Menendez Monday

Great report back from Ross of SetonHall University of ONE students and members lobbying Senator Robert Menendez last Monday.

“Last week the luck of the Irish was with the ONE Campaign. New Jersey members of ONE and our partner organization CARE met with Senator Robert Menendez to discuss his support for several anti-poverty bills going through Congress. For my part in the meeting I thanked the senator for co-sponsoring and voting for the Biden/Lugar amendment to the FY09 international affairs budget which, as many of you might know, restored $4.1 billion dollars…”

Read the rest on the ONE Campus Challenge Blog.

Lobbying For Uganda

(Mariana Blanco, Invisible Children’s filmmaker and editor, joined 1,000 young Americans to lobby Congress on the crisis in Northern Uganda.)

I had never been to lobby in DC before, and now that its been a few weeks, the best way I can describe the Northern Uganda Lobby Days is in familiar terms–it was like a film, I think Rocky: Day one was the training montage; day two the fight on Capitol Hill, the fight to get our voice heard. I am a filmmaker for Invisible Children, and the world on Capitol Hill always struck me as cryptic and intimidating; but for two days at the end of March, I met person after person, sincerely excited to be involved in our effort.

Let’s skip to action. On day two, 800 individuals met with more than 200 staffers and Congressmen, making it one of the largest lobbying groups for Africa. I started the day surrounded by mostly young students in suits, practicing their speeches. There was urgency in the air – the LRA and the Ugandan government had made significant steps toward peace just days before. The day suddenly became weighted and relevant.

It was my job to stay near the action. (more…)

Three Times the Charm with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen

On Tuesday, members of the ONE Miami group visited Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Miami office for the third time this year.

Ed Cooke from the United Nations Association got us the appointment and national Jubilee USA organizer Brian Swarts led the meeting. We were joined by Dr. Bradford Brown of the NAACP and Steve Forester, a Senior Policy Advocate for Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (Haitian Women of Miami) and my fellow ONE member, Mary Sarah Agliotta.

We went to the congresswoman’s office to advocate primarily for the Jubilee Act but also for House Resolution 241, legislation to relieve the debt incurred by Haiti, the most poverty-stricken nation in the Western Hemisphere. Brian spoke of the importance of debt relief, the 40-day fast of Rev. Duncombe and the great evil of vulture funds.

Ed Cooke spoke of the importance of fulfilling our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, and the new Trick or Treat for UNICEF program being revived. Steve Forester was our man for H.R. 241, as he has advocated for Haiti for nearly 30 years.

Dr. Brown, who has advocated for civil rights for 43 years, represented the NAACP’s support for Jubilee and H.R. 241.

I spoke of ONE’s gratitude for the congresswoman’s sponsorship of the GROWTH Act, our support for the Jubilee Act and pressed for co-sponsorship of the Global Child Survival Act. We spoke with her very well-prepared aide, Mr. Ariel Fernandez, who graciously agreed to pass our information along to the congresswoman and her full Foreign Affairs committee.

We are hopeful for results.

-Alexandra Gordon, ONE Miami

Jubilee! 37 More Cosponsors!

During the last two weeks, ONE members sent more than 48,000 letters and made 4,200 calls to their members of Congress urging them to support the Jubilee Act.

Before we took these thousands of actions, there was a Jubilee bill in the House with just 52 cosponsors, and no companion bill in the Senate.

Now, after Jubilee USA and ONE’s campaigns, 27 more representatives have signed on to cosponsor the Jubilee Act in the House, the Senate has introduced a companion bill and 10 key senators have signed on to cosponsor it.

You can see the full list of representatives and senators who have shown their support by cosponsoring here and here on Thomas.loc.gov.

If your representative or either of your state’s senators are signed on, please thank them using our online tool.

If your representative’s or either of your senators’ names aren’t on the list, there’s still plenty you can do to encourage them.

1.) Write a letter to your members of Congress.
2.) Call their office. All the talking points you need are here.
3.) Write a letter to the editor to your local paper about unjust debt in the developing world and the Jubilee Act.
4.) Schedule a meeting with your representative’s state or DC office. Email giveyourtime@one.org for all the resources you’ll need.

Use the comment thread below to let us know if your representative and senators have signed on yet - and to add your ideas or questions about how to get their support for this critical bill.

ONE Base Lobbies Rep. Space

On Monday the PACCAR Medical Education Center had a groundbreaking
ceremony in Chillicothe, Ohio. According to speakers at the ceremony,
the new educational facility will address such issues as advancements in
technology, the shortage in health care workers, economic development
and quality of life. It seemed to be a perfect setting to discuss our
efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I brought ONE
Chillicothe’s balladeer bard Josh Ray and Regional Organizer Katie
Andrews–together, we had a perfect trio to talk to Congressman Zack
Space, 18th District, Ohio, who was in attendance.

