The Slacktivist

Advocates are concerned because the House bill would cut more than $20 billion in SNAP over 10 years causing: 

• 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.

Proposed cuts could have devastating impacts on the health and future of children and families. Help United Way and partners around the country send a message to Congress by taking part in today’s National Call-in Day!

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.

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.

Teachers, parents and kids tell us all the time that childhood hunger doesn’t take a vacation during the summer months. That’s because kids who normally get a lunch or breakfast at school lose access to those meals when class lets out for summer break. This loss of healthy school meals means for some families, summer can be a time of financial uncertainty.

New findings by Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign show that low-income families find it harder to make ends meet during summer months. more 

The Equal Pay Act was passed 50 years ago, but five decades later women still earn, on average, 23% less than men earn for the same work. That puts women in the red.

On this “not-so-golden” anniversary help MomsRising deliver a message to Congress that there is nothing sweet about unfair pay. It’s time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act!

On Thursday, June 6 at 9:30, a bunch of MomsRising staff, volunteers, kids and the Paycheck Fairness Coalition will come together to deliver the message to Congress.

RSVP: http://action.momsrising.org/go/3152?t=12&akid=4324.2029249.VHdaLJ

America’s Promise is working with the Gates Foundation to help improve the financial aid system for students. As part of that effort, America’s Promise is collecting stories from students about how they paid for college. Selected stories, of no more than 400 words, will be featured on AmericasPromise.org and in other materials to show how financial aid affects college choices, college life and life after graduation. As an extra incentive, a $50 Target gift card will be awarded to two people who submit completed stories. The deadline is June 3. more

With Macy’s American Icons program, Macy’s is honoring veterans and military families by trying to reach a goal of raising up to $3 million for Got Your 6. Every customer has the opportunity to donate $3 at the register and in return, will receive a 15/20% shopping pass for any day they choose. Got Your 6 unites the entertainment industry with top veteran-focused nonprofit organizations to bridge the civilian-military divide by creating a new conversation in America, so that veterans and military families are perceived as leaders and civic assets. The campaign ends June 9. more 

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, at 3:00 p.m. local time, Americans are asked to stop what they are doing and spend one minute in a Moment of Remembrance.  The mid-afternoon time was chosen because it is when a majority of Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the holiday.

Parents, guardians, and teachers, the United States Mint is inviting young people through age 13 to unleash their inner artist talents by creating a coin design that captures the theme “What’s Great About Baseball.” Please encourage them to be a part of this historic competition.

Children and students have an opportunity to become a part of a historic competition designed to connect America through coins and the mutual celebration of our national pastime, Baseball. Children ages five and under, six to ten, and eleven to thirteen are encouraged to enter. The competition runs through May 23, 2013.

For more details about the competition, please read the attached flier and visit http://kidsbatterup.challenge.gov/.

Tipped employees are a valuable, intrinsic part of the Hospitality Industry. They are hardworking men and women who have fought long and nobly to be afforded fair, legal wages and tip income in exchange for service on a daily basis.

Amy’s Baking Company (ABC) in Scottsdale, AZ, has come out publicly that their policy is to confiscate every single penny earned through tipping patrons, without informing customers, and instead, only pay their servers an hourly wage. This policy is 100% in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and given their extraordinary turn-over rate of employees, it is reasonable to assume 100 - 200+ individuals have been negatively affected by this illegal policy. In the interests of so many hardworking Americans, this company needs to be investigated immediately, and their unsavoury actions need to be halted at once.

Sign the petition: http://www.change.org/amysbaking

We bet you know a lot of moms who deserve an “Amazing Mom” award. Imagine their surprise when they get a video of dances saying she’s the best mom ever.

Watch the celebration here: 

http://momdance.com/

A shooting target mannequin named the “The Ex,” a large-breasted woman who bleeds when shot, is being sold on Amazon.com. It’s manufactured by Zombie Industries, a company that was featured at the NRA convention last weekend.

Gun violence against women is a serious problem. But “The Ex” shooting target turns violence against women into a joke and promotes the idea that men should want to kill their ex-wives or ex-girlfriends. Zombie Industries has already had to pull a mannequin target that resembled President Obama, so they are definitely attracting media attention right now—and it’s just the kind of bad press Amazon doesn’t want.

If we all speak up about this horrible “Ex” target we can get Amazon to do the right thing and stop carrying this dangerous product. Can you sign the petition?

Sign the petition: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/amazon_zombie_target/