Domestic Weekly Update May 4, 2010
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DC
Organizational Updates
Join the RESULTS National Conference Call THIS Saturday, May 8, 12:30 pm ETJoin the RESULTS’ May domestic monthly conference call this Saturday, May 8, at 12:30 pm ET. As part of our Economic Opportunity campaign, we will be discussing the latest developments on preserving the 2009 expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). Also, we will discuss the May Action (see below), which focuses on learning more about how Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites are helping individuals and families claim the EITC and CTC. Our guest speaker will be Hannah Callahan, a VITA site coordinator from Lincoln, NE. She will explain more about their work in helping low-income tax filers and how to best connect with people like her. We will also discuss the upcoming RESULTS International Conference, June 20-22 in Washington, DC and why you should come. Take Action: Coordinate and gather with your group this Saturday for the national conference call at 12:30 pm ET. The call-in number is (888) 409-6709. Once connected to the operator, ask for the RESULTS National Conference call. Plan to call in no later than 12:27 pm ET to give time to the operator to connect you with the call. Connect with VITA Sites in Your Area on Low-income Tax Credits (May Action)Movement on tax legislation is not expected before the Memorial Day recess later this month. While there are still actions to take regarding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) (see below), this month is a great opportunity to deepen our understanding of how these credits impact our local communities. The May Action focuses on connecting with low-income tax programs in your area. An important component in the success of the EITC and CTC is helping low-income individuals and families actually claim the credits on their tax returns. To help low-income populations with filing their taxes, the IRS created the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) over three decades ago. During tax season, VITA sites around the country provide free income tax return preparation and filing for people who cannot afford professional assistance (households earning around $50,000 or less). The sites are staffed by volunteers and are usually administered by non-profit organizations like the United Way or Community Action agencies. These sites are vital in not only helping low-income people get their returns done quickly and easily, they also increase the chances people will actually claim credits like the EITC and CTC. Without VITA help, many people might not be aware of these credits and that they are eligible to claim them. As a result, VITA sites generate millions of dollars in refunds for low-income people around the country. This month, we want you to reach out to VITA site coordinators to learn more about what they are doing to help people in your community. Many VITA sites can provide not only an overview of how they work and who they serve, they can also provide you statistics on average income levels of their clients, how many returns they process, how much money in refunds they bring back to the community, and how much of those refunds are EITC and/or CTC money. Then, when you are meeting with your members of Congress either in your state or in Washington DC during the RESULTS conference, you can share information about how important these sites are too your community and the benefits they bring there. We are pleased to be in partnership on this month’s action with the National Community Tax Coalition, an anti-poverty advocacy organization based in Chicago working on economic security issues for low-income populations. NCTC works with VITA sites nationwide and has created an easy tool to help RESULTS volunteers and VITA sites connect (see the action sheet for the link). NCTC is a reliable partner in this work and we thank them for their help and cooperation with this action. Take Action: Take the May Action. Reach out to a VITA site near you to learn more about the work they are doing in your community. Use the steps outlined in the action to find a VITA contact in your area, contact him/her about meeting, set up a meeting with that person and your group, and then do the visit. These meetings have the potential to provide you invaluable information to use when urging members of Congress to support low-income tax policy. It also connects you with allies in your community that may be able to help your RESULTS group (and vice versa) with issues and actions in the future. In addition, we urge you to connect with Bread for the World representatives in your area. Remember, Bread is also pushing for extension of the 2009 EITC and CTC expansions this year. This is a good opportunity to find out about actions they are taking in your area and how your local RESULTS group might work together with them in contacting and following-up with your members of Congress on the tax credit issue. You could also invite local Bread members to participate in the meeting with the VITA site coordinator. There Is Still Time to Sign Up for the RESULTS International ConferenceIt is still not too late to sign up to attend for the 2010 RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference. Although yesterday was the deadline for the discounted registration fee, you can still sign up to join RESULTS volunteers from around the world for this great event. This year’s conference is June 20–22 at the Washington Marriott Hotel at Metro Center in Washington, DC, where we’ll be “Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future — 30 years of RESULTS.” Come and take a look back at all the successes we accomplished over the years and also look forward to the ways we can create a world free of hunger and poverty. Highlights of this year’s conference include:
Take Action: Register for the RESULTS International Conference TODAY. Just go to our International Conference page for all kinds of resources available to you, including conference and hotel registration forms, conference schedule, a helpful checklist for attendees, applications for scholarship assistance, our Campus for Change program and for those wanting to volunteer at the conference, and a forum for finding roommates to lower expenses. Please note, RESULTS can only hold the block of rooms for our conference at the Washington Marriott until May 21. After that, we cannot guarantee room availability or the discounted room rate. So, save yourself the headache and Register Today! We are also seeking nominations for the annual Cameron Duncan Media Award, which recognizes a journalist for outstanding reporting of issues relating to poverty and hunger either domestically or worldwide. The award will be presented at the conference. The award honors Cameron Duncan, a former associate executive director of RESULTS who devoted his life to fighting hunger and poverty. Please consider nominating journalists you have worked with on issues relating to hunger and poverty, or those whom you admire. To nominate a journalist, please send a one to two-paragraph statement and two to five examples of his or her recent work to Blair Hinderliter at bhinderliter@results.org or at 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington, DC 20002. The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 14. If you have any questions, please contact Blair Hinderliter at 202-783-7100, ext. 126. Different from previous years, the winner will not be required to accept a cash award and travel to the conference, although that is still preferred. Tax Credit-Palooza: Actions You Can Take This WeekIn addition to the May Action, there are still some key actions to take with regard to Economic Opportunity this week. Here they are: Take the April Action. If you have not taken the April Action urging Congress to preserve improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), please make sure to do so this week. It is important that members of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees hear from their colleagues about the importance of these expanded credits. Once you’ve submitted your letters, follow up with phone calls to the House and Senate tax aides for your members of Congress. Have a conversation with them about the importance of these credits and ask what their bosses intend to do to support them in tax legislation this year. You can find out the names of these aides on our Elected Officials page of the RESULTS website. Just pull up each member of Congress and click on the “Staff” tab above his/her picture. Sign onto CHN Letter. Thank you to all the groups who have already signed onto the Coalition on Human Needs letter urging Congress to preserve and build upon low income tax credits for working families and students. To date, over 500 national and local organizations have signed on. If you have not done so yet, please sign your local RESULTS group onto the letter. The deadline has been extended to May 21, so there is still time to add your group. Please note, when the form asks if you are authorized to sign on behalf of your organization, since you are signing on as your local group (e.g. RESULTS Santa Fe), you may check YES. Urge Representatives to Sign VITA Funding Letter. Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH-15) is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter in support of increased funding for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. As discussed above, VITA is an important tool in helping low-income people claim the EITC and CTC. Unfortunately, VITA faces a 33 percent budget cut this year from its already underfunded budget (from $12 million to $8 million). Rep. Kilroy’s letter urges the Appropriations Committee to fund the program at $35 million per year and we need as many House members as we can to sign on. Our partners at the National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) have an easy, step-by-step online action to help you make calls to your representative urging him/her to sign on. And be sure to attend our national conference call this weekend, where we will hear from a VITA site coordinator about that program. For additional information on these issues, please see our Economic Opportunity pages, the April 2010 Weekly updates from the Weekly Update Archive, and our new laser talk on low-income tax credits. Quick NewsMajority Plus One Reached on Child Nutrition Letter! We have great news on the McGovern/Emerson “Dear Colleague” letter urging increased funding for child nutrition programs. As of this morning, there