Over the last year till now, the world has faced one of its most prominent periods of economic and sociological hardships known to man. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for infecting over 170 million people worldwide, with over 3 million having lost their lives.
Additionally, the pandemic has deeply impacted the livelihoods of those who are completely vulnerable to the loss of resources and has created long-term damage to those respective nations, greatly increasing global poverty.
Most importantly however, is that while the US is beginning to open its businesses and workplaces thanks to the recent distributions of COVID vaccines, other countries such as India, Brazil, and Columbia still struggle with the pandemic at hand. Because of issues with limited resources provided and lack of vaccines available, these countries are not able to successfully vaccinate their communities fully.
However, not everything is lost as there is still hope in helping to resolve the issues at hand, the Borgen Project. The Borgen Project is a non-profit, national organization that focuses on fighting global poverty. Some of the actions that are done is to mobilize constituents, meeting and influencing lawmakers to push effective foreign policy, and fundraise to keep the organization running.
Therefore, I encourage you to check out the organization as well as to contact your local congressional leaders through emailing and calling their offices to push for legislative action.
In addition, I call upon U.S. Rep. Don Beyer Jr. and U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to continue to push for bills that greatly enhance foreign aid, much like recent action enacted from the House of Representatives with the Global Health Security Act this past Monday.
Jael Espinoza
Arlington