Students to advocate for global poor in Washington D.C.

By Lauren Hight
April 28, 2014

2 Cabrini classes lobby for the Common Good.
2 Cabrini classes lobby for the Common Good.
2 Cabrini classes lobby for the Common Good.
2 Cabrini classes lobby for the Common Good.

Two Engagement for the Common Good (ECG) 300 classes have been preparing to represent Cabrini and the school’s principles of social justice in the nation’s capital. On Friday, May 2, Dr. Jerry Zurek, along with Dr. Raquel Green, will be guiding his Working for Social Justice and Working for Social Justice in Guatemala classes in Washington D.C to lobby in front of eight congressional foreign affairs aides.

Lobbying is the act of persuading government officials to see the benefit in one’s point of view. The goal for the Cabrini students’ trip is to raise awareness for poverty focused international assistance.

The classes are showing their positions as constituents on the issue largely in part to the school’s focus on social justice. Issues such as lack of clean water and maternal health concerns in third-world countries have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people, and the chances of them improving on their own are slim. This is where the Cabrini students come in. They are going to defend these people in the quest for additional international aid and ideally steer them toward a more prosperous life.

Caroline McCarthy, sophomore Spanish, American studies and religious studies major, travelled to Guatemala with Zurek and Green and is one of the students making the trip to speak for the voiceless. “After spending spring break in Guatemala, I have seen firsthand the need for continuous funding of international aid for third-world countries,” she said.

“Our professors have been talking to us about what to expect and giving us research assignments so we can become well versed in our jurisdiction. I am nervous to present my research, but I am also really excited as well,” Abigail Pressimone, sophomore American and religious studies major, said.

Pressimone will be joining McCarthy and roughly 25 other students to fend for the poor during these times of potential economic assistance budget cuts.

In 2014, $20.1 billion will be used to implement international assistance. At first, that number may seem like a lot but in reality that is less than 1 percent of the 2014 fiscal year budget. To put it in perspective, American’s spend 10 times that amount on soft drinks each year.

According to InterAction, half of children’s deaths (ages 5 and under) are caused due to malnutrition and 1.3 million people die due to tuberculosis per year. In addition, 67 million teenagers remain uneducated in developing countries.

“[This] is the most impactful way of doing advocacy. You could write letters and make phone calls to share the same message, but lobbying will always end up on top. It is an extremely empowering experience and a great opportunity to share our voices,” Clare Pressimone, senior social work major and social justice minor, said.

Clare is a veteran lobbyist and has stood in front of government representatives four times defending the helpless; Zurek’s ECG class was her first official visit. She encourages the Cabrini community to take advantage of the accessibility which could lead to potential advancements in economic growth.

“Poverty focused international assistance is a cause I am very passionate about and going to D.C. is a perfect realization of what Cabrini’s mission is. We are citizens that can dictate how our legislators vote and how policies are made, so giving students the opportunity to utilize that power gives them a chance to see that they are not just one in 313 million [people in the United States]. They can make a significant difference.”

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Lauren Hight

Lauren Hight graduated Summa Cum Laude from Cabrini in 2015 with a major in communication, minor in graphic design and certification in leadership. She was the Multimedia Editor of The Loquitur for the 2014-2015 academic year and prides herself on the versatile skills she took took away from her experience at Cabrini.

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