From RESULTS in Chicago...
---------------------------------
The Chicago-area RESULTS groups invite you to attend a special event in Evanston on Sunday May 23 from 4-6PM featuring Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to benefit RESULTS Educational Fund and Partners in Health (PIH). The afternoon will have a focus on Haiti and include inspiring speakers, light refreshments and a fantastic silent auction.
RESULTS is a grassroots advocacy group working to end hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world. PIH provides health care in impoverished nations and is committed to long-term efforts in Haiti. Representative Schakowksy, Ann Clark from PIH, and Cynthia Changyit Levin (RESULTS) will highlight how aid organizations, Congress, and everyday people work together to fight poverty. We'll also hear an update on the post-earthquake situation in Haiti.
Admission and silent auction proceeds will benefit RESULTS Educational Fund and a voluntary financial appeal will be made for PIH after the speaking program.
$25 pre-registration online
$35 at door
Students are welcome for $15 with a valid student ID (online or at the door)
See details below and please visit http://resultschicago.ning.com/events/2010-results-fundraiser to purchase admission on-line.
We hope to see you there!
Showing posts with label schakowsky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schakowsky. Show all posts
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
2010 Fundraiser for RESULTS/Partners in Health May 23 in Evanston
The afternoon of Sunday May 23, 2010, the Chicago-area RESULTS groups will host an event to benefit both RESULTS and Partners in Health.
Featured speakers, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Ann Clark from Partners in Health, will help us highlight how aid organizations (like PIH), members of Congress (like Rep Schakowksy) and everyday people (like YOU) can work together to end poverty in Haiti and around the world.
Silent auction will include items like a stay in a wooded cabin, passes to Make-A-Messterpiece, ComedySportz classes, "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" by Greg Mortenson, artwork, lunch with State Senator Shoenberg, and more.
When: Sunday, MAy 23 4-6PM
Where: First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St, Evanston, IL
Cost:$25 on-line purchase/$35 at door/$15 for students with valid student ID
Tickets will be on sale soon! Watch for updates at www.RESULTSChicago.ning.com
Note: Admission and silent auction will benefit RESULTS Educational Fund. A direct financial appeal will be made for Partners in Health after the speaking program.
Featured speakers, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Ann Clark from Partners in Health, will help us highlight how aid organizations (like PIH), members of Congress (like Rep Schakowksy) and everyday people (like YOU) can work together to end poverty in Haiti and around the world.
Silent auction will include items like a stay in a wooded cabin, passes to Make-A-Messterpiece, ComedySportz classes, "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" by Greg Mortenson, artwork, lunch with State Senator Shoenberg, and more.
When: Sunday, MAy 23 4-6PM
Where: First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St, Evanston, IL
Cost:$25 on-line purchase/$35 at door/$15 for students with valid student ID
Tickets will be on sale soon! Watch for updates at www.RESULTSChicago.ning.com
Note: Admission and silent auction will benefit RESULTS Educational Fund. A direct financial appeal will be made for Partners in Health after the speaking program.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Jan Schakowsky signs onto HR 2139!
Breaking news: WE DID IT!! On Thurs, Jan Schakowsky signed on to co-sponsor HR 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act.
This bill (co-introduced by Mark Kirk, R-10th) will start the process of revamping our outdated Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (which controls all the ways we provide help to people in poverty around the world). For more info on it, you can see the Bread for the World video: http://www.offeringofletters.org/video.html There will be more for us to do on this in the fall when it involves the Senate, too, but for now please thank her for her support if you are a IL-9th district constituent.
Bread for the World and RESULTS have worked together and diligently with her office to get this to happen. When I called her staff about about HR 2139s, her global affairs aide pulled up the bill and said "Yes, what IS this exactly?" and didn't think they would be needed to sign on. Because of constituent letters and phone calls, we were able to open a door of communication for the DC anti-poverty staff, educate her office about HR 2139 and gain her co-sponsorship.
