Monday, November 19, 2012

RESULTS Austin Benefit

  Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday !   

        Celebrate past progress - Fuel future success      
RESULTS Austin 2012 Benefit
Sunday December 2nd, 2:00-4:00 PM
Pat Hayes Education Center at  Dell Children's Medical Center
4900 Mueller Blvd. -- Park in Visitor Lot - map & directions
Light refreshments will be served.

"Every child deserves a fifth birthday" is the world’s new campaign to reduce preventable early childhood deaths to near zero. Thirty years ago 42,000 children died needlessly every day.  Today only 19,000 children will die. Progress has been made but now is the time to stop this tragedy.





A thought from Julie's "Everyday Justice"



“Our local, everyday choices reverberate around the world… Acting justly every day means developing awareness about the problems in the world; it means changing how we shop, how we dress and how we drive; it means starting to see our each and every action as an ethical choice.”



Special Guest
Jos Linn







RESULTS Senior Associate,  U.S. Poverty Campaign
 A former lawyer, Jos found a second career leading advocates with his powerful coaching, writing, and sheer enthusiasm.  In addition to supporting new and existing volunteers in RESULTS’ advocacy work, Jos helps coordinate policy for RESULTS’ U.S. poverty campaigns.

The Austin RESULTS volunteers invite you to help us support our Washington staff.  They empower us to be effective advocates for people living in poverty in the United States and around the world.  Together we work to create long-term solutions to poverty by supporting policies that address its root causes. 


Please join us for a fun and informative afternoon.  Discover how you can be part of ending hunger and poverty.
 
The event is free.  We ask you come with an open heart and join us to make sure every child lives to see their 5th birthday by supporting RESULTS.

Please RSVP to Anne Child - childanne@gmail.com - 512-919-9271
To donate online, please visit: RESULTS Austin's donation webpage

FLORIDA:  A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE.  REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.  (Registration #CH33878/CH33887)
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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Take Action! Ask Your Rep. to Cosponsor the Education for All Act


There is no single development intervention that can so radically and comprehensively change the trajectory of a child’s life — and future generations — as education.[1] But children, especially, girls aren’t getting to school and learning. While the U.S. has provided important global leadership to help open classroom doors for children around the world, there are still 67 million primary school-aged children not in school, the majority of whom are girls. The world has made steady progress towards universal education since 2000, but unless more effective policies are implemented and there is greater international support, 72 million children may still be out of school by 2015 — more than in 2008. Millions more will receive a low-quality education and not be able to read, write, and count.

RESULTS activists around the country are asking their representatives to cosponsor the bipartisan Education for All Act, which was introduced by Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and David Reichert (R-WA). The bill calls on the U.S. to improve its global education policies to ensure all children receive a quality basic education and to support a Global Partnership for Education to achieve this goal. Call and write your representative to cosponsor the Education for All Act of 2011.

