Oxfam Action Corps kicks off its 6th year!

This Tuesday marked a successful conclusion of the 6^th annual training of the Oxfam Action Corps, conducting more than 52 lobby visits on Capitol Hill!  Hailing from 15 US cities, the participants in the Oxfam Action Corps training learned about Oxfam's GROW campaign for global food justice and how to serve as a resource for people back home who want to join the effort. 

Gathered in Washington DC May 12-15, our group spent 3 days in an intensive training and one day lobbying on Capitol Hill to improve US food aid.  From this point forward our new organizers will focus on reaching people in our home cities, welcoming them to the local volunteer group, and bringing Oxfam’s reform agenda to the attention of the Congressional representatives and other campaign targets.

We got to hear from several alumni who spoke about their experience with the Action Corps.  According to one, “Oxfam Action Corps really helped me professionally… It prepared me for a huge career change, directing a small non-profit.”  Another said “Oxfam Action Corps has given me a ton of confidence, gaining the knowledge and being able to speak to people about the issues.”  And another said “Oxfam Action Corps was my first foray into a long love affair with Oxfam. I have Action Corps to thank for where I am.”

Thanks again to all who contributed to the training, and here's to a great year ahead!

New faces! Oxfam Action Corps welcomes its 2012 Organizers

May 12-15 marks the 6th annual Oxfam Action Corps advocacy and leadership training in Washington DC, and we’re very excited to introduce to you this year’s Organizers!  Twenty-nine Oxfam supporters from 15 US cities are stepping up as local leaders willing to provide a helping hand to anyone in their city who wants to fight hunger and poverty with Oxfam.  They bring experience in organizing, a passion for global justice, and a commitment to provide leadership in their city.  Now they need YOU to join them!

In Washington DC they will learn advocacy and leadership skills and then hit Capitol Hill for a day of lobby visits with their legislators, in which they will deliver Oxfam’s petition to fix US food aid. Click here to sign the petition.

Once they get home the Organizers will be revved up for action and counting on you to provide your help and ideas!  Please reach out and say hi – we’ve provided contact info below the slide show.

Feel free to contact any of our new organizers about getting involved!

Kalen and Theresa, Albuquerque, NM- newmexico@oxfamactioncorps.org 

Jackie and Shannon, Austin, TX- austin@oxfamactioncorps.org

Carolina and Rebecca, Boston, MA- boston@oxfamactioncorps.org

Heather and Kayla, Burlington, VT- vermont@oxfamactioncorps.org

Adam and Jessica, Chicago, IL- chicago@oxfamactioncorps.org

Djeynaba and Jessica, Columbus, OH- columbus@oxfamactioncorps.org

Amy and Lance, Des Moines, IA- iowa@oxfamactioncorps.org

Hope and Jennifer, Indianapolis, IN- indianpolis@oxfamactioncorps.org

Emma and Shayla, Kansas City, MO- kansascity@oxfamactioncorps.org

Elise and Kathryn, Madison, WI- madison@oxfamactioncorps.org

Elizabeth and Kim, Minneapolis, MN- minnesota@oxfamactioncorps.org

Jill and Taryn, New York, NY- newyorkcity@oxfamactioncorps.org

Lindsy, Philadelphia, PA- philadelphia@oxfamactioncorps.org

Amy and Jessica, San Francisco, CA- sanfrancisco@oxfamactioncorps.org

Francis and Melissa, Seattle, WA- seattle@oxfamactioncorps.org

Oxfam Action Corps celebrates International Women's Day!

This week around the world, Oxfam and the GROW campaign are celebrating International Women's Day (March 8), honoring women who work the land, feed their families, and plow the way forward to more sustainable agricultural economies here and abroad. 

In the US, the Oxfam Action Corps will be holding a variety of events, from panels of community leaders to film screenings to potlucks.  Check for events in your city by clicking the blog links on this page or by visiting the Oxfam America events calendar. 

Oxfam supporters at an Oxfam Action Corps event, New York City.

Oxfam supporters are taking action in our communities as a part of Oxfam’s global efforts this week, including a major delegation of Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors who will converge on Washington DC to advocate that the US Congress fix food aid.

You can also take action right from home!  Send a beautiful e-card today to a woman in your life who has helped make your world a better place.  And if you want to throw an event to give her the Oxfam International Women’s Day Award, click here to download our action guide for doing so (it’s the top link on the left of the page).