I've provided a sample letter for you to personalize if that can help you.
-ccyl
PS Don't forget your address on the letter and on the outside envelope! Sending it to her district office in Evanston will be fastest...
The Honorable Jan Schakowsky
820 Davis Street, Suite 105
Evanston, IL 60201
--------------------------------------------------
Date
Dear Congresswoman Schakowsky,
Thank you for co-sponsoring H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act. This bill is a good first step in making our nation’s foreign assistance more effective and streamlined. As your constituent, I am very happy to see your leadership in our country's effort to help people in desperate need. Please work to ensure the bill maintains a focus on poverty so that we can provide the most good for the people who need it the most.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address
-----------------------------------------------------------
Some additional points to play with...
-U.S. foreign assistance has helped reduce child deaths, improve agricultural capacity, and increase school enrollment. But more lives can be saved if we improve the way foreign aid is delivered.
- By making our foreign assistance more efficient and effective, U.S. assistance will have a greater impact on poor and hungry people around the world - critical in these tough economic times
- Reforming foreign aid get the most of our tax dollars makes good economic sense for our country and for people in extreme poverty struggling to survive on less than $1.25 a day.
This bill (co-introduced by Mark Kirk, R-10th) will start the process of revamping our outdated Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (which controls all the ways we provide help to people in poverty around the world). For more info on it, you can see the Bread for the World video: http://www.offeringofletters.org/video.html There will be more for us to do on this in the fall when it involves the Senate, too, but for now please thank her for her support if you are a IL-9th district constituent.
Bread for the World and RESULTS have worked together and diligently with her office to get this to happen. When I called her staff about about HR 2139s, her global affairs aide pulled up the bill and said "Yes, what IS this exactly?" and didn't think they would be needed to sign on. Because of constituent letters and phone calls, we were able to open a door of communication for the DC anti-poverty staff, educate her office about HR 2139 and gain her co-sponsorship.
I've provided a sample letter for you to personalize if that can help you.
-ccyl
PS Don't forget your address on the letter and on the outside envelope! Sending it to her district office in Evanston will be fastest...
The Honorable Jan Schakowsky
820 Davis Street, Suite 105
Evanston, IL 60201
--------------------------------------------------
Date
Dear Congresswoman Schakowsky,
Thank you for co-sponsoring H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act. This bill is a good first step in making our nation’s foreign assistance more effective and streamlined. As your constituent, I am very happy to see your leadership in our country's effort to help people in desperate need. Please work to ensure the bill maintains a focus on poverty so that we can provide the most good for the people who need it the most.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address
-----------------------------------------------------------
Some additional points to play with...
-U.S. foreign assistance has helped reduce child deaths, improve agricultural capacity, and increase school enrollment. But more lives can be saved if we improve the way foreign aid is delivered.
- By making our foreign assistance more efficient and effective, U.S. assistance will have a greater impact on poor and hungry people around the world - critical in these tough economic times
- Reforming foreign aid get the most of our tax dollars makes good economic sense for our country and for people in extreme poverty struggling to survive on less than $1.25 a day.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Global health is a local issue
Here is an op-ed I wrote about the Global Fund running into funding shortages due to donor nations backing out. Usually, it's enough just to post the piece here, but I want to use it as an example of how media advocacy can work together with face-to-face advocacy.
Two weeks ago, my RESULTS group had an amazing face-to-face meeting with Jan Schakowsky asking her to champion full funding of our fair share. She agreed to look into it and work more with the RESULTS staff in DC on it, so I am helping her out and hoping to inspire her further by linking the issue to our local interests in local media. This ran in her district and in at least one paper in a neighboring district.
My RESULTS group will try to get even more mileage out of it by having others write letters to the editor about it and post comments on the on-line versions of the paper. All of the media we generate will be sent to the Congresswoman and her aides, so they can see that we are her partners in this endeavor and we are actively working on promoting the issue to her constituents. Since we also are lucky enough to have a Senator strong on global health, I also mentioned him and will send copies to Senator Durbin's office as well.
