Welcome new Oxfam Action Corps Lead Organizers!

Greetings SF Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps! This is Jessica Shao, one of the two lead organizers for  OAC 2012. I am so thrilled to lead this year's Oxfam Action Corps along with Amy. We both just returned from an amazing four day training with OAC in D.C. along with 30 other organizers representing 15 other cities. We learned in depth about Oxfam's Grow Campaign, strategies to plan and organize activities in our areas to support Oxfam's ongoing campaigns this year.

We met with many Oxfam staff who work in the  D.C. office and are deeply committed to Oxfam's mission to create lasting solutions to end poverty, hunger, and injustice. We learned about Oxfam's 4R program which is designed to build local resilience of smallholder farmers around the world by providing them with access to credit, savings, and insurance. These are key tools and assets that will allow small holder farmers in times of natural disasters or economic shocks. It is clear that with 18 million people currently suffering from hunger in the Sahel region of West Africa, it demands us to act now in order to prevent another famine.

We acted on the fourth day of the training by making 4 lobbying visits in the hill! Amy and I, accompanied by an Oxfam staff met with legislative staff from Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi and Speier's office in the capitol hill. We spoke to legislative staff about the need for food aid reform by purchasing local and regional food and ending the practice of using food as a  "fundraising tool" for international NGOs, who need to get food as a commodity and then sell it for cash to fund their programs. Food aid is part of the farm bill which is currently being discussed in the house committee right now. By June there will be important decisions made about the farm bill, so that means the time to act is NOW!

 I am so excited to bring back what I've learned from the training to our volunteer group in the Bay Area. Amy and I are energized to organize a kick ass year with tons of fun activities, beginning with a bon fire to kick start our year on June 9th. Stay tuned for more fun this summer!

Send a message to G8 leaders

Before the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago, the G8 leaders are meeting at Camp David. They are scheduled to discuss food security on the second day of their May 18-19 summit.

Now is the time to raise our voices and tell President Obama and world leaders that we want them to fight hunger and poverty. We want expansion of previous G8 commitments and partnership with poor nations through country-led investments to achieve global food security.

Most of the world's poor and hungry do not have a say in these decisions - now is the time to use your voice to bring awareness to food security issues by taking action here.

Fun and successful Coldplay concerts

Thank you to all our great Action Corps volunteers who collected signatures at two Coldplay concerts in San Jose this past weekend. We're waiting to hear a final count, but our volunteers collected around 1200 signatures. Way to go team!

If you're interested in getting involved, feel free to contact us by email and like us on Facebook.

Constituent visits and petition signature deliveries

Last week we visited Senator Feinstein's office in San Francisco and Senator Boxer's office in Oakland. We delivered petition signatures from across California asking to fix food aid in the Farm Bill. Since 32% of food aid is wasted to special interests, we brought along 68% of a pie to represent the fraction of the well-intentioned gift of food aid that is wasted. For more details on what should be modernized in our current food aid programs, check out this very informative blog post by Oxfam America senior policy advisor, Eric Munoz.

Monthly meeting on Thursday, April 26

We'll discuss the food aid petition, which will be delivered to our Senators next week. We also welcome anyone signed up to volunteer at the upcoming Coldplay concerts to come and learn more about the GROW campaign. Join us to get involved and take action against hunger and poverty!

What: Monthly Meeting
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: The Grove Cafe Yerba Buena (690 Mission St at 3rd St, San Francisco, 2 blocks from Montgomery St BART)

If you know you can come, please send us an RSVP so we know how much space to reserve. But feel free to join us even if you can't RSVP in advance.

World Affairs Council conference

Thank you to the World Affairs Council of Northern California for the opportunity to be part of the Take Action section at the annual conference this weekend! It was very energizing to see and hear so many people with a global outlook.

Monthly meeting on Thursday, March 22 at 6:30 pm

We'll recap about International Women's Day events - both local and Oxfam America's lobbying visits in DC. We're also looking forward to upcoming concert and outreach events. Join us for more info!