Take Action! Write to Your Representatives about the Education For All Act

1.     Introduce yourself as a RESULTS volunteer and a constituent. Acknowledge any actions that your member has already taken to support our work or other actions on poverty and thank him/her.
2.     Inform your representative or aide that the Education for All Act (H.R. 2705) was introduced last year and is still open for cosponsors. .
3.     Sample Letter / Call Script: I’m a constituent writing/calling to ask Representative____ to cosponsor the Education for All Act, which is H.R. 2705. I’m very concerned that there are still 67 million kids still not in school. The majority are girls and the poorest kids. And if something doesn’t change, more kids will be out of school in 2015 than in 2008. All kids deserve the right to an education. Education strengthens families, communities, and countries by reducing poverty, increasing incomes, fighting HIV/AIDS, saving the lives of mothers; the list goes on and on. The bipartisan Education for All Act by Reps. Lowey and Reichert seeks to improve U.S. policies so we can provide more robust support for powerful education initiatives like the Global Partnership for Education and more effectively get kids into school. Will you cosponsor this bipartisan Education for All Act?
4.     Request a reply and include all of your contact information.  If writing, please e-mail or send your letter to the local office. For office information: http://capwiz.com/results/dbq/officials/.
Why Education Matters: Maternal Survival and Child Health
A child born to an educated mother is more than twice as likely to survive to the age of five. Educated mothers are 50 percent more likely to immunize their children than mothers with no schooling. Women with six or more years of education are more likely to seek prenatal care, assisted childbirth, and postnatal care.
Why Education Matters: HIV/AIDS
Education is known as a “social vaccine” against HIV/AIDS. Infection rates are halved among young people who finish primary school. If all kids received a complete primary education, at least 7 million new cases of HIV could be prevented in a decade.[2] One study showed that rural Ugandans with secondary education have a 75 percent lower rate of infection than the uneducated, and another found that AIDS spread twice as fast among uneducated as educated Zambian girls.[3]
Why Education Matters: Gender Equality
Particularly for women and girls, the economic and personal empowerment that education provides allows them to make healthier choices for themselves and their families. Benefits of girls’ education include not only the reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS, but reduction of poverty, improvement of the health of women and their children, delay of marriage, reduction of female genital cutting, and increase in self-confidence and decision-making power. [4] On average, for a girl in a poor country, each additional year of education beyond grades three or four will lead to 20 percent higher wages and a 10 percent decrease in the risk of her own children dying of preventable causes. [5]
Why Education Matters: Stability and Economic Development
Education is a prerequisite for short and long-term economic growth: No country has achieved continuous and rapid economic growth without at least 40 percent of adults being able to read and write.[6] Failing to offer girls the same education as boys costs developing countries $92 billion each year, according to a study by Plan International. That's $1 trillion per decade in forgone earnings and unnecessary costs. [7] A person’s earnings increase by 10 percent for each year of schooling, translating to a one percent annual GDP increase quality education is offered to all.[8]
Why Education Matters: Hunger and Food Security
Gains in women’s education made the most significant difference in reducing malnutrition, out-performing a simple increase in the availability of food. A 63-country study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found that more productive farming as a result of female education accounted for 43 percent of the decline in malnutrition achieved between 1970 and 1995. Crop yields in Kenya could rise up to 22 percent if women farmers had the same education and inputs (such as fertilizer, credit, investment) as men farmers.[9]
Why Education Matters: Security and Democracy
People of voting age with a primary education are 1.5 times more likely to support democracy than people with no education.[10] Countries with higher primary schooling and a smaller gap between rates of boys’ and girls’ schooling tend to enjoy greater democracy, and democratic political institutions (such as power-sharing and clean elections) are more likely to exist in countries with higher literacy rates and education levels.[11] Every year of schooling decreases a male’s chance of engaging in violent conflict by 20 percent.[12]
Why Education Matters: For Children
In 2002, Jean Pierre Nzamurambaho dropped out of school in the middle of his third year of primary school in Rwanda when he was 12 years old. “I decided to drop out because I was tired of being sent home because we couldn’t pay school fees. I spent two years doing domestic jobs, but I could not see any future for myself.” In 2004 the government abolished primary school fees. Jean Pierre was able to return to school and now wants to become a teacher. 13 year old Seraphine is similar: “Nowadays, teachers are no longer sending us back home [because of school fees or uniform], and even if I don’t put on uniform, I come and study freely.” Seraphine wants to become a nurse in the local health clinic.

Why Support the Education for All Act?

The Education for All Act of 2011 calls on the U.S. to support multilateral global education initiatives like the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), formerly the Fast Track Initiative (FTI). The GPE had its first-ever replenishment conference last fall, and it is the only multilateral global partnership focused on ensuring all children have access to a quality education. For example, in 2009, over 82 million children were enrolled in school in GPE developing country partners compared to only 63 million in 2002. The Global Partnership has put 19 million children into school.[13] Moreover, the Education for All Act seeks to ensure the U.S. provides the leadership to ensure a successful international effort to provide all children with a quality basic education. It calls for improved policies to expand access to school; improve education quality; reach marginalized and vulnerable children, including those affected by conflict and humanitarian crises; and mandates a new U.S. Education for All strategy be created, coordinated, and implemented. Increased cosponsorship of the Education for All Act means more members of the House will be aware of the power of education, the potential of the GPE, and how critical it is to be a lead supporter of education for all.