Congressman Space and his District Director Ken Engstrom sat down with
us and discussed the Child Survival Act, the Education For All Act and
the Jubilee Act.

Congressman Space said he agreed with the spirit of our cause and that
he would look over the information packet we gave him. He also said that
he became impressed with the ONE Campaign after Bono met with the
freshman of the 110th Congress, and that he is proud of the great work
that ONE Chillicothe members are doing in the 18th District.

-Chris Cooper, ONE Member in Chillicothe, OH

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday, members of the Farm Bill Working Group of Ohio went on a mission in downtown Columbus to deliver a faith-based sign-on letter to the offices of Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich.

As seen in the pictures, our team includes: Jerry Freewalt (Columbus Catholic Diocese), Mark Diemer (Grace of God Lutheran Church), Gini Lohmann Bauman (Sojourners), Larry Hollar (Bread for the World). Being the group photographer that day, I was included in spirit.

The sign-on letter included faith leaders from Central and Southern Ohio representing over 2,000 congregations and over 650,000 people of faith.

There are two purposes for this sign-on letter:

1. To show the Ohio senators that the faith community cares about these issues; and
2. To urge the Senate to push for a better and stronger Farm Bill that helps farmers domestically while keeping in mind farmers globally.

Beth Thames, the Deputy State Director for Senator Brown, and Lynn Stevens, the Community Relations Coordinator for Senator Voinovich, gladly accepted the letters and took the time to hear our concerns. Our mission is over but the mission for the Senate is just beginning. Hopefully we will have some good news this Fall.

-Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer

Miami Lobbying II

On September 7, ONE Campaign Miami made its second visit of the year to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s office.

Daniel Pedreira, her Congressional Aide, received us graciously and was genuinely interested in hearing about ONE. After introductions, Adam explained ONE and our fight against extreme poverty and treatable disease. Adam, Alix, Hannibal and Michael each described the legislation we are supporting, including the GROWTH Act, Global Child Survival, the Education for All Act, and the Jubilee Act, and we asked for the Congresswoman’s help in getting this crucial legislation to the floor for votes.

Gail, from our local partner organization RESULTS came along and provided terrific reinforcement on the Global Child Survival Act. She also brought news that big increase in TB funding had passed Congress the night before.

We discussed the Millennium Development Goals and arranged to email the 2007 UN and DATA Reports on the status of extreme poverty in the world to the congresswoman’s aid Daniel Pedreira. Coincidentally, there was a great article that day about Save the Children, Bill Frist and ONE in the New York Times that I sent along too.

After our last visit, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen agreed to sponsor the GROWTH Act. We are hopeful for good results from this meeting as well.

-Alix Gordon - ONEmiami

Lobbying: Easier Than You Think.

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.

-Cibeles Duran

Construction Site: American Values Being Built

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]

From the Department of “Gets it” - Rep. Bachus

Every time ONE members meet with US Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL), we always start our meeting by thanking him for his leadership on global poverty issues. As an original co-sponsor of the Jubilee Act in 1999, Rep. Bachus was in on the ground floor and has worked tirelessly on debt relief issues alongside Bono/DATA and Bread for the World, both founding members of the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History.

When Rep. Bachus first championed debt relief in Congress, his colleagues didn’t “get it”.

“People on both sides of the aisle told me there was no political upside to this,” Bachus said in an interview at the time. Now, those same skeptics see just how forward thinking he was – not only has debt cancellation reduced poverty, improved health care and education, but it has also decreased poor countries dependency on foreign aid. This year, Rep. Bachus, in a bi-partisan effort with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), introduced the Jubilee Act of 2007 – legislation that will further extend debt cancellation to the world’s poorest countries without imposing harmful economic reforms.

Earlier this year, Rep. Bachus joined Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) to also introduce the Education for All Act. Rep. Bachus recognizes the importance of education in ending the cycle of poverty and further sees education as “an investment in international security.” “Young people who are reading books aren’t building bombs,” Bachus said in an interview with the Birmingham News. He added, “The US has always succeeded because of the strength of our ideas. We need to fill the vacuum with a message of hope, not hate, in these countries. We can’t play educator to the world, but we can certainly come closer than being the policeman to the world.”

We ended the meeting by briefing Rep. Bachus on both the Growth Act and the Child Survival Act. He enthusiastically received the information and felt confident that these were both measures he could support. He promised an answer within the week!

When ONE members asked how we could help him, Rep. Bachus pointed out that letters to the editor are very effective. A point well taken and often heeded. For example, when ONE members were unable to get an in-district meeting with our senators during the August recess to discuss the Farm Bill, we wrote letters to the editor of the Birmingham News publicly stating our position. Even without a face-to-face visit with our senators, local ONE Campaigners were able to effectively communicate our viewpoint.

Many thanks to Rep. Bachus for his continued leadership.

[People in picture are: John Derrick, Elaine VanCleave, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Suzanne Martin, Mark Connell]