ONE has been welcomed on several occasions by the office of Representative Gary Peters (MI). I live in the Congressman’s district, and his staff has been most receptive to hearing about the issues which concern his constituents. During a recent meeting with his Outreach Coordinator, Hy Safran, we discussed three foreign aid bills which are pending before the House of Representatives. Following our discussion, Hy put me in contact with the Congressman’s D.C. office, so that I could address the pending legislation with his Legislative Director, Jonathan Smith.

One of the pending bills was the Berman Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act – HR 2139, a true reform bill, which focuses on improving the effectiveness of our foreign aid. It directs the President to develop a comprehensive national development strategy by better defining the roles of USG departments and agencies, improving coordination, and increasing the monitoring and evaluation of U.S. development programs. ONE supports the goal of this legislation.

On July 30, 2009, Congressman Peters signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill. He graciously remitted a letter to me, on behalf of ONE, in which he stated, “In consideration for your support for this bill, I have reviewed it closely and found that it would establish common sense measures to allow for greater taxpayer transparency while making our existing foreign assistance funding more effective. I have decided to cosponsor this important legislation, and plan to support it when it comes to the floor of the House for a vote.” The Congressman further pledged to monitor the status of other bills.

It is a pleasure, as a ONE supporter in Michigan, to know that Congressman Peters will take a common sense, practical stand to ensure that U.S. aid to poverty-stricken countries will be effective.

-Stephen Scapelliti, Michigan ONE member

PS, check out the letter here (click “more” for the second page)

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I recently met with Rep. Gary Peters’s Congressional Liaison, Alex Greenfield. Over the course of almost an hour, Mr. Greenfield and I discussed many issues. I led the conversation to the status of the International Affairs Budget. I told him that my purpose in meeting with him, in addition to familiarizing the Congressman with ONE, was to ask for the Congressman’s support of the Senate 150 account level at $53.8 billion. He was familiar with the issue.

I explained to him that maintaining the proposed budget level of investment in the poorest nations helps to provide an essential infrastructure, which increases financial stability of those countries and improves the health of their citizens. I told him that, while some are looking for a means of offsetting our domestic stimulus budget by reducing foreign aid, the United States derives a direct benefit from maintaining foreign aid, because it helps persons in those nations to become productive and lead healthier lives, and because it reduces the influence of extremist factions which threaten security both here and abroad. He stated that these are among the issues which the Congressman and his staff are addressing. He said that he both understood and agreed with the connection between foreign aid and the benefit to the US.

Alex stated that the Congressman has been supportive of the President’s other proposals and that, while he cannot speak for the Congressman, he expects that he will support the International Affairs Budget as it stands. He will address this first with the other staff members and then will review it with Rep. Peters. He asked whether I would be available to meet with them again in the coming weeks, and I agreed to do so. He indicated that after learning more about ONE, he is supportive of its goals and would convey that to Rep. Peters. He also asked me to feel free to contact him about any other issues or pending legislation which ONE would like the Congressman to consider.

-Stephen Scapelliti, Michigan ONE Volunteer

Nearly 500 students from some 20 Christian colleges and universities attended the three day Faith and International Development Conference at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. The theme was “Partnership: United in Service.”Students were there to learn more about development issues, including the role of advocacy, and how their faith impacts their efforts. By the end of the weekend, those in attendance not only grasped the many development issues in the Global South but were able to act as advocates for progress in the fight against global poverty and treatable, preventable disease.

Featured Plenary speakers included Abikök Riak from World Vision as well as Katherine Marshall from the Berkley Center at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue – both stressing the importance of partnerships between the NGO and faith communities In the afternoon I’ll be leading a couple breakout sessions on Advocacy as ONE and the opportunities ahead of us in 2009-2010 to act effectively in the fight against global poverty and disease.

The weekend was also about collaboration among many organizations working together to end global poverty –World Vision, Bread for the World, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, World Hope International and Food for the Hungry are all here. Students from Indiana Wesleyan, Hope College, Calvin College, King’s University, Michigan State University, and many others were able to interact with the organizations throughout the weekend in forums, breakout sessions, and at a Fair Trade Fair.

As the soundtrack to the conference, we were also treated to some great music acts. K’Naan, brought his mix of hip-hop, rock, and world beats coupled with his lyrics on growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia and The Psalters displayed their diverse sound and socially conscious message.

Check out Isaac Fuchs, Calvin student and co-director of the 2009 conference sharing his thoughts on the work of ONE and partnership for development.

-Adam Phillips

The University of Michigan’s ONE chapter has had some trouble this year navigating through the bureaucracy of our administration.After awhile we came to the realization that the larger scale projects we’d been hoping to implement were not going to happen any time soon. Instead of getting discouraged we tried to think outside the box and put together some fun, small actions that would get the ONE name out to students.

Since football is one of the greatest traditions here,we thought it would be a great place to start. With that, one of the favorite things students like to do at games here (and many other places) is blow up beach balls and send them flying throughout the crowd. Piggy-backing on this idea – we got together and spray painted beach balls all black and then painted the ONE logo in white on them. We did this at an awesome pre-game tailgate with our ONE members.

When we launched the balls in the air we got a lot of questions about what the logo meant and why we were doing it. It made for a fun picture and was definitely a great way to get the word out. Just because the administration or faculty are being difficult doesn’t mean there is nothing left to try – think outside the box a little and it can end up being the best action you take.

-Stephanie Parrish, University of Michigan ‘11

Today, along with other ONE and RESULTS members, I met with Congressman Joe Knollenberg (MI-9) and asked him to include additional funding for the Global Fund in his “wish list” letter to the chair and ranking member of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. (As a member of this committee, Congressman Knollenberg is uniquely positioned to send a “wish list” letter detailing his key funding priorities for fiscal year 2009).

This year the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB & Malaria needs $6 billion to fight three of the world’s most devastating diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. I asked Congressman Knollenberg to include $2 billion for the Global Fund in his “wish list” letter because 1/3 of the $6 billion is the United States’ (proportionate) share.

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Yesterday and today McCain talked about ONE during town halls in Michigan. The one on Saturday was live on C-Span, today’s was live on CNN. Watch the clips below.

-Virginia Simmons

It started with the NAACP National Convention in Detroit, then it was Art in the Park in Plymouth and this weekend it was the Ann Arbor Art Fair–I tell ya’, the ONE groups in Michigan are on fire. Not only that but the groups banded together to make sure that all of the events were covered by ONE volunteers–Detroit, Ann Arbor, Livonia and Clinton Township! Great work everyone. Here’s a re-cap on the Ann Arbor Art Fair from Yvonne Wyborny, ONE and RESULTS (a ONE partner) member:

“Well, the materials are all packed up, the tent has been disassembled and the 2007 Ann Arbor Art Fair is over. Many more people now know about ONE. The final count is that 563 people signed the ONE declaration over 4 days. For some of the ONE volunteers, it was their first time chance to work a table at an event!”

Highlights include: WCBN-FM, the University of Michigan student-run radio station, came around on Wednesday afternoon to interview ONE and RESULTS member, Lisa Treumuth. The interviewer asked if the U.S. increased foreign aid by 1%, what should it be used for? (Lisa probably thought, “I’m so glad you asked.”) She told listeners about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the importance of funding global education (and why many children are not in school due to school fees), and microcredit (where poor women get small loans to start micro-businesses to feed their families).

The Michigan groups are now unstoppable and I hope they serve as an inspiration to ONE groups everywhere!

- Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Field Organizer