Crisis or Opportunity?
"When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity." So said John F. Kennedy in 1959.

The second Chinese character Kennedy spoke about is sometimes translated as "crucial point." Forty years later, we at RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund find ourselves confronting the impact of the global economic crisis, but also at a crucial point to seize some tremendous opportunities.

Making Poverty Alleviation the Heart of Foreign Aid

This year Congress is planning to reform our U.S. foreign aid program, which allows us the opportunity to help make aid more effective, efficient, and accountable. Foreign aid reform impacts all our internationally-focused work. As the U.S. economy contracts, making the best use of our foreign aid dollars is more important than ever.

While there is widespread agreement that reform is necessary (after all, our current program was developed during the Cold War), RESULTS' voices are critical to shape the outcome of this effort. Remarkably, reducing poverty has not been the centerpiece of foreign aid and is often left out of current discussions. Only about half of U.S. development assistance is earmarked for reducing poverty. Of that, only $1 out of every $16 goes to the world's ten poorest countries.

Our volunteers and staff are actively encouraging Congress to integrate the lessons learned from the Microcredit Summit Campaign into foreign aid reform. In particular, aid must:

1. Focus on poverty alleviation,

2. Set clear measurable outcomes to provide accountability and motivation, and

3. Track and publically report progress toward achieving goals. Page 3 Image

We also have the opportunity to fundamentally reshape the architecture of U.S. basic education assistance to developing countries. During his campaign, President Obama pledged to create a $2 billion Global Education Fund, which could fundamentally transform our global education program and make Education for All a reality. By publicly supporting the president's call, engaging with 		Congress to build more champions for the cause, and galvanizing Americans to support the right of children to learn, RESULTS is working towards a breakthrough. Some 75 million children who have never seen the inside of a classroom will have a chance at a new life if we succeed.

Creating Economic Opportunity Here at Home

Here in the U.S., the stimulus package included investments in some of the programs we champion, like Head Start and food stamps. Because significant tax changes will be taking place in the new Congress as the Bush tax cuts expire, we also have an opportunity to reform the tax code to make it fair for everyone. Good tax policy can actually move low-income people out of Page 3 Image
poverty while getting money into the hands of the poor is one of the best economic stimuli there is.

RESULTS' Economic Opportunity campaign got off to a great start in 2009. In addition to getting a temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for 13 million children in 2008, we worked vigilantly to see that further income supports were included in economic recovery legislation. As a result, the CTC was expanded for another 13 million low-income children and their families and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was expanded for large families and married couples. These changes, along with increased resources for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps) and Medicaid, will go a long way in helping low-income families struggling in the economic crisis.

We're now working to further expand low-income tax credits and provisions like the Saver's Bonus to help low-income individuals and families build the savings and assets necessary to lift themselves out of poverty. The Saver's Bonus would provide a dollar-for-dollar match of up to $500 per year when low-income people deposit all or part of their EITC refund into a savings product. Tax programs like these help the most vulnerable while encouraging responsibility.

As President Obama recently said, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time." This is our time to inspire the kind of transformations that will create a better world for everyone.