What: Monthly Meeting
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2012
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: M Cafe (1161 Mission St, between 7th and 8th St, San Francisco, close to Civic Center BART)

If you know you can come, please send us an RSVP so we know how much space to reserve. But feel free to join us even if you can't RSVP in advance.

International Women's Day Summit was a success

Thank you to the organizers of the International Women's Day Summit for including us in a day full of sharing, learning, and inspiration! Also a special thanks to our Action Corps volunteers who participated in tabling outreach and the sessions.

Join us at the International Women's Day Summit

You're invited to join us at the International Women's Day Summit

What: We're co-sponsoring a panel discussion on "Women and the Environment" at San Francisco's International Women's Day Summit

Date: Friday, March 9, 2012

Time: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm

Where: Westbay Community Conference Center
1290 Fillmore St. (at Eddy), San Francisco, CA

Register online: http://iwdsummit.com/registration/

Women and the Environment
Women today spend more than half their day gathering food and water. Discussion will cover water, food, and energy sources; how women are feeding the world, our roles in farming and developing new sources of energy.

Panel:
1. Moderator - Yolanda Manzone, Advocacy Manager, Fairfood International
2. Anna Marie Carter, The Seed Lady, Organic Farmer
3. Melanie Nutter, Director, San Francisco Department of the Environment
4. Maryam Jafari, Fulbright Scholar, Monterey Institute of International Studies

Monthly meeting Thursday, February 23

We'll be discussing plans for International Women's Day and our new petition about food aid. Stop by our meeting for more information or to get involved in any way you can!

What: Monthly Meeting
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2012
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: PIQ Berkeley (91 Shattuck Ave, across from Downtown Berkeley BART)

If you know you can come, please send us an RSVP so we know how much space to reserve. But feel free to join us even if you can't RSVP in advance.

Tell big oil companies not to stand in the way of transparency rules!

What if you lived on just $2 a day, struggling to feed your family, keep your kids in school and merely survive – while down the road, oil and mining companies were making millions from selling your community's natural resources, the profits from which you might never see?

That's a daily reality for 1.5 billion people. They deserve better – and they just might get it.

Oxfam and supporters fought together for years for a new law that requires oil and mining companies to open their books and stop hiding secret payments to local governments. Thanks to people like you, the law mandating these new rules was passed by Congress in 2010. This law will help poor citizens in countries around the world combat corruption and ensure that oil payments go where they're needed most.

But right now, as the law is about to be implemented, big oil companies may sue to stop it. With enough public outcry, we can pressure these companies to stop fighting transparency, accept Congress's rules and open their books.

Tell big oil companies not to stand in the way of transparency rules!

Right now, oil and mining companies' contributions to local communities often include environmental damages, loss of land and human rights abuses. Living on top of valuable resources doesn't necessarily mean that communities living in poverty get a share of the wealth. Instead of going into the community, the profits too often go straight into the pockets of corrupt individuals.

Communities living in poverty don't need handouts. They just need simple access to information so they can fight for themselves, their families and the future of their communities. Putting the law into force could finally give them that chance.

We need to raise our voices NOW to let the big oil companies know that they can't fight progress. We'll show them we're watching, and make them think twice about how they handle this situation.

Oxfam has worked too hard and come too far to let companies like Chevron, Exxon and ConocoPhillips take this victory away from us now. Everyone has had their say and now the Securities and Exchange Commission is almost ready to enact the regulations. Oxfam has been fighting almost two years since the law was passed to see this change implemented – two years of polluted water, of destroyed homes, of government corruption. We can't wait another minute – there's too much at stake.

Will you add your voice today? Demand that oil companies stop fighting transparency.

Together, we can fight back against oil company influence, shine a light on corruption and set a new standard of openness and accountability.

More information on this topic is available here.

Oxfam America performed a stunt in Washington, DC recently to bring awareness to this transparency issue. Check out photos from the stunt.