[2] “Learning to Survive: How education for all would save millions of young people from HIV/AIDS.” Global Campaign for Education.
(London: GCE, 2004).
[3] What Works in Girls’ Education.
[4] UNFPA. Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis. Available at: http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/women/report/chapter5.html.
[5]What Works in Girls’ Education.” Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling, Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center for Universal Education, April 2004. http://www.cfr.org/publication/6947/what_works_in_girls_education.html
[6] “Millions Miss Out.” Global Campaign for Education. http://www.campaignforeducation.org/en/why-education-for-all/millionsmissout
[7] “Paying the Price: The Economic Cost of Failing to Educate Girls.” Plan International. (Plan International, 2008). http://plan-international.org/about-plan/resources/publications/education/cover-of-school-improvement-program-paying-the-price-the-economic-cost-of-failing-to-educate-girls
[8] “Education on the Brink: Will the IMF’s new lease on life ease or block progress towards education goals?” Global Campaign for Education. 2009. http://www.campaignforeducation.org/docs/reports/IMF%20paper2_low%20res.pdf.
[9] UNFPA, UN Population Fund, State of World Population 2005: The Promise of Equality. UNFPA, New York, 2005, p. 47
[10] UNESCO,  Education for ALl Global Monitoring Report 2009
[11] World Bank. Education and Development. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-
1099079877269/547664-1099080118171/EducationBrochure.pd
[13]Global Partnership for Education. April 2012. http://www.globalpartnership.org/10-results-on-the-ground

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A moving op-ed was printed in the Saturday 08/04/2012 edition of the Austin American Statesman, titled, "U.S. dollars crucial to ending preventable childhood deaths".  It took two months of hard work by my RESULTS colleague, Eloise Sutherland, to get this printed in the paper.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Call Your Rep. This Week to Sign the GPE Letter


Rep. Jan Schakowsky

On Tuesday July 24 of the RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC, many of our advocates requested that their Representatives sign on to Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s letter to Secretary of State Clinton on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The letter asks the Secretary of State Clinton to commit $125 million of the U.S. global education investment to GPE. This is not additional money, but a request that the U.S. allocate a larger portion of Congress’ appropriation for global education to GPE.

Take Action in 5 minutes: Call your Representative’s office and use the following EPIC laser talk to make your request to whoever answers the phone. You can find the name of your Representative here, and use the Capitol Switchboard number to make your call:  (202) 224-3121.

  • Engage: I’m calling to make a request for of the Representative. Can you see that he/she gets it? I’m calling because 61 million children around the globe lack the opportunity to go to school—no reading, writing, or math.
  • Problem: It's great that the U.S. invests in global education, but we should be investing more of these dollars in ensuring that all children receive a quality basic education.
  • Inform: One way we could do this is by investing more in the Global Partnership for Education, or GPE. GPE is focus on getting 25 million kids in school over by 2015, and training 600,000 new teachers. GPE is an effective organization.
  • Call to Action: Representative Jan Schakowsky is circulating a sign-on letter to Secretary of State Clinton requesting that the US allocate $125 million of our global education investment (last year it was $800 million) for GPE. Will the Rep. sign on to this letter? I can send you a copy of the letter if you like.

Take Action in 10 minutes (and have more impact): Call and ask for the foreign policy aide in your Rep’s office and have the same conversation.

Monday, July 23, 2012

An AIDS-free World is Possible

Take our July action by using our online action. We are working for an AIDS-free generation through our advocacy of U.S. support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Take action today!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Austin Texas' 13th annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

Promoting Health and Dignity Together


Sunday May 20, 2012  -- 7:00-8:30 PM
Free and confidential HIV testing starting at 7:00 PM
Program starting at 7:30 PM


Republic Square Park - 422 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78701 -View Map

Reduce Stigma, Ensure Access,
Increase Resources, Promote Involvement

Join communities around the world in the
largest grassroots movement against HIV and AIDS.