Please read on! -ccyl
------------------
Global health is a local issue
February 19, 2009
Times are hard. Regular folks are cutting back on charitable donations and they're not alone. Countries are doing it, too. Donor nations backing out of established commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are projected to cause a $5 billion shortage in 2010. The U.S. is falling short by $1 billion for 2009.
Many Americans react to such news by thinking, "That's unfortunate, but things are tough all over. We need to keep our money at home." One billion dollars seems like a lot to send overseas when families right here are making routine trips to the food pantry.
The problem with this view is a matter of scale. When considered out of context, a billion dollars sounds deceptively large. Despite misconceptions that five, 10 or even 20 percent of our national budget is given away to help developing nations, only a 0.16 percent sliver of last year's $13 trillion pie went to development assistance.
What would our fair share contribution do? First and foremost, it would save lives. It would put the U.S. in a leadership position to leverage contributions from other nations so the Global Fund can continue its groundbreaking programs. Last year alone, the Global Fund distributed 70 million anti-malaria bed nets, provided antiretroviral drugs to 2 million people living with HIV, and treated 4.6 million cases of tuberculosis. Other activities included helping children orphaned by disease, sheltering women disowned by husbands who infected them with AIDS, teaching remote villagers to detect and treat malaria locally, and even protecting Cook County residents from the global rise of drug-resistant TB.
It's a mistake to assume that the problems of global poverty are full of exotic diseases and have no impact on Americans. Failure to control TB in concentrated areas anywhere in the world can give rise to a more dangerous strain of drug-resistant TB that's just a plane ride away from infecting our country. Diseases of poverty also affect national security. Our friends and relatives in the armed forces risk their lives in countries where poverty has created conditions ripe for violence and instability.
Many of us fall into the trap of thinking widespread global disease and poverty are unsolvable problems. Don't believe that for a second. Since 1980, the percentage of people in the developing world living in extreme poverty has fallen from 50 percent to 25 percent.
The choice does not have to be whether we use our resources to take care of us or "them." The choice can be both. Though foreign aid funding is an easy target in a recession, it uses a very small portion of our resources.
The decision whether or not to honor our pledge to the Global Fund will be greatly influenced by the actions of U.S. representatives, senators and a president from Illinois. There is a saying that "all politics are local." The old adage is particularly true for us in Illinois. Our leaders like Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., have strong records of supporting global health programs.
All politics may be local, but when we consider the tremendous impact of reducing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in the world today -- our local politics are global.
Two weeks ago, my RESULTS group had an amazing face-to-face meeting with Jan Schakowsky asking her to champion full funding of our fair share. She agreed to look into it and work more with the RESULTS staff in DC on it, so I am helping her out and hoping to inspire her further by linking the issue to our local interests in local media. This ran in her district and in at least one paper in a neighboring district.
My RESULTS group will try to get even more mileage out of it by having others write letters to the editor about it and post comments on the on-line versions of the paper. All of the media we generate will be sent to the Congresswoman and her aides, so they can see that we are her partners in this endeavor and we are actively working on promoting the issue to her constituents. Since we also are lucky enough to have a Senator strong on global health, I also mentioned him and will send copies to Senator Durbin's office as well.
Please read on! -ccyl
------------------
Global health is a local issue
February 19, 2009
Times are hard. Regular folks are cutting back on charitable donations and they're not alone. Countries are doing it, too. Donor nations backing out of established commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are projected to cause a $5 billion shortage in 2010. The U.S. is falling short by $1 billion for 2009.
Many Americans react to such news by thinking, "That's unfortunate, but things are tough all over. We need to keep our money at home." One billion dollars seems like a lot to send overseas when families right here are making routine trips to the food pantry.
