State of the Union July 2020
Political Updates
Lobbying and Advocacy Efforts
- Total # of Lobbying Meetings in June: 222
- Total # of Lobbying Meetings in 2020: 513
- Lobbying Meetings Goal for 2020: 710
Advocacy Emails
- Total # of Advocacy Emails in June: 41,666
- Total # of Advocacy Emails in 2020: 87,838
- Advocacy Emails Goal for 2020: 120,000
- % of Congress Emailed Year to Date: 99%
Congressional Office Meetings and Live Events
Warren’s Address
Listen to the latest from Warren about the goings-on in D.C.
Content Team Updates
Articles of the Month: Providing Affordable Refrigeration in Developing Countries by Natasha Nath, Mushroom Farming by Jonathan Helton and The Impacts on Poverty In Lesotho by Chatham Kennedy.
Recognition
Congratulations to the following team members who have achieved Borgen Project Honors & Recognition
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- Honors Award (raised $3,000 or more):
- Political Affairs Team: Jacob Boehm
- Capital Achievement Award (raised $2,000 or more):
- Content Team: Anita Durairaj, Melina Stavropoulos
- Chief Closer Award (raised $1,000 or more):
- Content Team: Anita Durairaj, Jonathan Helton, Annie Lezzi, George Hashemi, Natasha Nath, Maxwell Karibian, Isabel Corp, Hannah Roberts, Sydney Stokes, Aiden Farr, Lucia Kenig-Ziesler, Rachel Powell, Paige Musgrave
- HR Team: Keira D’Amico, Chloe Marshall, Zhane Spates
- In-Office Team: Leah Caragol
- Nonprofit Leadership Team: Heeyoung Son, Haven Barton-Knabe, Gillian Friend, Omar Iniguez, Haven Barton-Knabe, Grace Hoagland
- Political Affairs Team: Leila Mosteika, Arushi Singh, Sarah Fuller, Olivia Pistella, William Scheffler, Grayson Timoner, Sofia Siegel, Jacob Boehm, Brandon Stoll, Daina Stinnett
- PR/Marketing Team: Camila Lavadenz
- Bird Dog Award:
- Content Team: Aishwarya Thiygarajan
- Political Affairs: Ava Singh, Amanda Elena Sarmiento
- PR/Marketing Team: Sumiran Nigam
- President’s Circle:
- Nonprofit Leadership Team: Noor Mchallah (5 meetings), Heeyoung Son, Haven Barton-Knabe, Grace Hoagland, Noor Mchallah, Yesha Shah
- Public Outreach Award (50 or more people mobilized):
- Nonprofit Leadership Team: Omar Iniguez
- Political Affairs Team: Natasha Nath, Arnie Bennett, Elizabeth Dassow (163 people)
- PR/Marketing Team: Jamie Yeh
- Honors Award (raised $3,000 or more):
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Visit the Our Team Members page and read about success stories with our organization.
Getting the Word Out
Informational Events
PR/Marketing Team member Danielle Zbodula held a Borgen Project Info Event on Zoom. The event received a fantastic turn out!
PR/Marketing Team member Sophia Neubaum created a powerpoint to accompany for Informational Event
One-Mile Campaigns & Mobilizing
Content Team member Sydney Stokes
Left: PR/Marketing Team member Stephanie Orea in Texas; Center: PR/Marketing Team member Julia Lupariello hung flyers in New Orleans, LA; Right: Political Affairs Team member Cory Dudka in Madison, WI
Content Team member Madeline Zuzevich
PR/Marketing Team member Siyu Liu
Left: Content Team member Emma Benson; Center: Advocate Venus Wang; Right: Regional Director Omara Castillo
Left: PR/Marketing Team member Sarah Tucker; Right: Content Team member Rachel Hernandez
PR/Marketing Team member Jonathan Roberto
HR Team member Danyell Chupp repping The Borgen Project!
Political Affairs Team members completing their One-Mile Campaign; Top left: Esau Carpenter; Top right: Irma Alonso; Bottom left: Meredith Kahan; Bottom right: Payton Little
PR/Marketing Team members Sophia Neubaum (left) and Samantha Martinez Hansen (right)
Political Affairs Team member Katherine Gagnon in Glastonbury, CT
HR Team member Minerva Ramirez
Julia Andersen, Political Affairs Team, painted rocks for her One-Mile Campaign in Point Pleasant, NJ
Swarms
Advocate Venus Wang held a virtual swarm with 25 people
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Omar Iniguez utilized Snapchat, a multimedia messaging app, to create a swarm of 53 people
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Zachary Leven in Atlanta, GA created a swarm to call and email Congress
More than a swarm! Nonprofit Leadership Team member Seth Duval in Philadelphia, PA had friends and families call their congressional leaders, created a bingo game to fundraise for the cause and held a Zoom call with people to mobilize Congress
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Anna Gwin created a swarm to call and email Congress
Letters to the Editor
Political Affairs Team
- Arushi Singh in the Chicago Tribune: U.S. must take more steps to end world hunger and illness
- Elizabeth Dassow in the Herald-Times Online: Global Health Security Act Needed
- Alek LaShomb in the Winona Daily News: When others do better, we do better
- Max Glennie in The Cap Times: Baldwin could be the right pick for Biden’s VP
- Sophie van Leeuwen in the Portland Press Herald: Letter to the Editor
- Daina Stinnett in the Idaho Statesman: Global Health
- Jordan Larson in the Minnesota Daily: The importance of recognizing global poverty in light of the COVID-19 crisis
- Rachel Levine in The Cherry Hill Sun: We need to help contain COVID-19 globally
PR/Marketing Team
- Sanjana Jain in the Lake County Journal: Global impact of COVID-19 on our community
Nonprofit Leadership Team
- Rachel Hull in the Erie Times-News: Fighting global poverty strengthens U.S. security
- Dalia Nazzal in the San Francisco Chronicle: Letters to the Editor
- Nitan Shanas in New Jersey Local News: Make COVID-19 relief a worldwide mission
- Kylie Jabjiniak in the NW Florida Daily Journal: Our role in uniting the world
Outreach & Mobilizing Materials
Left: Created by Content Team member Madeline Zuzevich; Right: Created by PR/Marketing Team member Avery Fletcher
Created by PR/Marketing Team member Elizabeth Gierhart
Created by PR/Marketing Team member Samantha Martinez Hansen
PR/Marketing Team member Laura Barriga Fernandez designed graphics for Instagram Story. Laura shared her stories to various influences and was able to get @geografans (18.7K followers) to repost on Instagram
Created by Nonprofit Leadership Team member Elise Kwan
Created by PR/Marketing Team member Madeline Agner
Created by PR/Marketing Team member Penelope Moreno
Created by PR/Marketing Team member Jamie Yeh
Left: Created by PR/Marketing Team member Sara Holm; Right: Created by Content Team member Karin Filipova
Outreach materials created by PR/Marketing Team member Riley Cronin
Interactive templates for social media created by PR/Marketing Team member Madison Kilpatrick
Created by Content Team member Rachel Hernandez
Fundraising
Political Affairs Team member Nelly Harb made cookies and walked throughout her neighborhood to raise money for the cause. Nelly raised $25!
Content Team member DeAndre Jakar Robinson fundraised in front of a GNC in Kalamazoo, MI
Content Team member Natascha Holenstein held a bake sale to contribute to her fundraising goal. Natascha has sold delicious treats, such as cookies, cake pops and brownies to neighbors, family and friends
Not only did Political Affairs Team member Amanda Sarmiento participate in a swimathon to downsize poverty. Amanda also made and sold apparel and face masks for her fundraising campaign
PR/Marketing Team member Parnaz Hojjati sold her artwork on Ebay to fundraise for the cause
Content Team member Sydney Stokes found a creative means to both fundraise AND mobilize her followers to take action
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Melanie Ipyam designed an Instagram Bingo to raise small donations
#HackingHunger
“He Developed His Dream on a Fishing Boat. Now, It’s an Anti-Poverty Movement.”
World Food Program USA spoke to Borgen Project Founder and President, Clint Borgen, in their June episode of #HackingHunger, Creating an Anti-Poverty Movement with Clint Borgen.
Virtual Series
The Borgen Project is working hard to shine a spotlight on the concerning threat that COVID-19 poses in countries that were already experiencing dire humanitarian crisis. Our latest virtual series event featured Borgen Project Founder and President, Clint Borgen. The conversation addressed why it’s more important than ever to activate and advocate for what’s right in this pivotal time in our nation’s history.
World Refugee Day
On June 20, we acknowledged the overwhelming adversity faced by the nearly 80 million displaced people worldwide. World Refugee Day offers a chance to raise awareness of the plight of refugees around the world and of the efforts to protect their human rights.
“Today, there are more than 70 million displaced people around the world, and nearly 90% of the world’s refugees live in developing countries that often struggle to provide basic services, let alone combat a global pandemic. “
– USGLC
Media Outreach
Interviews
Political Affairs Team member Sofia Siegel featured in an Alumni Spotlight interview for the Putney Student Travel to discuss The Borgen Project.
TikTok
The Borgen Project is now on TikTok! Give us a follow @theborgenproject.
Learn more on our website. Link in bio. ##poverty ##world ##101 ##fyp ##foryourpage ##foryoupage ##foryou ##global ##hunger ##electricity ##for ##you ##page ##help♬ Intentions (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Justin Bieber & Quavo] – Elliot Van Coup
Have an idea for a TikTok? Please email them to Nonprofit Leadership Team member Sharon Shenderovskiy at [email protected].
Team members took to Instagram to voice support for the cause. Don’t forget to tag @theborgenproject in your content on Instagram:
Stories:
Featured on The Borgen Project’s Instagram: A multi-series post on the End TB Not Act created by PR/Marketing Team member Siyu Liu.
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Devorah Gurevich educated her following about The Borgen Project and urged them to email Congress.
PR/Marketing Team member Kelsey Lu created a series of graphics on the crisis in Yemen that were featured on HerCampusUW’s Instagram Story
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Bernadette Dwyer in O’Fallon, IL spreading awareness about The Borgen Project on her Instagram Story
Nonprofit Leadership Team member Sharon Shenderovskiy created and shared an interactive graphic to her Instagram Story.
Influencer Outreach:
PR/Marketing Team member created a video in support of the Keeping Girls in School Act, which she shared on her Instagram. The Girls Room, an entertainment and multimedia hub for women, by women. (21.3K followers) happened to watch and interact with her IGTV video.
PR/Marketing Team member reached out to feministastic (189K followers), an organization advocating for equity, about The Borgen Project. The organization shared Sara’s graphic series to their Instagram.
Right: Content Team member Ashley Parks persuaded lifestyle influencer, Katy Belotte, to give The Borgen Project a shoutout on her Instagram Story.
Left: PR/Marketing Team member Alison Weldon messaged, Jessica Sulhee, a lifestyle content creator who found success through TikTok. Jessica shared Alison’s infographic to her Instagram Story.
Left: PR/Marketing Team member Renee St.germaine found success reaching out to a number of well-known Instagram accounts, including equalitymeansall, who shared the Keeping Girls in School Act to their Story.
Right: PR/Marketing Team member Laura Barriga successfully pitched to @ro54d on Instagram. With nearly 1 million followers, Rodrigo Garduño, posted a video about The Borgen Project on his story and saved it to his highlight “54 Donate.”
Additional Resources:
Why we need to support International COVID-19 Relief by: Elizabeth Lewis, Political Affairs Team
Global Health Security Act by: Lilya Hadab, PR/Marketing Team
Keeping Girls in School Act by: Amanda Garcia, PR/Marketing Team
Girls Lead Act by: Alexis Woodruff, PR/Marketing Team
Fast fashion: The dangerous underside of the fashion industry by Amonn Mitchell, PR/Marketing Team
How to Contact Congress by Allison Wojtowicz, PR/Marketing Team
5 ways you can contact Congress by Penelope Moreno, PR/Marketing Team
Radio and Podcasts
PR/Marketing Team member Sophia Neubaum featured in a radio interview with KUAF
Videos
PR/Marketing Team member Dennis Mavia on how to get involved:
Will Scheffler, Political Affairs Team:
Brianna Budelli, Political Affairs Team:
Grayson Timoner, Political Affairs Team:
Nicholas Thurston, Political Affairs Team, highlighted COVID-19 and foreign affairs in his call on C-SPAN:
Elizabeth Manning, Political Affairs Team, called into C-SPAN to discuss the Global Health Security Act: