 billion bill marks historic shift in Washington's political landscape and provides the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office

By Noam N. Levey | Washington Bureau
February 5, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday to expand publicly funded health insurance for children, marking a historic shift in Washington's political landscape and providing the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office.

Less than 18 months ago, President George W. Bush had blocked similar bills by congressional Democrats, labeling the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a step toward government-run health care.

But with Democrats now firmly in control of the White House and Congress, the party's leaders easily pushed through a $33 billion bill that is expected to provide government-subsidized insurance to 4 million mostly low-income children.

That would reduce the number of uninsured children in America by about half over the next 41/2 years and boost the number covered by the program to 11 million.

The measure—funded primarily by boosting the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents, to $1 a pack—sailed through the House earlier Wednesday on a largely party-line vote of 290-135. The Senate approved the bill last week.

The swift passage came in marked contrast to the economic recovery package, which is mired in debate on Capitol Hill despite pleas from Obama for congressional action.

The children's health bill was an early benchmark in the planned Democratic campaign to reshape the nation's health-care system over the next two years.

"The way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children … is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American," Obama said before signing the bill in the White House.

The new president also drew on language from an era decades earlier, when Washington more openly embraced the expansion of the government-funded safety net. "We're not a nation that leaves struggling families to fend for themselves," he said.

SCHIP, as the program is called, was created in the late 1990s whenPresident Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress addressed concerns that families who earned too much to qualify for public assistance through Medicaid nonetheless could not afford insurance for their children.

The federal poverty line for a family of four was $21,200 in 2008, while family insurance premiums averaged about $12,680, according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured in Washington.

Most of the 7 million children now enrolled in SCHIP programs nationwide come from families with incomes less than twice that of the poverty line. However, several states have opened the program to families making more.

About 30 million of the nation's poorest children receive health care through Medicaid.

Democrats made expanding the popular SCHIP program a top priority when they took control of Congress in 2007 following 12 years of mostly Republican control.

Bush vigorously opposed the move, twice vetoing SCHIP legislation despite substantial GOP support for the bills. He vetoed just 10 bills during his presidency.

On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers echoed many of the former president's critiques.

"The Democrats continue to push their government-run health-care agenda—universal coverage, as they call it," said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who helped lead opposition to the bill.

Republicans also chafed at provisions that would allow states to provide insurance to the children of legal immigrants who have been in the country for less than five years and loosen identification requirements for those enrolling.

GOP lawmakers said that would result in illegal immigrants also receiving taxpayer assistance.

They also complained that the bill did not do enough to ensure that the most needy children receive coverage.

Republicans called for rules that would prohibit states from offering insurance to middle-income families unless states could ensure that more lower-income children had been enrolled, a requirement that many SCHIP advocates said was unworkable.

Facing overwhelming support for the SCHIP expansion, GOP lawmakers could do little to slow the momentum for the bill.

Groups ranging from the insurance industry to organized labor to the March of Dimes rallied behind the legislation.

Immigrant advocates applauded the end of the five-year waiting period that they said had prevented hundreds of thousands of children from gaining access to preventive care and driven up health-care costs by forcing many to rely on emergency rooms for health care.

But there also were signs of the difficulties that may confront Obama and his Democratic allies in their push to win GOP support for overhauling the nation's health-care system.

The SCHIP bill attracted 40 Republican votes in the House on Wednesday, fewer than the number won for similar legislation in 2007.

Senate passed SCHIP, Obama to sign soon?

news about children's health...

The Senate has passed their version of the SCHIP bill, including health coverage for over 4 million uninsured children and legal immigrant kids. The final vote is posted here so you can thank or not thank your Senator as you are inclined. The House and the Senate have to reconcile their versions, but this is a big step forward and Obama might get to sign this one in next week. Here is a Washington Post article about it posted below which does note that it could have been done in a more bipartisan manner. The last line "once the program is fully implemented about 5 million youngsters will remain uninsured" calls attention to the fact that the work is not completely done to insure all children!
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Senate Passes Health Insurance Bill for Children
Immigrant Clause Opens Rift


By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 30, 2009; A01

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation yesterday to provide health insurance to 11 million low-income children, a bill that would for the first time open the program to legal immigrant children and pregnant women.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program, which is aimed at families earning too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance, currently covers close to 7 million youngsters at a cost of $25 billion.