The problem with this view is a matter of scale. When considered out of context, a billion dollars sounds deceptively large. Despite misconceptions that five, 10 or even 20 percent of our national budget is given away to help developing nations, only a 0.16 percent sliver of last year's $13 trillion pie went to development assistance.
What would our fair share contribution do? First and foremost, it would save lives. It would put the U.S. in a leadership position to leverage contributions from other nations so the Global Fund can continue its groundbreaking programs. Last year alone, the Global Fund distributed 70 million anti-malaria bed nets, provided antiretroviral drugs to 2 million people living with HIV, and treated 4.6 million cases of tuberculosis. Other activities included helping children orphaned by disease, sheltering women disowned by husbands who infected them with AIDS, teaching remote villagers to detect and treat malaria locally, and even protecting Cook County residents from the global rise of drug-resistant TB.
It's a mistake to assume that the problems of global poverty are full of exotic diseases and have no impact on Americans. Failure to control TB in concentrated areas anywhere in the world can give rise to a more dangerous strain of drug-resistant TB that's just a plane ride away from infecting our country. Diseases of poverty also affect national security. Our friends and relatives in the armed forces risk their lives in countries where poverty has created conditions ripe for violence and instability.
Many of us fall into the trap of thinking widespread global disease and poverty are unsolvable problems. Don't believe that for a second. Since 1980, the percentage of people in the developing world living in extreme poverty has fallen from 50 percent to 25 percent.
The choice does not have to be whether we use our resources to take care of us or "them." The choice can be both. Though foreign aid funding is an easy target in a recession, it uses a very small portion of our resources.
The decision whether or not to honor our pledge to the Global Fund will be greatly influenced by the actions of U.S. representatives, senators and a president from Illinois. There is a saying that "all politics are local." The old adage is particularly true for us in Illinois. Our leaders like Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., have strong records of supporting global health programs.
All politics may be local, but when we consider the tremendous impact of reducing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in the world today -- our local politics are global.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Jeffery Sachs on Maddow: Global Fund shortage
Hey all,
Here is info about the international economist and anti-poverty activist, Jeffery Sachs appearing on Rachel Maddow talking about the TB, AIDS an Malaria issue my RESULTS group has been lobbying Jan Schakowsky about. -ccyl
Jeffrey Sachs will be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight, February 11.
The Rachel Maddow Show airs on MSNBC at 9:00-10:00 pm ET. He will be
discussing the $5 billion funding gap for the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and why donor countries should not back down
from their commitments. Tune in!
Here is info about the international economist and anti-poverty activist, Jeffery Sachs appearing on Rachel Maddow talking about the TB, AIDS an Malaria issue my RESULTS group has been lobbying Jan Schakowsky about. -ccyl
Jeffrey Sachs will be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight, February 11.
The Rachel Maddow Show airs on MSNBC at 9:00-10:00 pm ET. He will be
discussing the $5 billion funding gap for the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and why donor countries should not back down
from their commitments. Tune in!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Visit to Jan Schakowsky's Office: July 15, 2008
Part III in my reports of my first lobbying experience on Captiol Hill! Jan Schakowsky is my representative for the 9th district in IL. I have a great fondness for her for many reasons...here are a couple:
-she lives in Evanston and so did I when I first came to the Chicago area. I still do almost everything in Evanston and feel a great connection there.
-she is a champion of poverty issues
-she is the very first member of Congress I ever met. I met her in a Dominick's about 7 years ago
When I made the appt for me and my colleagues to visit, they told me it would be with her (a face-to-face), but her scheduler gave me so many caveats I had little hope she would actually show. The other 2 RESULTS members asked me as we approached her door, "So who are we seeing?" (since we usually know the name of the aide) and I could only say..."Well, Jan, I hope, but I have no idea" We entered and sat. Enjoyed looking at the map on the wall and showing each other where our houses were. Enjoyed looking at pics of the Congresswoman with various celebs. I can't remember who those celebs were now, because the door opened to reveal the small, but forceful person of Jan Schakowsky herself! I uttered a unremarkable startled phrase like, "Hey! There you are!" and the meeting began. Her aide was present and silent, taking notes through the whole meeting. Jan was dynamic and animated. In retrospect, it was the kind of meeting that was ideal, but I was quite nervous and for a while it turned into a nightmare of mine...I'll explain that...but was ultimately a thrilling experience for me.
