Florida
Election season is gearing up in Florida, and so are we. As senate candidates hit the campaign trail between now and November, ONE will be there to ask them what they plan to do about extreme poverty if they win. Right now, we’re focusing on 6 states in particular: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
Between now and election day, ONE will be working hard to engage Senate candidates from all parties in a conversation about crucial issues like extreme poverty and global development. A non-partisan effort, ONE Vote 2010 is making sure candidates know that voters in their state want to hear their positions on poverty fighting solutions. We will be at campaign rallies, in the town halls, and eating cotton candy with the best of them at county fairs – if the candidates are there, so are ONE members.
I really hope you can join us. In 2008, we ran a similar effort to get all major presidential candidates “On the Record” and now the president, vice president, and secretary of state are on the record saying what they’d do to fight extreme poverty.
To sign up for your state team, click here.
Jul 2nd, 2010 9:41 AM UTC
By Field
On Tuesday, June 29th, 28 ONE members and curious constituents from Missouri’s 7th District– and even a few ONE members from District 4 who were curious to see what was happening– gathered at the Library Center in Springfield for a meet-up and a screening of HBO/(RED)’s film “The Lazarus Effect.”
The crowd included curious parents who wanted to see what their kids were up to, pastors, college students, and community members from several walks of life, with motivations ranging from God to rock and roll, and everyone was touched and inspired by the journey they got to share with the focal individuals in “The Lazarus Effect.” Afterwards we discussed ideas on how to impact the situation. The importance of lobbying congress was discussed and agreed-upon, and discussion of how to recruit new ONE members, including invading First Friday Art Walk was tossed around. Seventeen people signed up to help with lobbying and recruitment, and eight more people took sign-up sheets to recruit their friends.
MO-7 ONE is off to an exciting start, and is full of enthusiastic and talented members who will be making big differences for the world’s poorest people in no time at all.
-Eric Mayle
Alix Gordon and Betsy Skipp are the latest ONE members to host a special screening of “The Lazarus Effect”, the (RED) documentary which shows the transformative effect of life-saving antiretroviral medicine through the stories of HIV+ people in Zambia. A group of more than 30 people gathered at the Wolfsonian Museum in downtown Miami to view the film and learn more about advocacy opportunities with ONE.
Prior to the screening Betsy and Alix spoke to the group about the critical importance of investments in life-saving initiatives like the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Global Fund not only combats these diseases; it is one of the largest financiers of health systems in the world today. This August we will continue to communicate this message as we meet with the South Florida Members of Congress, including Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who is the Ranking Member on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
-Sara Paterni
This summer ONE is launching ONE Vote ’10, an effort to mobilize voters and engage U.S. Senate candidates in open seats, to make the fight against global poverty and disease a key foreign policy and security issue at the 2010 ballot box. Building on our success in engaging voters and candidates during the presidential election in 2008, we will be back on the campaign trail to help build a powerful coalition of bi-partisan leaders across the country.
We kicked things off yesterday in Florida by attending an event at the Delray Beach South County Civic Center featuring Florida Senate Candidate Marco Rubio. Rubio delivered a foreign policy address to over 400 attendees and after the event, I had the chance to speak with him quickly. I introduced myself and the ONE Campaign, which he instantly recognized and commented on our work with Africa. I was able to take a brief photo with him and mention that Jeb Bush was our Florida ONE Vote Co-Chair, and even briefly mention how his friend Sen. Rick Santorum was our Pennsylvania ONE Vote Co-Chair. Marco welcomed information about ONE and our issues and said that it was very nice to meet the ONE Campaign.
Over the next few months, we look forward to continuing to develop relationships with all the Florida Senate candidates and other political leaders across the nation. Saving lives in the developing world is an issue that is uniting all Americans and through ONE Vote ‘10, we will make sure that all candidates from both sides of the political aisle know that addressing the basic needs of those suffering from extreme poverty and preventable disease is not simply the morally right thing to do, but as Def. Sec. Gates says, it is also is a smart investment in our national security.
Last weekend our workshop series continued in Jacksonville, Florida, where ONE members gathered to network and learn about ways they can take action in their community against global poverty. ONE members traveled to our event from all over northern Florida, some coming all the way from Tampa, Orlando and Tallahassee.
