The Slacktivist

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will debate the Farm Bill and the future of our nation’s largest nutrition assistance resource, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP increases financial stability, improves health, advances education outcomes and boosts economic activity in communities.

• 2 million individuals to lose access to SNAP entirely
• 210,000 children to lose free school meals
• 850,000 households to see their benefits cut by an average $90 per month.

For over five years now, Congress has attempted and failed to pass the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA is the largest federal program designed to improve education, particularly for disadvantaged students.

The reauthorization of ESEA represents a great opportunity for a new vision and approach for providing a better education for millions of children.

That’s why United Way has created an online petition urging policymakers to come together and pass a bipartisan education bill. Our children have waited long enough. Now’s the time to act.

Tell Congress to pass a bipartisan bill today. Sign the petition and take action now. Tweet it!

Have you gone to the pharmacy to get your birth control thinking you wouldn’t have a co-pay — only to find out that you did? Or have you gone to the doctor thinking your annual visit would be covered without a co-pay — but it wasn’t?

Check out the National Women’s Law Center’s newest resource: “Getting the Coverage You Deserve: What to Do If You Are Charged a Co-Pay, Deductible, or Co-Insurance for a Preventive Service.”

It’s an easy-to-use resource for you to make an appeal to your insurance company when you’re incorrectly told to pay for your preventive care.

Hangout with your favorite celebrities and United Way

United Way is partnering with Google to host The 21, a twenty-one hour broadcast of live programming in support of worldwide education.

Starting at 3:00 a.m. (EST) on June 21, we’ll broadcast 21 hours of live programming through Google Hangout, an easy to use technology that allows users to participate in video call from wherever they are through computers, tablets or phones. This first of its kind event will feature celebrities from the sports world, entertainment, leaders in the education field, and also everyday heroes who are making a difference in their communities through education.

The goal is to recruit 21,000 people to pledge to become volunteer readers, tutors or mentors.

Join the 21: http://www.unitedway.org/pages/the21

‘Summer Reading’ Twitter Chat
Friday, June, 21, 2013 
3 PM - 4 PM EST

The theme will be summer reading using #SLDRead

You’ll learn:

• Why summer reading is so important in curbing summer learning loss.

• How families can support and encourage young kids, tweens, and teens in summer reading.

• Learn more about how, when, where kids like to read.

• How families can make summer reading fun for their kids.   

• Interesting statistics on kids’ summer reading, and how they like to spend their time in the summer.

What is a Twitter Chat?

A Twitter tweet chat is a pre-arranged chat that happens on Twitter through the use of Twitter updates (called tweets) that include a predefined hashtag (in this case, #SLDRead) to link those tweets together in a virtual conversation.

Join us on Summer Learning Day, Friday, June 21, 2013, 3 PM - 4 PM EST, and follow our #SLDRead chat using the website TweetChat.