I led the meeting as I was actually her constituent (the other 2 live in Chicago). I was glad to have the experience of watching the others present at the prior meetings so that I could learn from that. I graciously thanked her for her past work...and with her that's kind of like..."what HAVEN'T you done for people in poverty?" It was actually a little harder to do prep work for our requests for her because she is generally ahead of the game and has already co-signed most legislation we were asking support from her peers on. Yet there were a few things...namely, the Education for All Act (HR 2092) which, among other things, helps to eliminate school fees so people in extreme poverty can get their kids a basic education. It also requires the Pres to prioritize basic education funding for the most disadvantaged kids (girls in remote areas, child laborers, victims of sex trafficking, orphans, and those negatively impacted by HIV/AIDS). I presented that request first because I was wondering about why she wouldn't be on it already. I phrased the request with all courtesy. Something like "We'd like to ask your support for this...I'm curious as to whether there is a reason that you are not a co-sponsor already? Is there something in this Act that you don't agree with?" There was not. It seemed to just have not been on her radar. She listened quite interestedly about it and we had a good back and forth discussion, everyone agreeing with what is in it. She agreed to take a look at it. I felt so great about that exchange that I launched into our next request.
The next request for the House members was to sign onto the Holt letter to the World Bank to urge them to take on innovative new ways to participate in micro-finance for the very poor. This was a hot-off-the-presses request...the letter was not even drafted yet, so this was more heads-up we were giving her. I described the 3 main tenets of the letter, the last of which was the creation of "apex" funds to help money flow into micro-finance lending from Gov'ts without the gov'ts being directly involved. Our sources said that direct gov't involvement tended not to be good for the system, so the apex funds were to protect the microfinance institution from gov't management (presumably they would need protections from corrupt gov'ts, I think). Schakowsky surprised me by saying that she would sign onto the letter, but she didn't agree with the apex funds. I thought she might have misunderstood me so I tried to restate it and she restated her position more strongly...that we need to work with other gov'ts more instead of trying to bypass them. This is the nightmare part. Never in my life did I fantasize about debating members of Congress. I felt out of my depth. I am not a microfinance expert. But, luckily, that was not my function there. RESULTS knows people that are experts. I was there to say, "hey, I am your constituent, and I care about poverty. I think this is a good thing...please look at it or tell me what you don't like about it!" RESULTS gave me some background, but honestly, what she said gave me an education, too. I left her office with more to think about. And, also, let's not forget that she prefaced her remarks with "Of course, I will sign this" which says that she would not reject all the ideas for the sake of that one. So, it was really great to get that "worst" experience over with and realize that it was not bad at all. Indeed, it was really good for me to experience. I am lucky to have a Rep that agrees with me fundamentally about poverty issues so we can sit and have a back and forth discussion on the best way to do it.
Anyway, she gave us a good 15 or 20 minutes which is House time is a huge chunk of time. She announced that she had to go. I handed her some sealed letters from my letter writing friends back home in her district and said "These are from some Jan Fans back home who couldn't be here, but wanted to add their voices to our meeting" She laughed at the use of "Jan Fan" and accepted them. Lastly, I handed her my very first Letter to the Editor from the Morton Grove Champion. It was printed about a year and a half ago and was a thank you to her for taking on a Food Stamp Challenge to raise awareness about how hard it is to live on a food stamp budget. I told her that since then I had become very involved in media advocacy and that talking with her so long ago and getting that letter in the paper had really put me on that path. "Look! You made an activist and you didn't even mean to!" With that, we ended the meeting on a high, positive, personal note and we went on our merry way.
