Quick Summary of 2008 Successes
For 28 years, RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund (REF) have been a leading force in ending poverty worldwide by identifying and advocating for effective solutions to the causes of poverty and increasing congressional support and funding for these solutions through powerful citizen action.
Highlights of our 2008 campaigns include:
Empowering Citizens — Democracy in Action
RESULTS grassroots advocates in over 100 chapters inspired policymakers to act through:
- Over 300 meetings with congressional offices, including 95 face-to-face meetings with U.S. representatives and 21 face-to-face meetings with U.S. senators;
- Over 330 educational community outreach events nationwide;
- Over 200 strategic media placements, including editorials, op-eds, articles, and TV spots.
Our expansion team started 28 new grassroots chapters in 2008, and engaged more young activists and people of faith than ever before.
Health Care for All
- The historic, life-saving, $48-billion Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 was made law. RESULTS was particularly instrumental in ensuring that it include $4 billion for global TB, with a bold target of diagnosing and treating 4.5 million people.
- Our activists are putting health care for all Americans at the top of the political agenda by pushing for reform during meetings with members of Congress, candidate appearances, town hall meetings, and community events. Congress and the new Obama administration have already indicated that health care reform will be a top agenda item in 2009.
Ending Hunger
- Congress passed a long-overdue increase in nutrition funding of $10.4 billion over ten years as part of the new Farm Bill, primarily for food stamps and emergency food assistance. We’re also pushing for temporary increases in SNAP benefits (food stamps) as part of a new economic recovery package.
Economic Opportunity
- Our Make Taxes Fair campaign is improving tax policies for low-income working families: Congress increased the number of low-income families who qualify for income tax refunds through the Child Tax Credit, a change that will benefit 13 million children and their families in 2009!
- Following on our successful work to reach 100 million families with microcredit loans, REF and more than 110 members of Congress are pressing the World Bank to give millions more of the world’s poorest people access to microfinance to start or expand small businesses and improve their families’ lives.
Education for All
- After a successful campaign to ensure that the Head Start early childhood development program was reauthorized by Congress, we’re now pushing for adequate federal investment to implement the quality improvements included in the reauthorization.
- Over 100 members of Congress have been inspired to cosponsor the Education for All Act, which would help millions of children worldwide go to school. REF published a report with recommendations for Congress on how to improve the impact of U.S. foreign assistance for basic education.
Your investment in RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund helps us expand our presence in communities across the U.S. and organize more voices to make these issues priorities for our members of Congress. Together we are powerful!
