CARE National Conference

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

Bread for the World’s Lobby Day

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

Together We Can FIGHT TB!

Many think that TB has been eliminated from the U.S., but this is far from true. The poster on the left was created by the Red Cross in 1919, promising that tuberculosis would be “The Next To Go.” But this dreaded disease has not yet gone.

One-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria that causes TB, and one in ten of those infected develop active TB disease.

What is the U.S. doing to stop TB? Not enough. U.S. and global efforts to combat TB are falling short.

The U.S. House of Representatives is now considering the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, which would greatly expand our efforts to combat TB, including the development of new, effective drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines.

How can you help? Tell your legislators to co-sponsor the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act (H.R. 1532). Call 1-800-828-0498.

Your immediate action can help curb the TB pandemic.

The current TB vaccine was introduced in the early 1900s, and over time, its effectiveness has greatly diminished. What is more, strains of TB have developed that are resistant to all of our major anti-TB drugs.

Take action now. Call 1-800-828-0498. Tell your Representative to co-sponsor the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act (H.R. 1531) to prevent the spread of drug resistant TB in the U.S. and to develop new medical tools to fight TB.

Please note that while ALL legislators need to hear from you, it is especially important to call if you are from key, target states(Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia). Click here to find your elected official.

Thank you for fighting TB with us.

Summary of the bill

-Christine Kim, Families USA

Hand in Hand Ministries plays role in PEPFAR fight

Hand in Hand Ministries is pleased to play a major role in the restoration of $5.1 billion to SB 2731 (PEPFAR Reauthorization) that will be used in the global fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The ONE Campaign and its partners are currently engaged in several advocacy initiatives to encourage Senate floor action and eventual passage.

Hand in Hand Ministries’ supporters were able to affect the restoration of funds by contacting key Congressional members who were in favor of the original bill. These members subsequently played major roles in introducing the amendment that restored funds so critical to the fight against these devastating diseases and global poverty.

In addition to advocacy, Hand in Hand Ministries helps provide life’s essentials – food, water, clothing, shelter, education and medical care – to the poorest of the poor, so they may one day become self-sufficient and go on to help others in their own communities. For a more about our programs, visit our new interactive website at www.hhministries.com. You may also contact me at 502-459-9930 or by emailing me at wayne@hhministries.com. I welcome your comments and questions.

-Wayne Fowler, Executive Director

RESULTS: International Conference

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

Save the Children: Advocacy Day

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

Attend an anti-poverty conference

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

Bending Over Backwards and Doing Back Flips For Chicago CROP Walk.

Last Sunday, more than 1,200 people walked to end hunger at the 25th Annual Chicago CROP Hunger Walk to support the hunger-fighting efforts of ONE Partner Church World Service.

An unusually warm day for the city this time of year, walkers took their “Stop Hunger” signs on a route that included both neighborhoods and the lake front. Volunteers from the ONE Campaign also attended to collect signatures for the declaration as well as for a petition for Senator Durbin, asking him to co-sponsor the Jubilee Act.

Walkers linked their names together with signed petitions asking for Sen. Durbin to help “break the chains” of poverty. Upon returning from their meander, walkers also signed a “thank you” sign for Senator Obama for his leadership in co-sponsoring the Jubilee Act. Then, the Jesse White tumblers, all donned ONE bracelets and performed their acrobatics for the jubilant crowd.

Funds raised here in Chicago and in CROP Hunger Walks across the U.S. will make a difference in the lives of people in some 80 countries around the world - from working with AIDS orphans in Africa, to aiding farm families in Central America, and even assisting Indiana tornado survivors and Katrina hurricane survivors here in the States. CROP Walks truly are “Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.”

-Tessa Barnes, Congregational Outreach Coordinator, Church World Service, Great Rivers/Chicago Office and ONE member
www.cropwalk.org

Jubilee on AIDS and Debt in Haiti

ONE Partner Jubilee USA sent us the below post about AIDS, debt, and poverty in Haiti from Global Justice Co-Director Evelyn Sallah.

Haiti: Struggling to Fight the Devastation of HIV/AIDS in the Face of Debt

So I can’t show you how, exactly, health care is a basic human right. But what I can argue is that no one should have to die of a disease that is treatable.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Haiti is home to the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Latin America, with reportedly the worst level of devastation in the Western Hemisphere.

Similar to many parts of the world, especially Southern Africa, HIV/AIDS in Haiti has created a population of hundreds of thousands of orphaned children. Meanwhile youth living in urban areas have three times the likelihood of contracting the disease than those living in rural areas.

Haiti’s crippling debt burden is a major factor in restraining government resources to adequately tackle this serious issue. The Jubilee Act, which would cancel the debt of 67 impoverished countries in the Global South, would free up resources for Haiti to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Race is directly related to this poverty and is exemplified clearly with the disproportionate number of those affected by HIV/AIDS within the African Diaspora.

We can further see this reality when comparing the devastation HIV/AIDS has in Sub-Saharan Africa to Haiti, and recognize similar levels of devastation. As nurses in hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are fighting for space, and clean syringes, so are the nurses in Haiti’s hospitals.

In Haiti, all (more…)

Bobo the Baker Forging Ahead

“Bobo the Baker,” as he is affectionately called by his community, grew up in a life ravaged by war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was in early 2006 that he finally fled violence and destruction in his home and began a search for safety for himself, his wife, and his young daughter.

When he first arrived to the Meheba Refugee Settlement in Zambia, Bobo opened a small bakery with two other refugees but conflicts caused the venture to fail. Never one to let difficulty get in his way, Bobo approached the FORGE Microfinance Institute (FMI) for funds and direction in opening his own bakery. After attending FMI Business Education Workshops and receiving a small “micro” loan from FMI, Bobo began to re-build his bakery from the ground up.

With the new education and the loan, Bobo stopped paying rent on his shop and bought it outright, increasing up-front costs, but decreasing fixed costs. His income has shot up by more than 750%. He has hired employees and is currently planning to purchase another bakery to keep up with the demand for his breads, cakes, pastries.

Bobo’s life has improved immensely, but the benefits don’t stop there. His own success has touched the lives around him and those lives have, in turn, touched hundreds more. ONE success stimulates other success and bad situations can always improve.

-Peter C. D’Aleo
Program Director, FORGE Microfinance Institute (ONE Partner)
www.FORGEnow.org