Just a few notes here in the end. One, her language was peppered with Obama plugs. This is a woman who takes her position as one of his national campaign fundraising chairs very seriously! Two, here's an update from today. I followed up with her aide today about our requests and got the following response from her aide's blackberry: "After meeting with you, she did sign on to h.r. 2092. " WOOO-HOOO! I am going to attend a fundraising BBQ in Schakowsky's backyard this weekend. I fully intend to thank her for her support of education for children in poverty around the world!
-she lives in Evanston and so did I when I first came to the Chicago area. I still do almost everything in Evanston and feel a great connection there.
-she is a champion of poverty issues
-she is the very first member of Congress I ever met. I met her in a Dominick's about 7 years ago
When I made the appt for me and my colleagues to visit, they told me it would be with her (a face-to-face), but her scheduler gave me so many caveats I had little hope she would actually show. The other 2 RESULTS members asked me as we approached her door, "So who are we seeing?" (since we usually know the name of the aide) and I could only say..."Well, Jan, I hope, but I have no idea" We entered and sat. Enjoyed looking at the map on the wall and showing each other where our houses were. Enjoyed looking at pics of the Congresswoman with various celebs. I can't remember who those celebs were now, because the door opened to reveal the small, but forceful person of Jan Schakowsky herself! I uttered a unremarkable startled phrase like, "Hey! There you are!" and the meeting began. Her aide was present and silent, taking notes through the whole meeting. Jan was dynamic and animated. In retrospect, it was the kind of meeting that was ideal, but I was quite nervous and for a while it turned into a nightmare of mine...I'll explain that...but was ultimately a thrilling experience for me.
I led the meeting as I was actually her constituent (the other 2 live in Chicago). I was glad to have the experience of watching the others present at the prior meetings so that I could learn from that. I graciously thanked her for her past work...and with her that's kind of like..."what HAVEN'T you done for people in poverty?" It was actually a little harder to do prep work for our requests for her because she is generally ahead of the game and has already co-signed most legislation we were asking support from her peers on. Yet there were a few things...namely, the Education for All Act (HR 2092) which, among other things, helps to eliminate school fees so people in extreme poverty can get their kids a basic education. It also requires the Pres to prioritize basic education funding for the most disadvantaged kids (girls in remote areas, child laborers, victims of sex trafficking, orphans, and those negatively impacted by HIV/AIDS). I presented that request first because I was wondering about why she wouldn't be on it already. I phrased the request with all courtesy. Something like "We'd like to ask your support for this...I'm curious as to whether there is a reason that you are not a co-sponsor already? Is there something in this Act that you don't agree with?" There was not. It seemed to just have not been on her radar. She listened quite interestedly about it and we had a good back and forth discussion, everyone agreeing with what is in it. She agreed to take a look at it. I felt so great about that exchange that I launched into our next request.
The next request for the House members was to sign onto the Holt letter to the World Bank to urge them to take on innovative new ways to participate in micro-finance for the very poor. This was a hot-off-the-presses request...the letter was not even drafted yet, so this was more heads-up we were giving her. I described the 3 main tenets of the letter, the last of which was the creation of "apex" funds to help money flow into micro-finance lending from Gov'ts without the gov'ts being directly involved. Our sources said that direct gov't involvement tended not to be good for the system, so the apex funds were to protect the microfinance institution from gov't management (presumably they would need protections from corrupt gov'ts, I think). Schakowsky surprised me by saying that she would sign onto the letter, but she didn't agree with the apex funds. I thought she might have misunderstood me so I tried to restate it and she restated her position more strongly...that we need to work with other gov'ts more instead of trying to bypass them. This is the nightmare part. Never in my life did I fantasize about debating members of Congress. I felt out of my depth. I am not a microfinance expert. But, luckily, that was not my function there. RESULTS knows people that are experts. I was there to say, "hey, I am your constituent, and I care about poverty. I think this is a good thing...please look at it or tell me what you don't like about it!" RESULTS gave me some background, but honestly, what she said gave me an education, too. I left her office with more to think about. And, also, let's not forget that she prefaced her remarks with "Of course, I will sign this" which says that she would not reject all the ideas for the sake of that one. So, it was really great to get that "worst" experience over with and realize that it was not bad at all. Indeed, it was really good for me to experience. I am lucky to have a Rep that agrees with me fundamentally about poverty issues so we can sit and have a back and forth discussion on the best way to do it.
