Outreach

Feb 24th, 2007 2:00 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

Andy Rigsby from CARE is talking to us about how to build a movement. Here are some highlights:

Movements grow out of recognition of an injustice he says. We know that over 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. We know that over 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. If all you ever do is raise awareness about these two facts you’ll be incredibly successful.

But we can do more. We can build a movement.

Our job is to make the unseen seen. Most Americans have the luxury to never see extreme poverty. We need to talk to enough people to reach the tipping point. We want to reach a critical mass of awareness about extreme poverty.

We are all a part of a network. If you have one conversation about this issue, and everyone else in this room has a conversation, and a staff person at CARE and at ONE and at Jubilee has a conversation, then we will make an impact.

Advocacy can be both conventional and nonconventional. Take opportunities to put issues in front of a community.

There is a lot of power in tabling. You can educate a lot of people just offering the same information that you’ve been offered today.

Talk to existing communities like church groups, other issue organizations, neighborhood associations and even at your dinner table.

Billions of people around the world are impacted by U.S. Global policy, but they don’t have a voice in our policy process.

And the sad and lonely truth is that very, very few citizen go to their representatives to tell them about the issues that they care about.

Don’t feel the need to be an expert. We need to be passionate voters and constituents. When we lobby a member of Congress, we have a real opportunity to make change.

TAGS: The ONE Blog