Worldwide, millions of women engage in small scale farming and are leaders in the fight against hunger, yet they face discrimination in access to resources like land and credit.  Here at home, in each of our communities, women are among the innovators who are building a better food system that provides healthy and sustainable choices.  We hope you will join us this month to celebrate women’s achievements here and worldwide in changing the way we grow, eat, and share food so that everyone has enough to eat, always. 

Oxfam Action Corps 2012 Recruitment

Hey Everyone,

Oxfam America is currently recruiting new volunteers for 2012-2013. If you are interested in joining the Oxfam Action Corps please sign up and spread the word by February 14th at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org.

Join the Oxfam Action Corps to support women farmers, fight global hunger, and build a better food system!  You will meet great people and work together to change laws that can save lives, defend the rights of the world’s poorest farmers, and protect communities from rising food prices and climate change.  You will gain leadership skills, have fun, and change the world!

Anybody can join the local effort!   All levels of experience are welcome.  You can also apply for Oxfam’s free four-day leadership training in Washington D.C. May 12 – May 15.

This year, we will mobilize for the GROW campaign for global food justice.  The women and men in poor countries who struggle to grow enough food to feed their families are facing competition for land and water, rising prices, and climate change.  We will call for laws that support women and farmers, sustainable practices, and resilience to climate change, and ensure a better future for people in the poorest regions of the world.

This is a year-round volunteer opportunity, with a deadline of February 14 to apply for the spring training.  Find out more and sign up at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org .

Check out this video to see what we are all about:

An idea that's worth spreading.

Only 5 days left - Vote for Oxfam Action Corps’ Idea to Raise Awareness for East Africa!

Six of the Oxfam Action Corps teams (San Francisco, Des Moines, Chicago, Columbus, Boston and New York City) joined forces under the leadership of Elissa Yoder (Columbus Oxfam Action Corps) and submitted a proposal to GOOD to win $5,000 for awareness building here in the US about the East Africa crisis. Their idea involves hosting 6 simultaneous Oxfam America Hunger Banquets ® and linking them all via live web streaming.

How will the winning proposal be decided? The answer is by votes. Anyone can vote, and the proposal with the most votes by Wednesday, December 14 9am ET WINS $5,000 to actually implement the idea!

Will you take 2 seconds tovote? Check out their idea and vote for the Action Corps at http://fwd.maker.good.is/projects/ACTIONCORPS!

Other ways to help spread the word:
1. Take the above language and post it to your team’s blog.
2. Post on Facebook:  Got 2 seconds? Vote right now for the Oxfam Action Corps to win $5,000 to implement a cool idea here in the US to raise awareness about the crisis in East Africa. Help us win this. Vote here, http://fwd.maker.good.is/projects/ACTIONCORPS .
3.  Tweet about it: VOTE now to help @OxfamAction Corps win $5K to raise awareness about the #East Africa crisis! http://ow.ly/7QHZa @GOOD.

4. Send the above language as a one-off newsletter to your contacts.

The Oxfam America Hunger Banquet ® gives attendees extremely valuable insight into the root causes of poverty hunger, motivating them to take action against such atrocities as the famine in East Africa.

Speaking of Hunger Banquets, check out some great photos of the Madison Oxfam Action Corps Hunger Banquet!

COP17: Oxfam Style-- Can Durban be the bridge to a better future on climate change?

Originally posted by Heather Coleman on Oxfam America's Politics of Poverty blog.

My colleague Tim Gore, climate change policy advisor at Oxfam International, wrote this blog laying out what governments can achieve at UN Climate talks which are starting this week in Durban, South Africa. We’ve adapted the blog to the US context and are reposting it here.

It’s now two years since the frantic campaigning and manic diplomacy that led to theCopenhagen climate change conference, and the blame games that followed its inadequate result. As the next UN climate talks get under way this week in Durban, South Africa, we need a new script to explain what has been achieved since 2009 and what must come next in the fight to tackle climate change.

The good news is that the UN talks on climate change are not a re-run of the zombie negotiating process in the World Trade Organization. But the ten year anniversary of the launch of the ‘Doha development round’ should give us pause for thought about where we want the multilateral climate change regime to be ten years after Copenhagen, and whether we are on track to get there.

The agreements struck last year in Cancún did not deliver everything needed to address the perils of our warming world, but they are leading to action.

Giving thanks to those who harvested the food on our plates today

Community Engagement Intern Brittany Collins

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we take today to indulge in a delicious meal with our closest friends and family and reflect on what we are most thankful for, let us consider where the food on our plates has come from.  Think about the farmers that nourished their crops so that they could be on our plates today.  How many of us actually know where our food comes from?