This will be my first year attending CARE’s National Conference in Washington on June 18 and 19, where CARE supporters from around the country travel each year at their own expense for an amazing and energizing few days. We’ll hear inspiring speakers like Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, David Gregory of NBC News, and Senator Richard Durbin. And we’ll be joined by CARE Ambassadors Christy Turlington Burns and Sheila Johnson, who are lending their famous faces to help get our message across to influential policymakers.

Participants will have a chance to hone their organizing skills, meet legislators face to face, and learn about crucial issues that CARE is working on – such as equal access to education for girls; access to small business loans that enable women to create economic opportunity in their communities; and global efforts to ensure healthy pregnancies and childbirth.

It’s been my great privilege to work for CARE for the past five years. In my job as a press officer I have traveled to almost 20 of the 70 countries where CARE works, meeting the dedicated field staff and community members who make possible daily progress toward our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

The Conference will be my first chance to meet firsthand our volunteer advocates — the activists who work tirelessly to mobilize Americans to influence U.S. policy. It’s their enthusiasm and dedication that help CARE tap into this country’s power to bring about positive change in the world.

The excitement and energy are already building, and I have no doubt this will be the most successful Conference ever. Along with ONE and our partner organizations, we are eager for a few days of big strides toward a better world. Won’t you join us? For more information go to: https://my.care.org/care/events/2008conference/

-Rick Perera, CARE

The top seven reasons to come to Bread for the World’s Lobby Day on June 17:

1. There’s nothing like sweating in your Sunday best in DC’s summer heat as you traipse about Capitol Hill.

2. It’s fun to hear your senator or representative ask, “The Global Poverty what?”

3. Uplifting worship service, preceded by free wine at the reception!

4. Boxed lunches: Mmmm, delicious….

5. And if it rains, you may be able to don a trash bag as a poncho.

6. Talk in ordinary English while sounding wonky (the language of Capitol Hill.)

7. How else can you make a difference in million of lives in one day?

Register here to join us and we guarantee you the ultimate Washington experience.

-Kimberly Burge, Bread for the World

I’m thrilled to let everybody know about an exciting opportunity for activists who want to learn more about how to talk to their elected leaders and local press about ending poverty. From July 12-15, RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund will be hosting our annual International Conference, featuring RESULTS activists from across the U.S. and around the world. Participants will learn how to fine tune their lobbying and communication skills in workshops that are designed both for those just starting out, and those who are on a first-name basis with their elected official’s staff! Split plenary sessions will address global and domestic issues separately, and confirmed speakers include Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; and David Lane, executive director of the ONE Campaign.

Activities won’t be limited to the conference site. The last day of the conference will be devoted to meetings with our activists and their members of Congress, and meetings at the World Bank and IMF for our international partners. At the end of the day, my colleagues and I will host optional walking tours of DC, under-30 socials, and karaoke dance parties to make sure that participants can have some fun during their time in DC. Not that lobbying Congress on poverty alleviation isn’t fun, of course. But it ain’t karaoke either…

RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund provides our partners in the U.S. and around the world with the tools they need to get informed about fighting poverty both in the U.S. and abroad, and how to engage their policymakers and editorial boards. We focus on campaigns pertaining to global health, education, health care for all, microcredit, and ending hunger through nutrition programs. To learn more about us, or to register for our conference, please visit our website. I hope to see you there!

-Robyn Shepherd, RESULTS

I’m excited to be involved for the first time in Save the Children’s annual Advocacy Day program in Washington (June 11-12). Particularly at a time when the world food crisis threatens to push more people – especially vulnerable children in the developing world – back into poverty, this event gives us all an opportunity to do something for those children and their families.

Did you know that over 10 million children die yearly from preventable or treatable diseases and low cost solutions can do something about it? That’s 26,000 children a day! AIDS and malaria are killing only a small proportion. Most die of diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles. Four million of these deaths occur to newborns – less than one month old – in villages in Africa and Asia. That’s not right, especially since there are low cost solutions that can prevent these deaths from happening.

Save the Children is going to focus its June program on building support for the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act (H.R. 2266, S.1418). This legislation will strengthen American’s role in saving the lives of children and mothers in the world’s poorest countries by investing in low-cost, highly effective, lifesaving interventions such as vitamins, antibiotics and vaccines.

Already over 100 Senators and Representatives from both parties support this bill, but more must be done to get this legislation passed. We need to come together and tell Congress to provide more help for these children and families in countries like Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Afghanistan.

If you want to make a difference for these kids like I do, join us June 11-12 in our call for change & reserve a spot today; register at www.savethechildren.org/advocacyday2008. If you have any questions, please email me at advocacyday@savechildren.org.

Advocacy Days is a terrific opportunity for us to make a difference by letting our elected officials know there is a voice calling for lasting change in the lives of children in need.

-Ryan Quinn, Save the Children

It’s gearing up to be an exciting summer for poverty-fighting activists here in the nation’s capital! ONE works closely with several organizations that are hosting national conferences, trainings and advocacy workshops in Washington, DC in May, June and July. Please check them out and spread the word!

May 27-31: Global Health Council: 35th Annual International Conference: “Community Health: Delivering, Serving, Engaging, Leading”

June 11-12: Save the Children: Advocacy Day 2008

June 13-15: Sojourners: Pentecost 2008: “Training for Change”

June 17: Bread for the World: Lobby Day 2008

June 18-19: CARE: 2008 National Conference

July 12-16: RESULTS Educational Fund: International Conference to End Poverty

July 15-16: U.S. Global Leadership Campaign and Center for U.S. Global Engagement: Washington Conference

-Margaret McDonnell, US NGO Partnerships and Faith Relations Team, ONE