Anyway, she gave us a good 15 or 20 minutes which is House time is a huge chunk of time. She announced that she had to go. I handed her some sealed letters from my letter writing friends back home in her district and said "These are from some Jan Fans back home who couldn't be here, but wanted to add their voices to our meeting" She laughed at the use of "Jan Fan" and accepted them. Lastly, I handed her my very first Letter to the Editor from the Morton Grove Champion. It was printed about a year and a half ago and was a thank you to her for taking on a Food Stamp Challenge to raise awareness about how hard it is to live on a food stamp budget. I told her that since then I had become very involved in media advocacy and that talking with her so long ago and getting that letter in the paper had really put me on that path. "Look! You made an activist and you didn't even mean to!" With that, we ended the meeting on a high, positive, personal note and we went on our merry way.
Just a few notes here in the end. One, her language was peppered with Obama plugs. This is a woman who takes her position as one of his national campaign fundraising chairs very seriously! Two, here's an update from today. I followed up with her aide today about our requests and got the following response from her aide's blackberry: "After meeting with you, she did sign on to h.r. 2092. " WOOO-HOOO! I am going to attend a fundraising BBQ in Schakowsky's backyard this weekend. I fully intend to thank her for her support of education for children in poverty around the world!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Schakowsky's response to my MDG letter
At last month's "Social Justice for Social Mom's" meeting, we focused on writing to our members of congress to support the Millennium Development Goals by increasing the amount of development assistance next year. (FYI, this will be the main thrust of next year's Offering of Letters) This was Rep Jan Schakowsky's response:
"Thank you for contacting me to urge my support for increased funding for poverty-focused development assistance in the Fiscal Year 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. I appreciate hearing from you, and I agree with you.
I have contacted my colleagues on the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee to express my support for a $2 billion increase in the Development Assistance Account and the Millennium Challenge Account. As the richest country in the world, I believe the US has a special obligation to fight poverty and global pandemics abroad. The US spends less than one half of 1% of its budget on foreign aid. We can do a lot more. I cosponsored H.R. 1302, the Global Poverty Act of 2007, which passed the House on September 26, 2007. The Global Poverty Act mandates that the President and the Secretary of State develop and implement a plan to further the United States' commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and to cut international poverty in half by 2015. I will continue to push initiatives to end poverty throughout my time in Congress.
Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in the future.
Sincerely,
Jan Schakowsky"
"Thank you for contacting me to urge my support for increased funding for poverty-focused development assistance in the Fiscal Year 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. I appreciate hearing from you, and I agree with you.
I have contacted my colleagues on the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee to express my support for a $2 billion increase in the Development Assistance Account and the Millennium Challenge Account. As the richest country in the world, I believe the US has a special obligation to fight poverty and global pandemics abroad. The US spends less than one half of 1% of its budget on foreign aid. We can do a lot more. I cosponsored H.R. 1302, the Global Poverty Act of 2007, which passed the House on September 26, 2007. The Global Poverty Act mandates that the President and the Secretary of State develop and implement a plan to further the United States' commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and to cut international poverty in half by 2015. I will continue to push initiatives to end poverty throughout my time in Congress.
Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in the future.
Sincerely,
Jan Schakowsky"
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