Speakers, Music, AIDS Quilts & Remembrances

Like it on Facebook

Monday, April 23, 2012

Educate A Girl - See a film, make a difference

What: "To Educate A Girl" film viewing
When: Monday 4/30
           6:30pm arrive for light refreshments
           6:45pm film start
Where: Eloise's place (2111 Morley Dr)
Who: RESULTS Austin and you
Why: See the power of education & take action to make a difference

ABOUT THE FILM
A 70 minute - See the trailer here: "To Educate a Girl

In 2000, 110 million children in the world were not in school—two thirds of them were girls. In 2010, filmmakers Frederick Rendina and Oren Rudavsky traveled to Nepal and Uganda, two countries emerging from conflict and struggling with poverty, to find the answer to one question: What does it take to educate a girl? Framed by the United Nations global initiative to provide equal access to education for girls by 2015, To Educate a Girl takes a ground-up and visually stunning view of that effort through the eyes of girls out of school, starting school or fighting against the odds to stay in school.
In Nepal, Manisha, a teenager who works in the fields while her three younger sisters go to school, is contrasted by three young listeners of a hugely popular youth-oriented radio program. We learn how the program has helped them deal with issues of early marriage and poverty in order to stay in school.
In Uganda, we meet Mercy, the six-year-old daughter of an impoverished single mother who is about to embark on her first day of school, and Sarah, a teenage war orphan who is haunted by a tragic past but still managing
to study.

From volunteers going door to door in southern Nepal to a “back to school” march that brings an entire community together in northern Uganda, a stirring picture of grassroots efforts to help girls get a decent education is brought to light. To Educate a Girl is a compelling look at the lives of young women who are striving to achieve their dreams in the face of conflict, poverty and
gender bias.
 
To Educate a Girl first screened at the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative conference in Dakar, Senegal, in May 2010, and had its World Premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11, 2010. Other festival screenings include: UNAFF (United Nations Association International Film Festival) on UN Day; Unspoken Human Rights Film Festival; Third Goal International Film Festival; and the Festival International du Film de Boulogne-Billancourt where it will be presented by the Cinéma Vérité Institute. It has also screened at many colleges and universities, including Columbia University's Teachers College on International Women's Day.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Ask Your Rep. to Cosponsor the Education for All Act

There is no single development intervention that can so radically and comprehensively change the trajectory of a child’s life - and future generations - as education.* But children, especially, girls aren’t getting to school and learning. While the U.S. has provided important global leadership to help open classroom doors for children around the world, there are still 67 million primary school-aged children not in school, the majority of whom are girls. The world has made steady progress towards universal education since 2000, but unless more effective policies are implemented and there is greater international support, 72 million children may still be out of school by 2015 — more than in 2008. Millions more will receive a low-quality education and not be able to read, write, and count.

Please ask your representative to cosponsor the bipartisan Education for All Act, which was introduced by Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and David Reichert (R-WA). The bill calls on the U.S. to improve its global education policies to ensure all children receive a quality basic education and to support a Global Partnership for Education to achieve this goal. Call and write your representative to cosponsor the Education for All Act of 2011.

* Click for more powerful facts: http://www.results.org/issues/global_poverty_campaigns/education_for_all/efa_the_facts/

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Top Action this Week: Final Senate Appropriations Request Push

2013 will be a challenging year for global poverty issues with mandated spending ceilings, so we'll need to work hard to ensure that cuts are not made to programs that matter most to those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
It's time to take serious action in the Senate. Though we'll be taking action on appropriations throughout the summer, it's important to act by specific dates outlined by the various appropriations sub-committees. The Foreign Operations Sub-Committee of Appropriations in the Senate has asked all senators to submit their official written input to them by this Friday, March 30, which means that Senate offices have set deadlines order to organize constituent input.

2-minute Action: Use our online action alert on 2013 appropriations to ask your senators to prioritize funding for programs that reach the poorest.

