On Friday, August 24, 2007, members from ONE and World Wings / CARE International met with Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart at his district office in Miami.
The days leading up to the meeting were a bit nerve-racking since ONE member Ana M. Ortuno and I didn’t know what to expect. We were both first-time lobbyists, and also the only two constituents who had, until then, agreed to attend the meeting. Still, we knew it would be a great experience for the both of us and created a great partnership that helped us achieve a successful meeting.
First, we met at a Starbucks a few days prior to the appointment to go over talking points. Then, Ana notified Joan from ONE about the meeting, which I had secured with the Congressman a few weeks earlier through a scheduling process that happily turned out simpler than expected: send a meeting request by fax, wait three or four days for a response and set a date. Once Ana contacted Joan, e-mails from other ONE members and affiliates started pouring in and we realized we should have given notice earlier! To our relief, Alicia Smith from World Wings International, who had previous experience being an advocate for CARE, joined our team even though she found out about the meeting only the night before.
When we met with the Congressman, I introduced ONE and Alicia introduced World Wings International and CARE, WWI’s international charity. Then we went through the Acts and Amendments that we were there to discuss. We began with the Education for All Act, which Rep. Diaz-Balart quickly stated that he will support. Alicia then spoke about an important reform needed to re-allocate dollars to better prevent the spread of HIV among monogamous, married women in Africa (whose husbands are not being faithful!). He agreed to look into the proposal. He also agreed to closely review the Global Child Survival Act. As for the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment, since it did not pass when it was presented recently in Congress, we asked him to keep the topic of reforming the U.S. Farm Bill in mind for future discussions; he agreed. He also agreed to support the GROWTH Act and saw merit in the proposal to help women in developing countries.
Though we were a bit nervous initially, Ana and I grew at ease as the minutes went by. It also helped that the representative was very cordial and gave us his full attention. He even asked us to introduce ourselves and backgrounds individually. At the end of the meeting, we had the added bonus of having the representative’s brother, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, join us for a photo. (He had arrived moments before our meeting came to a close.)
The experience was very gratifying, especially for our first time lobbying! As a final step, the three of us will each send a thank you note to the congressman.
Jeff Yanecek, Natalie Sugira, and our newest ONE staffer Wes Peterson trekked to Waterloo, Iowa, on Tuesday for a sit down meeting with Mayor Tim Hurley. Because Waterloo is one of the largest cities in Iowa and hotbed of political activity we wanted to make sure that the city’s leader was aware of the ONE Campaign’s work.
During our meeting, we expressed the importance of getting community leaders involved. By having Waterloo sign up as a City of ONE we would send a strong message that the citizens of Iowa care about those in poverty no matter where they live. Mayor Hurley had researched ONE before our visit and told us that he recognized many of the partner organizations as being active in his city. The talk went well enough to have the mayor invite us to speak in front of the entire city council to discuss Waterloo becoming a City of ONE.
I just received the results of a survey of 500 likely Republican Iowans caucus goers. Read through the full findings at one.org/polls.
Some highlights:
* Three in four voters (77%) agree that the Unites States has a moral obligation to address problems like disease, hunger and lack of economic opportunity in the poorest countries because it was built on a solid foundation of faith that teaches us to help others. When millions
of children around the world are dying from preventable diseases and hunger, 79% of Republicans agree that we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help.
* Eight in ten Republicans (80%) agree that the next President should keep the commitments made by President Bush to prevent and fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.
* The poll found that Mitt Romney leads among the Republican Presidential candidates with 35% of the vote, followed by Rudy Giuliani (12%), Fred Thompson (11%) and Mike Huckabee (11%). Another 10% of voters are undecided.
On Tuesday, ONE staff and volunteers attended a presidential candidate educational forum at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
At the forum, Senator Brownback talked about his vision for improving education so that America can compete in the world’s market. He acknowledged the work ONE is doing in promoting the Education For All Act and fighting global poverty.
He looked in the center of the room where we were sitting and he said “there are organizations out there that are leading the way to get us where we should be, and ONE is definitely an organization that I am proud to support.”
After the event, Senator Brownback walked towards us, shook hands and thanked me for the work ONE is doing. Before posing for the picture, he asked where I was originally from. I told him that I was born and raised in Rwanda, and he continued saying that he visited Rwanda and Congo this year and saw with his own eyes the work that needs to be done.
This week I had the opportunity to attend the Elko County Democrats’ Roosevelt / Kennedy Dinner with special guest Senator Harry Reid. During the evening’s program, I was given a few minutes to introduce the ONE Campaign, the ONE Vote ’08 initiative, share some statistics on extreme global poverty, and to encourage all of those present to sign the declaration and get involved. The response was enthusiastic and committee leaders took declaration sign-up forms, ONE bands, and printed materials to share at their next meeting.
The next morning, I represented ONE at the Nevada AFL/CIO convention in Reno. In addition to meeting dozens of people interested in ONE at our table in the lobby, I was afforded a few minutes to address the entire group in attendance. I shared ONE’s message and encouraged the hundreds there to join the 17,000 Nevada ONE member’s already fighting to end extreme poverty on a global scale.
It’s exciting to be a part of the many events and gatherings at which ONE is making its voice heard throughout Nevada.
ONE members from Birmingham met with Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL-7) on Tuesday to discuss important legislation that would move the U.S. closer to our commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The seven ONE activists took turns briefing Rep. Davis on three pieces of legislation: The Education for All Act, The Global Child Survival Act, and the GROWTH Act. (Rep. Davis had previously signed on as a co-sponsor for the Jubilee Act!)
Rep. Davis, commented that this legislation builds a “case for American values.” He said that there is a perception “that America is no longer interested in marginalized people around the world.”
Davis’ district consists of some of the poorest counties in the US where as much as 30-40% of the population live below the poverty line. Davis says he is sometimes asked how he can spend time on global poverty issues when the needs at home are so great. He responded that “in a strong country, addressing poverty abroad and poverty at home should not be an either/or issue but a both/and issue”
We also took the opportunity to talk with Rep. Davis about ONE Vote 08. Davis, a Harvard Law School classmate and supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, has been campaigning widely for Senator Obama, both on the campaign trail and on national cable news programs.
Our meeting ended with the requisite “white ONE banding” and group picture. Oh! And Rep. Davis said that he “would be happy to co-sponsor” these three important pieces of legislation. We hit the TRIFECTA!
-Elaine VanCleave, Birmingham, AL, ONE leader
[Pictured above: Mildred Sanford, Judy Donaldson, Betty Likis, Rep. Artur Davis, Nick Foster, Elaine VanCleave, Jeannette Bell, and Kelli Hepner]
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
