On Sunday, I attended an inaugural celebration in DC of our newly-confirmed Secretary of State. At the event, Secretary Clinton focused a portion of her speech on the disproportionate effect of poverty on women and children throughout the developing world.

Clinton said for women in the world’s poorest countries, “the glass ceiling is poverty that limits their dreams,” and reminded the crowd to resounding applause and cheers that women’s rights are human rights. In her brief remarks, she spoke of her observations traveling in Africa of women organizing in their communities and asked when we will start counting their contributions. She passionately spoke of her dedication to universal basic education and health care around the world.

The energy of the crowd suggested high hopes for the new Secretary of State who enters the office as a champion of ONE’s issues.

-Lauren Conn, ONE Regional Field Organizer

After hours in the cold watching Barack Obama be sworn in and give his first address as president of the United States, I finally made it indoors and to a computer.

As a ONE member, I know I wasn’t the only one thankful and inspired by President Obama’s words on our issues:

“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”

And while writing this, I’m discovering this statement on the new White House website under foreign policy:

“Fight Global Poverty: Obama and Biden will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty and hunger around the world in half by 2015, and they will double our foreign assistance to achieve that goal. This will help the world’s weakest states build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.”

Over the last 2 months, more than 101,000 people signed ONE’s petition calling on Mr. Obama to make clear in his speech the importance of fighting poverty and preventable disease worldwide. And he now has on the most prominent of global stages.

I look forward to working with ONE’s millions of members over the next days, months, and years, to keep up the pressure and make sure these powerful words turn into powerful action.

-Virginia Simmons

(photo credit Josh Peck)