5-minute Action: Call the Congressional Switchboard ((202) 224-3121), ask for your senators' offices and leave the following message: "We need to prioritize foreign assistance programs that reach the poorest and make effective use of our investments. I would like the senator to write to the chair and ranking member of the foreign operations sub-committee of appropriations and ask them to include the following priorities for 2013 (choose 1 or 2):
  • $1.65 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria
  • $125 million for the Global Partnership for Education
  • $145 million for the Global Alliance for vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI)
  • $650 million for bilateral TB
  • $500 million for microfinance."
15-minute Action: Call the Congressional Switchboard ((202) 224-3121), ask for your senators' offices, ask to speak to the aide in charge of foreign policy. Make the same request as the five-minute action. Ask if the senator will take the action and wait for an answer. If you don't get the aide in person, leave a voicemail message.

Learn more about our appropriations requests on www.RESULTS.org.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

March 2012 Action Guide

Please urge your Congressman to support one of the most effective ways to stop TB and combat diseases of poverty – The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria. Here’s an easy recipe for a powerful letter. 

Open: Start with a short self introduction and/or why you care.

Engage: (pick one)
·         One third of the world’s population is infected with TB.
·         Each year, there are 1.7 million TB-related deaths worldwide.
·         TB is a disease caused by germs that are spread from person to person through the air.
·         Each year, nearly 9 million people around the world become sick with TB.
·         The CDC reported over 11,000 cases of TB in the US last year with over 500 deaths.

Problem: (pick one)
·         Much of the arsenal of TB diagnostics and treatments is 50 years old.
·         TB is the leading killer of people who are HIV infected.
·         TB is the third leading cause of death among women of reproductive age worldwide.
·         Each year 1.7 million people die of TB.
·         Drug-resistant strains of TB can be 100 times more expensive to treat.
·         About 650,000 cases of drug-resistant TB were reported in the world in 2010.

Inform: (pick one)
·         Most TB can be cured with a full-course of drugs that cost as little as $20 per person.
·         Stop TB Partnership reported that 910,000 lives have been saved over 6 years simply because of collaboration between TB and HIV services.
·         The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria provided 7 million people with effective TB treatment.
·         The Global Fund extends TB education, diagnosis and treatment to millions of people in 140 countries.

Call for Action: (Your request for your representative)

Congressman Click HERE, will you contact the chair and ranking member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations and request $1.65 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria -- one of the most effective tools to combat TB?   I look forward to your answer.

Sign: Include your name and address


 



More Background Information

Statesman Op Ed on MDR-TB in Texas

Star-Telegram. Starke Op Ed

RESULTS TB Info Page

RESULTS Global Fund Info Page

Ft, Wayne MDR-TB News Coverage

State of Texas TB Information

CNN TB Pandemic Coverage

RESULTS Appropriations Info Page

Monday, March 5, 2012

Come hear UT scientist 

- a Game Changer on TB diagnostics -

What:
RESULTS Action Meeting

When:     
Tuesday 3/20/2012
6:45 PM - refreshments
7:00-8:00 PM - program

Where:    
Schmidt-Jones
Family Life Center

1300 Lavaca St

 Austin, TX 78701
Scientist to change the future of TB diagnostics
Andy Ellington -- UT Research Professor 
From the Austin American Statesman:
UT project gets Gates grant to find quick tuberculosis test
"Ellington, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Texas, has been awarded $1.6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a test involving a small strip of paper embedded with bits of synthetic DNA in a kind of biological circuit board. If he and his research team are successful, a patient could spit onto the paper, and a change in the paper's color would indicate that the person has tuberculosis, including drug-resistant strains. No refrigeration would be needed."

After hearing Dr. Ellington, we'll give you an opportunity to take an action on the spot and YOU can make a difference, too.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria has treated over 8 million cases of TB since it was formed in 2002.  However, because of unfulfilled pledges, the Global Fund recently cancelled all new grants until 2014.  People living with TB cannot wait two years.  Come and learn how you can help donor countries live up to their promises.

Together we can stop TB!
RESULTS