On Monday afternoon, I joined several ONE New York members to meet with Rep. Nita Lowey (NY-18). Already a true friend, Rep. Lowey has consistently worked for our issues and as an influential member in the U.S. House of Representatives and on the House Appropriations Committee, sits in a unique position to promote important initiatives.
Representing the 6,000+ ONE members in her district, we requested that she use her voice and vote on the Appropriations Committee to restore President Obama’s requested funding for Foreign Operations, currently before Congress. More than happy to do so, Rep. Lowey said that she would work to secure that funding and fully supported the budget which amounts to an increase of $4 billion for International Affairs over fiscal year 2009 – critical to the furtherance of the progresses made in the fight against global AIDS and poverty. We went into the meeting knowing we had a strong advocate in Rep. Lowey, but it was great to dialogue with her on the issues and hear directly about her strong commitment to the issues of global health and poverty.
Representative Lowey also taped this great message to ONE members. Enjoy!
I spent the last two days in the New York metro area meeting with volunteers and laying the groundwork for our field presence out there. As the new field organizer for the region, I can’t tell you how encouraging it was to see the energized enthusiasm of the ONE members of New York and New Jersey. My schedule was packed on the trip, as I met with several NYC based volunteers as well as ONE members in Westchester and Rockland counties. On Monday night, I attended a forum on sexual violence in The Democratic Republic of the Congo hosted by the Women’s Enews organization, which included Faida Mitifu, Ambassador from the DRC to the United States, as a panelist, and was moderated by ONE member Dominique Soguel.
ONE member Ruby Thomas near Columbia University Medical Center, Uptown, Manhattan
Next, it was out to Highland Park, NJ where I met with Simon Davis, an area high school student and ONE member that has been doing some really great things lately. He is working on putting together a National History Day project on ONE at his school as well as helping to organize the naming of the Highland Park community as a “City of ONE.”
ONE member Simon Davis, in Highland Park, NJ
It was great to connect some of the active volunteers in the New York metro area and I can’t wait to get on the ground permanently in the next few weeks.
I thought I should share some inside skinny on the week we spent in New York September 22-26 at the UN’s special summit on the Millennium Development Goals. We went there to try to attract some attention to – indeed celebrate – the efforts against extreme poverty in recent years, and to call for an acceleration of that progress.
Bono was frantically blogging for the Financial Times in every spare second throughout the week on his way to and from meetings with various leaders. The meetings were many: with Spanish President Zapatero to plan for their E.U. presidency in 2010; with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia to discuss their remaining private commercial debt (think that’s sorted now); with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to push on the overall Millennium Goals project; and with President Sarkozy of France and President Barroso of the EU to push Europe on delivering an extra billion euros from the EU budget to fight hunger and invest in agricultural productivity in Africa. Bob Geldof arrived a few days into the melee and participated on the opening panel of the Clinton Global Initiative, popped up on CNN, and met with Mayor Bloomberg, Bill Gates and others along the way.
One highlight was unveiling our “Celebrate Accelerate” video to a crowd of activists and leaders (including Bill Gates, Bob Geldof, Jeff Sachs) honoring the “quietest storm in town”: the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Another, was dropping in on the “In My Name” launch where we regrouped with will.i.am and other activist allies.
An important part of the week was passing over ONE members’ hunger petition, with 50,000 signers, to Bob Orr, the Assistant Secretary General. The petition targets Ban Ki-moon, and all the G8 leaders, asking them to finance the current $1 billion gap in worldwide agricultural financing.
In addition to all of this, Kim Smith and a team of staff and volunteers brought the ONE Bus to town and, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg, parked it in some highly visible locations in the city.
By September 26th, it was clear it had been a decent week. In total there were $16 billion worth of commitments, some old, and some new, focused largely on building upon success to get more kids in school; eliminating malaria deaths by 2015 (yes, that’s got chutzpah – but by acting together it can be done); and renewing efforts against maternal mortality and hunger.
By investing in the fight against extreme poverty we can create new and stable markets where currently there are none; build strong global growth engines that can keep the global economy going when some of us falter; ensure strong health systems; and ensure that other’s instability doesn’t become ours. Above all – because it’s morally the right thing to do.
So now this piece of the campaign goes on to upcoming votes in Brussels on agriculture funding, and a key meeting about financing for development that is happening in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East, at the end of November. We’ll keep you updated on both.
For the weekend of September 20th and 21st the ONE Bus took the Big Apple by storm! New York City was hosting a week of meetings surrounding the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and ONE decided to get a head start on the meetings and hit the streets to get the word out about the fight for the world’s poorest people.
On Saturday we were on Fifth Avenue and 58th street and on Sunday we were right on Broadway and 52nd Street- both proved to be great locations with lots of people to talk with about ONE and the MDG’s.
On September 25th, world leaders will convene in NYC for a United Nation summit to renew commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
While all aspects of the MDGs are critical to our work, the reality is that if world leaders don’t immediately address the ongoing devastating world hunger crisis, all other poverty-fighting victories will be blunted.
There are 30 countries in immediate need of emergency food assistance and essential seeds and fertilizer. These countries have created specific plans to feed the hungry and prevent future crises by enabling people to provide for themselves. Meeting these emergency needs requires $1 billion in funding by the end of this year.
Please provide life-saving food and essential seeds and fertilizer to the 30 countries that need it most by filling the 2008 food and agriculture funding gap of $1 billion without delay.
As world leaders gather at the UN Summit on the 25th, let’s close the book on the world hunger crisis.
During the Global Campaign for Education’s Action Week, New York teacher Emily Bishop will be taking part in “the World’s Biggest Lesson” by teaching her students about the barriers that young people face all over the world in accessing a quality education.The Global Campaign for Education hopes to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the most people teaching the same lesson simultaneously. Below, her post and a video about the action.
I’m very lucky to teach in an after-school program, Wild Blue, where kids are taking advantage of learning opportunities beyond their everyday classroom lessons. I am challenged and inspired by my young charges, who want to know about everything from Shakespeare to cryptozoology (the study of mythological animals). As I prepare to teach “the World’s Biggest Lesson,” about the global commitment to achieve Education for All by 2015, and the gaping inequalities that still remain, I am also struck by how lucky the children I teach really are (however much they might complain about their math homework). As we get settled into our weekly sessions I hear stories of field trips to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, of classroom parties held for the publication of student-edited picture books, of basketball tournaments and class pets. Two of the girls from my “Myths and Legends from Around the World†class traveled together to the Arctic last spring, on a Wild Blue expedition, and spent time in an Inuit school. I think it would be tremendous if more kids had opportunities for life-changing experiences like that – but really, what could possibly be more life-changing (and world-changing!) than quality education for the 72 million children still missing out on school? I’m so excited to share that idea with the kids I work with, give them the chance to help break a world record, and help them add their voices to the Global Campaign for Education’s call for quality education for all.
You can help break the world record by registering your participation in the World’s Biggest Lesson now – www.campaignforeducationusa.org.
-Emily Bishop, Teacher and Activities Coordinator, Wild Blue, New York
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An important part of the week was passing over ONE members’ hunger petition, with 50,000 signers, to Bob Orr, the Assistant Secretary General. The petition targets Ban Ki-moon, and all the G8 leaders, asking them to finance the current $1 billion gap in worldwide agricultural financing.