During the workshop, we talked about the ins and outs of advocacy, the budget process in Washington, and specific initiatives like GAVI and the Global Fund which are already making a difference on the ground in developing countries. We also took a minute to write personal letters calling for support on these issues to Florida’s Senators and Representative Ander Crenshaw, who represents a large portion of the Jacksonville area.
ONE member, Carrie Ferguson blogged about her experience at the workshop on Skirt.Com. When I met Carrie, she told me that she is particularly interested in child and maternal health issues. She has been using her voice on her blog to raise awareness about the struggles women living in poverty face every day.
Check out what Carrie had to say about our ONE workshop below!
This past Saturday, I met Sara Paterni, the Regional Field Director for ONE. She hosted a workshop at a Jacksonville library for ONE members and anyone else interested (like the guy who happened to be at the library playing music for pre-schoolers and decided to drop in after hearing about One).
You may have heard of the ONE campaign through it’s celebrity faces like Bono and Brad Pitt. The greatest thing about this organization lies not its glam support system though. The most amazing thing is that they’ve been able to gather more than 2 million people- all committed to ending poverty. This is what excites me. People from all walks of life joining for a common purpose. Uniting humanity.
At ONE, the fight against extreme poverty is not about charity, it’s about justice and equality. ONE members use their voices to raise awareness and ensure better policies. At the meeting, we wrote letters to our representatives, urging them to support funding for the International Affairs Budget. We heard from ONE members and students from the University of Florida. They shared their work in getting youth involved in all kinds of actions including calling their State Representatives. Though ONE’s focus is eradicating poverty, they don’t stop there. This year, one of their initiatives is the Women One to One campaign. Empowering women can bring communities out of poverty and literally transform the lives of millions. ONE recognizes this. I believe this. I am spreading the message. Join me. www.one.org
Apr 16th, 2010 9:55 AM UTC
By Field
Betsy Skipp and I visited Senator Bill Nelson’s office yesterday where we delivered over 900 signatures of Floridians who support US initiatives to improve global health and help people living in extreme poverty.
We asked the Senator’s Regional Director, Laura Fatovic to make sure that the Senator understood that many of his constituents support the administration’s $58.5 billion International Affairs budget and its effect on people living in jeopardy around the world. This small portion of the overall budget provides life-saving global health and sustainable agriculture programs, basic education, debt relief and economic development while strengthening our national security by providing stabilization. The high value of these modern programs is proven by measurable results, including 4 million on AIDS treatment, reduction by half of malaria deaths, millions more children in school and a large reduction in infant mortality.
–Alix Gordon
Last night I attended a town hall meeting held by Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-20) at the City Hall Building in downtown Fort Lauderdale. While the focus of the meeting was on the new health care legislation, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to hear from my Congresswoman in person.
When the meeting came to an end, I waited in line to make sure that Representative Wasserman Schultz knew how important her support is as we campaign for better development policies and more effective aid. When she saw the ONE shirt, she gave me a big smile and let me know that she was grateful for the work that we do to increase awareness about extreme poverty. I urged her to continue to support the international affairs budget so that we can continue to tackle the challenges of global poverty and preventable disease around the world.
It was a busy night for the Congresswoman, but she took time to take a photo with me and even mentioned that she would be interested in getting more involved with ONE members in her district through an event in the near future!
March 29 – April 9 is considered a district work period for our Members of Congress. Many of them use the work periods to host town halls and forums in their communities – so check out their websites for a schedule to meet up with yours. If you can go, wear a ONE T-shirt and use your voice for the world’s poorest people. These events are free and open to the public so it is a great opportunity to let your representatives in Congress know that you care about fighting extreme poverty and global disease.
Yesterday I joined Power 100 students from the University of Florida, Hillsborough Community College, Georgia Tech and Kenessaw State University for a lobby day on Capitol Hill. We spent the day meeting with staff from Senator Nelson, LeMieux, Chambliss and Isakson’s offices. In each meeting we talked about how we are working with ONE and specifically the ONE Campus Challenge to increase awareness about global poverty in our hometowns.
We also talked about the importance of the International Foreign Affairs budget. We requested that each senator support robust increases for the 150 account and especially for proven lifesaving programs like GAVI and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and TB. On the whole, it was a very busy day but I think each of us left Washington D.C. confident that our Senators not only know about our presence in the states, but are willing to work with us as we advocate for a greater focus on development assistance for the world’s poorest countries.
Georgia:
Florida:
