State of the Union July 2026
Lobbying and Advocacy Efforts
- Total # of Lobbying Meetings in June: 85
- Total # of Lobbying Meetings in 2026: 203
- Lobbying Meetings Goal for 2026: 400
US Advocacy Emails
- Total # of Advocacy Emails in June: 5,862
- Total # of Advocacy Emails in 2026: 18,810
- Advocacy Emails Goal for 2026: 45,000
- % of Congress Emailed Year to Date: 85%
Congressional Office Meetings and Bird Dogging
Maurice Sainsbury met with his local MP, Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) – UK
Lily Rowland met with Whitney Meadows, the staffer of Senator Paul (R-KY)
Lilly Achterling met with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s Central Texas Regional Director, Brandon Simon
Kim Thelwell & Andrew Zableckis met with Representative Chu & Harrison Vijay Tsui (D-CA-28)
Jasman Mann met with MP Ruby Sahota (Brampton North—Caledon) and a staff member for MP Sahota, Aislinn Main
Updates from DC
Listen in to hear all of the latest updates from DC.
Recognition
Congratulations to the following team members who have achieved Borgen Project Honors & Recognition
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- Bird-Dog Award:
- Political Team: Ainsley Tait, Amelie Coen, Lilly Achterling, Mathieu Leonard
- Article of the Month: Rwanda’s F1 Ambitions by Nay Mohamad
- Bird-Dog Award:
Visit the Our Team Members page and read about success stories with our organization.
Getting the Word Out
Political Affairs Team
Z’hanie Weaver’s flyer for her information event
Zebedee West’s swarm
Kara Crawford hosted her information event at her local library
Lydia Barnes’ information event
Ainsley Tait held her information event
Katy Trumper and Emily Goldberger’s presentation at their school
Farid Murad held his information event
Matilde Santo’s information event
Nonprofit Leadership Team
Elton Rockey’s classroom talk
Maria Carabello’s flyer. Maria distributed the flyers around the Schiller University Campus in Paris, France
Sarah Kemper’s swarm
Josie Raiche’s information event
Social Media/Digital Marketing Team
Aidan Stout’s information event
Aaliya Naqvi’s information event
Content Team
Aren Lau took this photo with The Borgen Project banner to promote the organization
1-Mile Campaigns & Mobilizing
Giacomo Ciavarelli’s 1- mile campaign in Berlin, Germany
Shaiel Tapia’s 1-mile campaign in a nearby local street market – LA, USA
Aaliya Naqvi’s 1-mile campaign
Bakhtawar Kaleem’s 1-mile campaign
Anni Brunell’s 1-mile campaign
Letters to the Editor
Nonprofit Leadership Team
- George Thomas – Western Country Voices
Content Team
- Lily Alexander – North Delta Reporter
Social Media/Digital Marketing Team
- Jessica Grigg – St Albans Times
- Ashley Smith – Las Vegas Sun
- Jake Rinaldi – Patch.com and The Rockland County Times
- Jasmine Attwell – Surrey Now Leader
Political Affairs Team
- Mathieu Leonard – The SandPaper
- Samantha Arnold – Chicago Tribune
- Margaux Duchanaud – The Suburban and The Gazette
- Matilde Santos – Financial Times
- Arshia Chakravarrti – The Daily Journal
- Afra Bhuiyan – Inside Westminster
- Shea Dickson – Concord Monitor
- Sofia C Castano – Austin Chronicle
- Yavishthaa Dutt – St Georges – Ascot
- Lily Trottier – AJC and MDJ Online and Daily Tribune:
Lily Trottier
Kara Crawford had her letter to the editor published in the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Fundraising
Political Affairs Team
Anwitha Kandula is offering custom crochet for her fundraiser
Lilly Achterling’s flyer for her fundraising fitness challenge
Jasman Mann held a golf fundraising event
Constant Baku hosted a fundraising picnic at the University Gardens. This attracted students and lecturers of his university in Germany
Brooke Uleano is doing a fitness dare challenge for her fundraising campaign
Amelia Staines ‘ bake sale
Amelia Beggs ran 160 km over a period of 6 weeks for her fundraiser
Angela Venchio’s information event and fundraiser – sip and paint
Lali Tobin’s flyer for her yard sale fundraiser
Videos and Calls
Valentine Pougnant Epinoux
Lindsay Burnet
Zekai Zhou
Seamus McGrath
Christopher Villarruel
Robert Mercer
Jessica Grigg
Arianne Burett
Irfan Kabir Zarif