Blog Contributor:
Lauren Conn
Jul 16th, 2010 5:44 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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 Just a few hours after the exciting announcement that the Cardin-Lugar Transparency amendment had passed the Senate, I was walking by the Capitol when I ran into none other than the Chairman of Senate Banking Committee himself, Senator Chris Dodd!
On behalf of all ONE members, I was able to congratulate and thank the senator for his support and leadership in person! He told me that he “loves ONE” and thanked us for our advocacy efforts, emphasizing what a BIG victory the transparency amendment is in the fight against poverty. We’re grateful to Senators Dodd, Cardin, Lugar and other champions who fought hard for the world’s poorest people.
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Jun 25th, 2010 5:32 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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 This week in the Southern Atlantic region, Congressional District Leaders Abby Sasser and Brandon Green hosted ONE member Meet-Ups in Nashville, TN and Columbia, SC, respectively. Abby and Brandon invited local advocates to screen and discuss the Lazarus Effect, the (RED) documentary that demonstrates how small US investments in HIV/AIDS treatment go a LONG way to save millions of lives in the developing world. When they come home for the upcoming August recess, you can bet that members of Congress in both these states will hear this message directly from their constituents! After the film screenings, they submitted handwritten letters to their congressmen and senators requesting meetings to advocate for the Global Fund to fight preventable, treatable diseases.
ONE district meet-up becomes ONE in-district meeting which can result in ONE more advocate in Congress for the world’s poorest people! Think of the impact that we can have when we lift our voices as ONE all across the country!
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Jun 18th, 2010 4:59 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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 After her experience “acting globally” as an English teacher in Kenya, Abby Sasser has made the impact of her work in Africa go even further by advocating locally. She recently became the ONE Congressional District Leader in Nashville, TN and has already met with Senator Corker’s district staff to defend the International Affairs Budget and smart US investments in international development.
Although she grew up in Carson City, NV, Abby has called Nashville home since 2002 when she moved to the Music City to work in the music industry. In 2007, Abby went to Ukunda, Kenya to teach English to primary school students in a nearby village. When she returned from Kenya, she decided to change careers and pursue work in the non-profit sector. Abby is now the Director of Volunteer Services at the YWCA of Nashville and Middle TN. She will be hosting a volunteer meet-up next week at the YWCA for local ONE members in the Nashville area. Click here to RSVP!
In her own words:
I am so excited to be Nashville’s Congressional District Leader! I often wish I were still volunteering in Africa, but it’s incredibly empowering to realize just how much can be done on the local level. I plan to work with other local ONE members in order to make sure our representatives know how important fighting global poverty is to their constituents. I am sure we will gather a strong dedicated group of individuals to speak on behalf of the world’s poorest people. Tennessee is the volunteer state after all!
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Jun 17th, 2010 4:57 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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 I was able to catch up with Congresswoman Granger after a briefing she co-hosted with CARE on the Hill yesterday. She discussed child and maternal health issues with Christy Turlington Burns, CARE Maternal Health Advocate; Ambassador Mike Dybul, former head of PEPFAR; and Anita McBride, former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush. The congresswoman recently returned from a CARE Learning Tour to Peru where she witnessed progress being made on the ground and observed remaining challenges to improving child and maternal mortality.
In addition to serving as the Women’s Caucus co-chair on women’s health, Congresswoman Granger is the Ranking Member of the powerful appropriations subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, which funds most of the programs that ONE members champion. She told me that she is grateful to be in a position on the subcommittee to affect real change in the lives of women in the developing world by making smart investments in global health. Before I could thank her for her leadership on these issues, she thanked ONE for our advocacy on behalf of the world’s poorest people. I told her that ONE members in Texas’ 12th, and all over the globe, are grateful to partner with a true champion in Congress in the fight against extreme poverty.
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Jun 9th, 2010 5:21 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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I just saw Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, on the Hill after her testimony to the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight on the role of women in politics and civil society.
I had the opportunity to thank her for joining Melinda Gates and thousands of ONE members this spring on the Women ONE2ONE Interactive Conference Call . She said that her participation on the call seemed “small” in comparison to the efforts of ONE to promote child and maternal health in the developing world. She also expressed her excitement over Ms. Gates’ announcement Monday that the Gates Foundation had committed $1.5 billion over the next five years “to support family planning, maternal and child health, and nutrition programs in developing countries.”
Thank you to Amb. Verveer and Melinda Gates, two agents of change empowering women worldwide!
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Jun 9th, 2010 2:26 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that concept was truly global in scale for Brandon Green. Our Congressional District Leader in South Carolina’s 6th grew up all over the world calling Dakar, Miami and Brussels home at different times throughout his youth. Now Brandon is a proud Gamecock at the University of South Carolina in Columbia studying cultural anthropology and social work.
Brandon attended his congressman’s annual fish fry recently where his ONE shirt received lots of attention. Congressman Clyburn even stopped for a picture! Brandon looks forward to meeting with his staff soon to “discuss what can be done here in South Carolina to advance the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases.”
In his own words:
“South Carolina has a long and proud history. We are a state that, no matter what, stands for what we believe in. And now, South Carolinians are uniting together and with the rest of the world, as ONE, to stand for the rights of those in need. More and more people join the fight each day. Together, as ONE, we can and we will make a difference.”
Brandon will be hosting a volunteer meet-up this month for local ONE members in the Columbia area. There are meet-ups popping up all over the country – stay tuned to find a meet-up near you!
It’s ONE members like YOU and Brandon who help the world’s poorest people lift themselves from poverty by lifting your voices. Thank you for all that you do – and keep it up! GO ONE!
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Jun 2nd, 2010 2:33 PM UTC
By Lauren Conn
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First premiered in Washington, D.C., powerful photos from the Women ONE2ONE trip to Ghana and Sierra Leone went to Rock Hill, South Carolina, last week. This exhibit gives light to effective US investments that have empowered women in the developing world to be agents of change in their communities as entrepreneurs, farmers, health care workers, and organizers.
ONE member Stephen Crotts hosted “Women Who Go Beyond” in his gallery at the Gettys Art Center to share these incredible success stories with local art enthusiasts at the Old Town Art Crawl. Local Congressional District Leader Phillip Reynolds represented ONE at the event and signed up new members.
You can listen to Phillip and ONE photographer Morgana Wingard discuss the photo exhibit on the local talk show Palmetto Mornings here.
[Photos credits: Gallery Up and Friday Arts Project]
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