were 219 signatories to the letter! Thank you to all of you who called your representative the last few weeks urging him/her to sign on. You can see a list of signatories on the FRAC website (this list is as of April 30; you can contact Jos Linn to find out if your representative has signed on since then). If your representative did not sign on, please urge him or her to do so. RESULTS also has an online action you can take urging the higher funding levels for child nutrition. Wall Street Reform Debate Begins in the Senate. After delays last week in moving forward on Wall Street reform, the Senate leaders in both parties agreed to move forward with debate. Debate is scheduled to begin today on amendments to S.3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. Contentious amendments from both parties will be offered and debate is expected to last several weeks. The House passed its version of reform, H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, back in December. RESULTS Fundraising ActivitiesHouston Fundraiser on May 14 with Dr. Muhammad Yunus. If you live in or near Houston, TX, please plan to attend the RESULTS 30th Anniversary Benefit Dinner on May 14. This year’s dinner is honoring Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Laureate, Managing Director of the Grameen Bank, and RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board Member. Dr. Yunus is commonly called the “father of microfinance.” It is rare privilege to see Dr. Yunus in person so if you can attend, please do. It should be a great event. The dinner is Friday, May 14 at 7:00 pm CT at the Junior League of Houston, 1811 Briar Oaks Lane, Houston, TX. If you or someone you know would like to attend, please kindly reply to Kathleen Duncan by Friday, May 7, (832) 971-7553 or kndroses@comcast.net. Cultivate New Donors for RESULTS’s Domestic Work. To help secure and expand our existing capacity for our U.S poverty work, we are looking to strengthen and grow our donor base in support our work to hunger and poverty in the U.S. We know that many of you have developed meaningful relationships with people in your communities and have cultivated many admirers for your work with RESULTS. If they have not already, perhaps these people would be interested in investing in our work and seeing the good their financial gifts can create. If you know of potential donors in your area, or would like to work in collaboration with staff to identify donors in your community, please contact Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) or Jos Linn (jlinn@results.org). Be sure to tune in on Saturday’s conference call and in next week’s update about the start of a new fundraising effort for RESULTS domestic poverty work. Kitsap, WA Fundraising Luncheon on May 23. The Kitsap, WA global group will be holding a Fundraising Luncheon, with keynote speaker Megan J. Miller, Director of Development and Communications, Indiana-Kenya Partnership/USAID-AMPATH, Wishard Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana. If you or someone you know will be in the Seattle area later this month, please plan to attend. May 23 at 1:00 pm PT, Kitsap Conference Center, 100 Washington Avenue, Bremerton WA 98337; meal tickets are $35 per person. To attend, RSVP to Lene Hajek, (235) 857-5234, or lnybyh@yahoo.com. AnnouncementsBe Sure to Submit Your RESULTS/REF Board Nominations. We are now taking nominations for one Grassroots Board Member (3 year term). Active RESULTS volunteers can nominate other active volunteers for this position. Balloting will be held beginning in June at the International Conference and continue until August 1. Please forward names and phone numbers of any nominees to Carly Hicks at cfhicks@results.org by May 17. Please Submit Your Group Planning Forms. Please complete your Group Planning Form and e-mail, mail or fax a copy to Meredith Dodson at the RESULTS DC office. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) May 5: RESULTS/Friends of Marianne Williamson training calls, 10:00 pm ET, (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. These calls are designed to introduce RESULTS to attendees of last month’s Sister Giant Conference in Los Angeles and other friends of RESULTS Board member Marianne Williamson. Note that the April 7 call was postponed due to many people being in Kenya for the Microcredit Summit (call dates also include March 10, March 24, and April 21; you can listen to recordings of these calls on our For New Activists page). To attend the call, RSVP to Meredith Dodson at dodson@results.org. May 14: Houston, TX, fundraising dinner with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, 7:00 pm CT. To RSVP, please contact Kathleen Duncan by Friday, May 7, (832) 971-7553, kndroses@comcast.net. May 23: Kitsap, WA, fundraising luncheon, 1:00 pm PT. Contact Lene Hajek for details; (235) 857-5234, lnybyh@yahoo.com. June 20–22: RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference, Washington Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC. RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, (202) 783-7100, x.116 (dodson@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). The RESULTS Domestic Update is sent out every Tuesday over e-mail to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our domestic campaigns. |