Michigan-native Emily Stivers is an online campaign coordinator at ONE. She shares in developing campaigns and writing email and web content. She also collects and analyzes campaign and membership data, supports field and legislative operations, and oversees the online components of the ONE Campus Challenge.
Emily has a master's degree from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s in International Relations with concentrations in International Development and Gender Studies from Michigan State’s James Madison College. She previously handled administration, website and IT for the Center for International Policy, and communications and advocacy for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center. Emily also has a background in creative writing.
In the past three days, more than 18,000 ONE members have taken action to help support and expand U.S. diplomatic, development and humanitarian efforts through the International Affairs Budget.
The object of our action is a letter from Representatives Berman, Kirk, and so far 59 other members of Congress, which will go directly to President Obama to request a robust 2011 International Affairs Budget. The International Affairs Budget is the foundation of funding for almost every anti-poverty and disease program we work for as ONE members.
59 representatives may seem like a lot, but it’s nowhere near our goal of 170 signers in the House. That’s how many we need to get the President’s attention.
If your representative hasn’t signed on yet (you can find that out here), please let him or her know the International Affairs Budget is important to you. Sign our petition before midnight on Sunday so we can deliver your signature on Monday, giving your representative enough time to sign on to the Berman-Kirk letter before the Wednesday deadline.
Yesterday a team of ONE members, interns and staff delivered our Upgrade Aid petition with more than 45,000 signatures from ONE members across the country.
We were well-received in every office we visited, reflecting the bipartisan nature of the bill we support: S.1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act. This bill will give USAID, the agency handling most of our U.S. foreign aid, the tools and people it needs to better fight hunger and poverty around the world.
After repeated delays due to lack of sufficient grassroots support, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is now on-track and scheduled to discuss and mark up S.1524 next Tuesday, November 10. The fact that the Senate is making time for this bill now, despite Capitol Hill’s preoccupation with healthcare and other domestic concerns, is a big win for our movement and proof that when we come together, we can influence our legislators and really make a difference.
Your phone calls and signatures on this petition told our senators loudly and clearly that Americans care about the quality of our foreign aid. That was a message they really needed to hear. We may still have a fight to see this bill and other critical components of aid reform enacted. But better, smarter, stronger U.S. foreign aid is on the horizon — thanks in part to the ripple effects yesterday’s petition delivery is bound to have on the Senate and beyond.
Keep watching the ONE Blog for an update after the mark up on Tuesday.
The committee meeting on S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10. In order to have the biggest impact on that discussion, ONE will deliver our Upgrade Aid petition — asking senators to cosponsor this important legislation — this Thursday, November 5. That will allow just enough time for senators to receive and review our petition before the committee meets to decide its fate next week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, a team of interns, volunteers and ONE staff will begin printing copies of our petition (with more than 45,000 signatures!) and assembling folders for hand-delivery to each Senate office. That means today is the last day to sign the petition to have your name included in our delivery on Thursday.
Sign the petition here, and don’t forget to share it with your friends and social networks.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has delayed the mark-up of S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act, to Monday, October 12. That means we have another week to tell our senators to Upgrade Aid.
Over 24,000 ONE members signed the Upgrade Aid petition within its first 24 hours — far surpassing our expectations and proving Americans do care about better, smarter foreign aid. Now we need your help to reach 50,000 signatures before we deliver the petition on the day of the mark-up, when we expect it will have the biggest impact.
Since ONE members began making phone calls on September 17, we’ve registered an amazing 1,110 calls asking the Senate to Upgrade Aid. Three senators have signed on as cosponsors for S. 1524 this week, including Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who received 33 calls from ONE members, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who received 36 calls, and Edward Kaufman (D-DE), who received 2 calls. Special thanks to ONE members in Missouri, New York and Delaware for their efforts, and to everyone else who made calls. Here is the complete list of current cosponsors:
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. James Risch (R-ID)
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen. Edward Kaufman (D-DE)
You can still make phone calls on behalf of this bill, here. And don’t forget to sign the petition.
The ONE Campus Challenge competition between colleges and universities is officially kicking off next week, but Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri has thrown down the pre-season gauntlet by logging an incredible 70 phone calls in support of ONE’s Upgrade Aid campaign.
Check out this video to see how they did it:
The Upgrade Aid campaign is about better, smarter U.S. foreign assistance — so the precious development dollars we fight so hard for all year go to the best, most efficient programs on the ground. Webster University’s 70+ calls supporting the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act seem to have made an impact with Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who officially signed on as a cosponsor for the bill on Tuesday.
You can still make phone calls on behalf of S. 1524 here. And now we also have an Upgrade Aid petition you can sign, here.
Last year, Webster University’s ONE Campus Challenge participation ranked them in the top 10 global poverty-fighting schools in the nation. This year, they’re already setting the bar high, and we’re excited to see what the new season brings from each of the more than 2,400 Campus Challenge schools.
Over the past two weeks, more than 1,000 ONE members have made phone calls to their senators to support an upgrade to U.S. foreign aid — in the form of S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act.
But with the committee deliberation on this bill pushed back a second time, until October 6, we’re stepping up our game. In addition to phone calls, we’re now asking ONE members to sign a petition on this critical legislation. We’ll deliver that petition to your senators next week, before the October 6 committee mark-up.
S. 1524 gives the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) the tools and people to keep fighting hunger and poverty around the world, and do it even better. And it gives us new mechanisms to know what works and doesn’t, so we can make sure our investments are making a difference.
That means better, smarter USAID programs to help the most difficult-to-reach farmers grow crops and feed more of Africa’s 265 million hungry people. It means more support for treating 6.6 billion liters of water in Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. And it also means better immunization, polio eradication, nutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia care, and maternal and neonatal healthcare through USAID programs across the African continent.
The bipartisan the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act is a key first step towards better, smarter U.S. foreign aid. Tell your senators that upgrading aid is a priority for you, and don’t forget to share the petition with your friends.
The mark-up, or committee discussion of the Kerry-Lugar Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act (S.1524) was supposed to be tomorrow. But we’ve just learned it’s been pushed back until NEXT Tuesday — September 29.
That gives you an extra week to make a phone call that will only take a minute. It couldn’t be easier:
Enter your info on this page to generate your senator’s toll-free phone number.
Dial the number, and introduce yourself to the Senate staffer who answers. Make sure to mention that you’re a ONE member and a constituent.
Say you want the senator to cosponsor S. 1524, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009. Give more information if you want, but don’t worry if you’re not an expert on the bill. It’s enough to just ask the senator to be a cosponsor, and mention the bill number.
Say thanks, and hang up.
I made calls to both of my senators last week and it literally took me less than a minute for each call. And you can call any time this week — any day before the 29th, and feel free to call after office hours and just leave a message.
So far, ONE members have made more than 750 calls on behalf of this important legislation — which calls for better, smarter and more effective foreign assistance to fight global poverty and preventable disease around the world. 750 calls is good, but we need a much stronger showing to convince our senators there’s an American movement to Upgrade Aid.
Help us jam the Senate switchboard for the Kerry-Lugar bill from now through next Tuesday. Start here.
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