March 26, 2009

Dear Marian,

Next week in London, President Obama will join leaders of the world's largest economies for a major international summit.

A lot is at stake in London.  The World Bank projects that 53 million people will be pushed into poverty due to the global economic crisis.

Jubilee USA is spearheading a grassroots, media, and advocacy campaign to urge President Obama to lead a global response to the impact of the economic crisis on the poorest countries. 

Today, I am asking you to consider a gift of $25, $50, $100, or $250 to support our call for justice for the world's poor at the G-20 summit. With the summit just one week away, your support will help ensure our messages reach world leaders.

Specifically, we're calling for:

• New resources for the poorest countries in the form of grants and expanded debt relief rather than new loans;
• Reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  World leaders shouldn't give the IMF a blank check until the IMF commits to stop pushing the poorest and most vulnerable countries to adopt harmful economic policies; and
• The sale of some of the IMF's vast gold reserves to fund expanded debt relief for poor countries.

We're been working with Jubilee supporters across the country as well as international partners to get the message out:

• We released a new briefing note, The Global New Deal We Need, outlining key policy recommendations for President Obama's consideration;
• We published a new report, Shielding the Poorest from the Global Crisis, calling for expanded IMF gold sales to finance $10 billion in poor country debt cancellation, an idea that is receiving support from key policymakers;
• We are getting messages out in the media. Features have already appeared in Sojourners, Tikkun, the Women's Media Center, and most recently the Huffington Post (check it out and submit a comment to help raise its prominence on the site)!
• We brought our message directly to the White House in a meeting last week with the most senior government official advising President Obama on the G-20;
• We organized a national grassroots telephone teach-in and a grassroots media campaign urging supporters across the US to write letters to the editor about the summit.

With the summit set to take place one week from today, the coming week will bring the best opportunity to get our voices heard, especially in the media. We are redoubling our media outreach efforts and we will be asking grassroots supporters to write letters to the editor about key issues.

I hope you will consider a gift of $25, $50, $100, or $250 to support our campaign for justice for the world's poor at the G-20 summit. With the summit just one week away, your support will help ensure our messages reach leaders in the coming week … and in the weeks and months ahead.

In peace,

Neil Watkins
Executive Director
Jubilee USA Network

PS - Signing up to be a monthly donor to Jubilee USA is the best way you can support our work for global economic justice. Click here today to arrange a monthly gift of $10 or $25 and make your impact last all year long.

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