Lawmakers voted 63 to 32, largely along party lines, to renew the joint state-federal program and spend an additional $32.8 billion to expand coverage to 4 million more children. The expansion would be paid for by raising the cigarette tax from 39 cents a pack to $1.

The House approved similar legislation on Jan. 14, and President Obama is expected to sign a final version as early as next week.

Democratic lawmakers, noting that President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar legislation, praised the vote as evidence of the changing Washington landscape.

"Low-income, uninsured kids all across America have been waiting for Congress to fulfill the promise of the Children's Health Insurance Program for them," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.). The program "works to get low-income, uninsured kids the doctor's visits and medicines they need to stay healthy, and approval of this bill opens the door of the doctor's office to millions of children who live without proper health care today."

But the political victory may come at a price. The rancorous debate -- on a program that once basked in bipartisan popularity -- raised doubts about whether the two parties can unite to pass broader health reform later this year, said several moderate Republicans.

"This is a very unfortunate beginning," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa). The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, a stalwart supporter of the program, said he was "disgusted" by the way Democratic leaders handled the debate. "It does not bode well for cooperative work in the coming months," he said.

As the vote came just one day after the House passed an $819 billion economic stimulus package without a single Republican vote, some longtime lawmakers questioned the president's ability to forge a new era of cooperation in the capital.

"If they wanted a nice signing ceremony that showed bipartisanship and carried through on the president's language, this would have been a good vehicle to do it on," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

Since its creation in 1997 under a Republican-led Senate, the children's health program has enjoyed broad bipartisan support.

"Few government programs in our time have enjoyed such great success, as acknowledged by members of both parties and all bipartisan health-care experts," said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Governors, business executives and consumer advocates lobbied for the expansion, arguing that more and more families have sought the assistance in this weakened economy.

"During this economic turmoil, it is critical that we maintain and strengthen this important lifeline to our nation's children and that we help financially strapped states respond to the growing need for affordable health-care coverage," said Cindy Mann, executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families.

In 2007, prominent Republicans such as Grassley and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah) bucked Bush to support renewal of the program.

"We carried a lot of water and took a lot of flak" for that stand, Hatch said. To push through a different version now is "not only unfair," he said, "but a slap in the face to those of us who worked so strongly with our friends on the other side."

The bill approved last night closely resembles the versions many Republicans supported in the past, countered Democrats.

GOP lawmakers objected to the new provision allowing states to enroll legal immigrants. Until now, immigrants' families have been forced to wait five years for coverage.

"The bottom line is: This is a debate about children's health coverage," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). "This is not a debate about immigration."

In two-plus days of debate -- in unusually personal and emotional language -- Republicans expressed a sense of betrayal that Democrats had dropped the 2007 compromise.

"We could have had 95 votes," Hatch said. "That would have sent a tremendous, tremendous message that hasn't been sent around here for a long time."

Both sides had hoped, and even predicted, that early bipartisan action on children's coverage would demonstrate that Washington's elected officials can cooperate on critical issues such as health care.

"This is on something for which there is so much agreement and something that almost no one argues about," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, which represents 300 large employers. "For the tough things like real national health-care reform, it unfortunately portends a really rocky road."

Compared to the daunting task of overhauling the entire U.S. health system, the debate on the children's health program should have been easy, said Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine).

"You would have thought this issue would have been clear sailing on both sides," she said.

Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, agreed that "we're not seeing bipartisanship" but said she is optimistic that the public's overwhelming desire for improvement in the health system will force the two parties to the bargaining table. "People are talking about how to do it as opposed to whether to do it," she said.

During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to provide coverage to every American child. Experts estimate that once the program is fully implemented about 5 million youngsters will remain uninsured.

Inauguration Service Event and Charity fundraiser

From the Obama campaign, info about a service event and a fundraiser for the Inspiration Cafe...
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Dear Friend,
On behalf of all my colleagues from the Obama campaign staff, I want to wish you a happy New Year and say thank you once again for your support which made our victory possible. I also want to invite you to a few events where you can celebrate Barack's victory and help improve our communities.

As you may know, Barack has asked all his supporters to participate in a community service activity on Monday, January 19th, which is Martin Luther King Day and "inauguration eve." Our team feels community service is the best way to honor Dr. King's legacy and usher in this new era in American history.

In this spirit, I ask that you join local Obama supporters at the Holiday Club on Chicago's northside that evening to both celebrate our victory together and learn about meaningful volunteer opportunities available through Inspiration Corporation, an excellent local non-profit that serves homeless and low-income individuals. Here are the details:

Obama Pre-Inaugural Celebration and Community Service Event
The Holiday Club
4000 North Sheridan Road (intersection of Irving Park and Sheridan Roads / CTA Sheridan Road Red Line Stop)
Chicago, IL
Monday, January 19th - 7 PM
Enjoy Excellent Food and Drink Specials
Help prepare bagged lunches for Inspiration Corporation clients and sign-up for other critical volunteer opportunities
RSVP to: Sean.Tenner@ObamaAlumni.com

There will be many Chicagoans gathering to celebrate Inauguration Day, Tuesday, January 20th at the Chicago Inaugural Ball (see www.ChicagoInauguralBall.com for ticketing information). I wanted to also invite you to a free event I will be working on which honors the special role played by Chicago's African and Caribbean communities in the Obama campaign. All are welcome to the below celebration at the world-famous Ethiopian Diamond restaurant:

African and Caribbean Community Inaugural Celebration
Ethiopian Diamond Restaurant
6120 N. Broadway (closest CTA stop is Granville Red Line)
Chicago, IL
Tuesday, January 20th - 7 PM
Watch Barack's inauguration speech and learn how you can stay involved in Barack's movement for change
Inaugural souvenirs available (proceeds to benefit Inspiration Corporation)
Cash Bar, DJ Music and Dancing
RSVP to: Kiros Tewolde / tewoldeours2001@yahoo.com

Thank you again for your role in making history in 2008. I hope to see you on January 19th and 20th!

Sean Tenner
Sean.Tenner@ObamaAlumni.com

Change.org contest to select ideas to present to Obama

From one of my anti-poverty Facebook friends:
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Dear MDG Supporters,

As I'm sure you all know, www.change.org is sponsoring a contest to showcase innovative ideas to shape the public policies of our next administration. The top 10 ideas will be presented to President-elect Obama! Each person gets 10 votes. Here are two ideas that you might find interesting:

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/end_extreme_poverty_by_2025

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/establish_a_global_challenges_wikipedia_to_empower_problem_solvers

Directions for voting (Jan 5 - Jan 15):
1. Click the blue box that says the number of votes
2. Create an account
3. Open the confirmation e-mail and click the link.
4. Click the blue box with the number of votes again and it will record your vote!

Thanks in advance for your time, I encourage you all to vote!

Ask Obama a question

Look! Obama's transition team has found a way to get us to do some busywork while we wait for all our new elected officials to get into office (at which point we will bombard them with our activism!)

There is a section of his change.gov site called Open for Questions where you can submit your questions to Obama's transition team. But wait, there's more! Not only do they say they will respond to this onslaught of questions in some way...we get to give our opinions on other people's questions!!! It's as addictive as playing Free Rice Give it a try and see if you can help sway public discourse to talk about poverty, Millennium Development Goals, and foreign assistance reform. See you out there! -ccyl

ONE: "Get to Work!"

From the ONE campaign...
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ONE members got President-elect Obama "On the Record" with historic commitments to fight global poverty and disease. Now, it's time to get to work turning those commitments into hope and dignity for millions struggling to survive around the globe.

Champions in Congress are writing to President-elect Obama to urge him to request a robust Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs Budget. This bipartisan letter will be a critical first step in fully-funding the proven, effective and affordable solutions needed to save and improve the lives of those suffering from poverty and preventable diseases worldwide. We need you to call your Members of Congress now and urge them to add their names to this important letter:

Then, please report your call by clicking here

Obama's commitments may be impossible to keep unless his FY10 budget priorities put us on the right track now, because each year's goals get progressively harder to meet for every year we fall short. That's why we're teaming with the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign in asking Members of Congress to support President-elect Obama’s vision for fighting global poverty and set the stage for fulfilling all his promises to the world's poorest people. Please show them your support by calling now.

The next Administration and Congress face tough choices as fiscal constraints and mounting deficits impact always difficult budget decisions. The letter from Congress calling for a robust FY10 International Affairs Budget will send a strong message to the new Administration that doubling foreign assistance is in the best interests of the United States and the world, even in these difficult economic times.

Thank you for your voice,

Josh Peck, ONE.org

America Serves

Hey all you idealistic, Hopefans out there. Where are you going to put all that Obama-fied energy now that all the canvassing and phonebanking has come to a screeching halt?

President Elect Obama has put forward this statement on his transition website www.change.gov So, go ahead and take a break, but don't let all that good energy atrophy for the next 4 years. Volunteer, advocate, do whatever, but stay engaged!!!!

"America Serves

"When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood -- you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That's why it's called the American dream."

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start."

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.

Visit to Obama's office: July 15, 2008

On July 15, I had the honor and privilege of visiting the offices of 6 members of Congress with my IL colleagues from the RESULTS advocacy group. RESULTS is a citizen's group that advocates against hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. The first office we visited was of our very own jr senator, the Honorable Barack Obama.

I'll break the suspense right here. We didn't meet him. Nor did we expect to. I rather hoped he'd fly in and out as the Lantos-Hyde global health bill was to be voted on that day, but he may have been privy to knowledge that I didn't have (duh!) and known that it was to likely to pass by a large majority. So, he wasn't around, but we had an appt with ne of his foreign policy aides as our focus was on global poverty.

I'd never been to a senator's office before. Much smaller and less glamourous than you might think. Good for a taxpayer to see :) We were not the only visitors. A US soldier was there picking up a flag for a family member along with some tourists complete with 2 little girls all dressed in red, white, and blue from their dresses to their hair ribbons. His lobby is filled with Chicago pics and literature. My partners were disappointed it was all Cubs stuff, but hey...I'm north-sider. I didn't mind. But...down to business

After profuse thank you's for the Global Poverty Act support, our first order of business was the mentioned Lantos-Hyde act. It's main purpose was to expand US resources to fight three diseases of poverty around the world: TB, HIV/AIDS and Malaria. Our exciting, breaking news to talk about was a point of order that came up the day before that could have killed the whole $50 billion proposal! We were there to urge that it be waived and to oppose the 10 amendments that were meant to weaken the bill. We had no idea whether or not he would be in town for the voting, so we did our pitch as if he were. Obama supported the bill anyway, so we were only following up on the breaking news. Going further in our requests, we asked him to support the Education for All Act (S 1259) which seeks to provide basic education for all children around the world by: authorizing $3 billion by 2012, requiring the president to prioritize basic education funding and strategies for the most disadvantaged kids (child laborers, girls in remote areas, orphans, the disabled, etc), eliminating school fees, funding for refugee camps, etc. Obama is NOT a co-sponsor as of 7/10/08 and we urged him to become one. Clinton was the original sponsor...could that be why he was previously not on her bill? Well, if that's the reason, it's done with, so we want him on it now. There was an appropriations ask as well to speak to other senators on our behalf since the State and Foreign Ops committee was to consider its spending bill on 7/17.

So those were the issues on the table. We still don't know why he isn't a Education for All sponsor, but we'll follow up on that later. His aide was polite, but busy and it was a good experience to start the day. We also got gallery passes there so we could go into the Senate chamber during the Lantos-Hyde debate...which was pretty dang cool since Durbin was speaking in support of it when we were there. Later that evening, one of his aides showed up at a banquet RESULTS threw, which was an extremely nice gesture for his office to make!

An email from Obama

An email from Barack Obama regarding a recent letter I wrote to him regarding poverty and the food crisis. -ccyl
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Thank you for taking the time to write about hunger and poverty throughout the world. I completely agree that we can and must do more to address the global food crisis.

The rising price of food is causing immense hardship for the world's poorest people. According to the World Bank, an estimated 100 million people may be pushed into deeper poverty and hunger because of soaring food prices. Press reports have described the crippling effects of the high prices and the suffering of those who are most vulnerable, especially young children. The risk of civil unrest is significant in dozens of countries, making this an important global security issue as well.

We cannot afford to let this situation continue. I strongly support an increase in emergency food aid and funding for agricultural and rural development programs to address this crisis. We need to make sure that this assistance is adequate, well-targeted to reach those who are most in need, and well-coordinated within the international community. You may be interested to know that on May 22, 2008, I voted in favor of a domestic spending amendment to the FY08 emergency supplemental appropriations bill, which included $850 million for international food assistance to address the crisis. Similar legislation was agreed to by the House, and the two versions are now being reconciled in conference between the two chambers of Congress. As these deliberations move forward, I will keep your views in mind.

In addition to expanding food assistance efforts, we also have to take step to break the cycle of poverty that makes people around the world so vulnerable to rising prices. Over 1 billion people worldwide live on less than $1 per day, and another 1.6 billion people struggle to survive on less than $2 per day. We need a comprehensive, bipartisan approach to make significant strides in addressing a problem of this magnitude and importance.

Last year, I worked with Senators Chuck Hagel and Maria Cantwell to introduce the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to advance the goal of cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015. Key components of this strategy would be foreign aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses, and non-governmental organizations. The bill requires that the President's strategy include specific and measurable goals, efforts to be undertaken, benchmarks, and timetables. The President would also be required to report back to Congress on progress made in the implementation of the global poverty strategy. The bill was reported favorably out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year.

You may rest assured that I will continue to work with colleagues in the Senate to address global poverty. In the days ahead, I hope you will stay in touch.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

Obama supporters volunteer at GCFD

Last night, a group of Obama supporters came together to put their values into action by volunteering at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. We shared fundraising ideas, talked about our candidate, talked about poverty, talked about life and ...oh, yeah! ...we bagged about 1,500 lbs of corn flake crumbs into usable size portions to be given to people in need!

This was my favorite volunteer activity I have ever done at the Depository. Think about your box of cornflakes... hundreds of crunchy flakes perfectly formed and waiting for your consumption. But what about the crumb at the bottom? What about those crumbs back at the factory? All of those crumbs are still full of needed calories and nutrients, clean enough to serve and eat, but just not pretty enough to sell. Thousands of pounds of crumbs that could be wasted. But because of places like GCFD, they are not wasted. They are donated by the manufacturer, repackaged, and given to those who might use it as delicious breading or eat it as cereal. Less waste, more food for the hungry. A perfect solution.

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.

Obama Supporters Virtual Food Drive for GCFD

Obama Supporters Against Hunger and Poverty would like to invite you to join in the fight against hunger in our community by supporting the Greater Chicago Food Depository through the Obama Supporters Virtual Food Drive. All donations raised through the Virtual Food Drive will be earmarked to help the Food Depository purchase nutritious, high-quality food for hungry individuals and families in Chicagoland.

Why a Virtual Food Drive? The answer is simple – to get more food to more people in need. Through the Virtual Food Drive, the Food Depository can purchase food in bulk quantities, at prices well below the market rate. All the items on our food drive have been identified by the Food Depository as ones that are in high demand. Won't you please join me in helping to provide food for the nearly 90,000 people who rely on the Food Depository each week?

We believe Obama supporters can be actively involved in their community and the world around them. Please join us in supporting this effort from now until May 30 by visiting http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=2682


About the Greater Chicago Food Depository:
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a not-for-profit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to almost a half-million adults and children every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed more than 40 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of more than 84,000 meals every day. Innovative training programs and initiatives developed by the Food Depository also work to provide men, women and children with the tools necessary to break their individual cycles of poverty. For more information, log onto www.chicagosfoodbank.org or call 773-247-FOOD.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository does not endorse any particular candidate or political party.