Next monthly meeting is Thursday, January 26th

We have lots of upcoming events, including International Women's Day and concert outreach (Coldplay!). Stop by our meeting for more info or to get involved in any way you can!

This is also the time of year for Oxfam Action Corps recruiting. See this previous blog post for more info. Be sure to sign up by February 14th!

What: Monthly Meeting
Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Time: 6:30 pm
Where: PIQ Berkeley (91 Shattuck Ave, between University Ave & Addison St)

If you know you can come, please send us an RSVP so we know how much space to reserve. But please join us even if you can't RSVP in advance!

No more corn ethanol tax credits

Thanks to you, the 30-year, $6 billion handout for corn ethanol is gone! You raised your voices with the GROW campaign and - together with other supporters across the country - sent over 38,000 letters, emails, and petitions to Congress to end harmful biofuel subsidies - and it worked!

Shawnee Hoover, a policy advisor at Oxfam America, wrote a great blog about the battle to end tax breaks for corn ethanol. We're re-posting her article below or you can find it here. Thank you to all our supporters who signed petitions and contacted Congress on this important issue that affected food prices and hunger.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celebrating wins, with political spins
by Shawnee Hoover, policy advisor, Oxfam America

After a long, hard-fought battle, the $6 billion tax break for corn ethanol known as VEETC (or the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit), has lapsed after Congress passed on extending it. And as a result, a collective sigh of relief may be heard around the world by hunger advocates, as one burden is lifted on high food prices and hunger.

In Washington, the ethanol industry is spinning the loss as a win, claiming they voluntarily gave up the tax credit for the good of the nation. The ethanol industry’s most prominent representative, Bob Dinneen of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), spun the defeat by claiming to be “the first industry ever to give up a tax credit” saying their “sacrifice” came willingly for the “greater good.” The truth is that the industry fought tooth and nail for every last dollar right up to the end in 2011.

In fact, as recently as September 2011, RFA sent a letter pleading to the Co-Chair of the budget-cutting Congressional super committee not to cut the remaining tax credit. Doing so, they warned, would result in “market disruption.”

In March last year, Tom Buis, the CEO of another ethanol trade group Growth Energy, said that a bipartisan Senate proposal to end VEETC would risk the production of US ethanol and “be even more disruptive and more costly to our consumers and to our economy.” That’s not exactly voluntarily giving up the tax credit for the greater good of the people.

For years, a coalition of strange bedfellows has worked together to educate Congress about the multiple ills of corn ethanol production mandates and the tax incentive. Oxfam supporters did their part last year by sending nearly 40,000 emails, letters and petitions calling on Congress to end VEETC. Without fail, every single effort by Congress to reform or repeal the tax credit over the years was fought by the industry, who instead proposed replacing it with billions more in industry subsidies.

If the industry was really concerned with the greater good, they would stop trying to expand corn ethanol production and start investing in a transition to next-generation biofuels that aren’t made from corn or any other food crop. Instead, they’ve been lobbying to redefine corn ethanol as an “advanced biofuel” so it can qualify for more subsidies.

For anti-poverty, development groups like Oxfam, the biggest problem with US corn ethanol production is the impact it has on raising food prices and exacerbating global hunger. It’s basic supply and demand: diverting corn for fuel means corn for food becomes more expensive.

Since the US is the largest corn producer and exporter in the world, it drives global corn prices. So when US policy diverts 40% of US corn production to be used for fuel instead of food, it essentially makes 15% of the world’s corn unavailable for food.

We of course welcome the ethanol industry in celebrating the ending of VEETC. But, for us, it’s just a first step in solving the crux of the problem. The next step is for Congress to create a more effective and rational US biofuels policy by coming to terms with the main driver of corn ethanol production in this country—the mandate in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The mandate is heavily weighted toward traditional corn ethanol production and as such, artificially creates a demand for corn and increases prices.

Will the ethanol industry join the party for reforming RFS?