Category: State

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AiQ State

AiQ: CalFresh Access for Seniors

May 20 Action Items

  1. Mark your calendars for May 19, 2021 for next year’s Lutheran Lobby Day. We just got our permits approved and pray we will once again gather in person to advocate together.
  2.  God’s Work, Our Hands, Our Voices: Let us know what your church is doing for Sunday, Sept. 13 2020. What sort of advocacy component would you imagine? Email us at Regina.Banks@elca.org and Nicole.Newell@elca.org or just reply to this email.
  3. Call the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to support Calfresh Access for Seniors.

Why?
Calfresh applications have gone up 243% compared to last year. Eligible California seniors have very low participation rates due to barriers in access and retention. SB 882 removes these barriers for seniors and adults with disabilities.

Prioritize your outreach to Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena), the Chair of the Committee on Appropriations. This should take you just a few minutes.

Please also spend a few minutes contacting your Senator if they are listed below as members of the committee:

Sample script:

Hi, my name is _____ and I live in ______. I’m calling to urge Senator ______ to support SB 882, a bill that will make it easier for people to access CalFresh, our most powerful anti-hunger program. It is urgent that we simplify the CalFresh application process as more and more people are out of work and need help putting food on the table. SB 882 will make permanent improvements to the program, especially for older adults and people with disabilities. Please vote yes on SB 882. Thank you. [Or choose one or more of the following reasons or tell them your own]

  • Californians struggling to make ends meet during the COVID-19 crisis need quick access to CalFresh, but the process is often overly complicated. We need SB 882 to simplify access to food assistance.
  • Only 19% of eligible adults age 60+ receive CalFresh. SB 882 make it easier for people, especially seniors, to enroll and stay connected to our most powerful anti-hunger program.
  • CalFresh applications are up more than 200% due to spiking unemployment. We need SB 882 to simplify access and keep people connected to food assistance during and after this crisis.

Sample tweets:

  • Californians struggling to make ends meet during the #COVID19 crisis need quick access to CalFresh, but the process is often overly complicated. We need #SB882 to simplify access now! @Portantino @SenatorPatBates
  • Only 19% of eligible adults 60+ receive #CalFresh. Let’s make it easier for people, especially seniors, to stay connected to our most powerful anti-hunger program. Plz support #SB882! @Portantino @SenatorPatBates
  • #CalFresh is a proven positive public health intervention and powerful economic stimulus. #SB882 will help maximize its dual role in California’s immediate and long-term COVID-19 response. Plz support SB 882! @Portantino @SenatorPatBates
  • #CalFresh applications are up more than 200% due to spiking unemployment. We need #SB882 to simplify access and keep people connected to food assistance. Let’s cut the red tape to put food on their plates! @Portantino @SenatorPatBates

Thank you to the California Food Policy Advocates for this action alert text and information.

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AiQ State

AiQ: Community Development Funds

April 29 Action Items

1. Register for Lobby Day

We will gather virtually with Lutherans from around the state for our second annual advocacy day. Our advocacy will focus on COVID-19 relief for California’s most impacted communities. Following a morning briefing, you will be scheduled for a virtual meeting with your California legislators.

Prior to Lobby Day, we will host two advocacy training webinars on Wednesday, May 6 at 12pm and 6pm PDT.

For more information, click here.

Lutheran Lobby Day
Wednesday May 20, 2020
9:00am – 2:15pm

Register Here

2. Use Community Development Block Grant Funds for Rental Assistance

Contact your California Senators and Assemblymembers (call, email, tag on social media) and urge them to use CDBG funds from the CARES Act to provide rental assistance. 

Sample script: Hello. My name is ___. I live in ___, CA.   I am calling to ask Representative/Senator ___ to use Community Development Block Grant funds from the CARES Act to provide rental assistance to impacted renters.   This ensures that families can remain stably housed during and after the COVID-19 crisis. This is important because:

  1. Renters need immediate relief, as they have lower income and savings to weather economic crisis
  2. This is a necessary complement to Gov. Newsom’s moratorium on evictions, which still obligates people to pay rent for months they’ve missed
  3. Rental assistance allows money that people do have to go back into local economies
  4. It also supports rental owners in operating and maintaining properties

Rental assistance must continue until the economy improves. The provisions will not only help families stay housed during this crisis, but will also help to stimulate local economies.Thank you for your time.Goodbye.

3. Farmworker Justice in California

You can sign on to this letter to Governor Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom highlighting the challenges California’s farmworkers are facing during COVID and recommendations to address them. The letter was prepared by Líderes Campesinas, a network of female farmworkers and their families working globally since the 1980s.

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AiQ State

AiQ: SNAP Day of Action

April 22 Action Items

1. National Day of Action to Boost SNAP Benefits in Next COVID-19 Package

Contact your Senators and Representatives (call, email, tag on social media) and urge them to include SNAP in the next COVID-19 package. Include the White House in your Tweets and outreach.

On Wednesday, April 22, join the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), California Food Policy Advocates, and other national allies and advocates across the country in a National Day of Action urging Congress and the Administration to enact SNAP benefit boosts in the next COVID-19 relief package. Recent reports indicate that the next package would include assistance for businesses and healthcare efforts, but not SNAP — we must insist that individuals and families need immediate relief, too.

Sample script: Hello. My name is ___. I live in ___, CA. I am calling to ask Representative/Senator ___ to boost SNAP benefits in the next COVID-19 relief bill. The next COVID-19 relief bill must include the following SNAP priorities:

  1. boost SNAP maximum benefits by 15 percent
  2. increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30
  3. suspend all SNAP administrative rules that would terminate or cut benefits.

These temporary provisions must continue until the economy improves. The provisions will not only help households put food on the table during this crisis, but will also help to stimulate the economy.Thank you for your time.Goodbye.

Background from California Food Policy Advocates:

Millions of California families are facing serious hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Congress has passed a few bipartisan laws that provide some relief – including the Families First and CARES Act – much more needs to be done to prevent increased hardships and support those who were largely or entirely left out of earlier relief packages. Federal negotiations on the next COVID-19 bill are moving forward quickly.

We are hearing the next relief package will include assistance for businesses and hospitals, but not a boost to people who have been left out of relief measures so far (such as immigrants and many people with very low incomes).

We are also hearing that SNAP – one of the largest and most effective anti-poverty programs in the country, and one of the most rapid and effective forms of stimulus we can enact – is also not included in the package. Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer are already working on a proposal for another major relief bill, which we have learned could move in late May or June. Now is the time to reach out to Congress as they work to develop their policy priorities for that bill, in preparation for eventual bipartisan negotiations.  

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State Updates

April 2020 Update

While COVID-19 has turned our world upside down in unprecedented ways, our advocacy work continues to be essential in developing coordinated and inclusive responses that support all Americans.

The California Legislature went on an extended recess beginning in mid-March which has been extended for the next month. Advocacy has therefore focused on urging the Governor to enact a true moratorium on evictions and mortgage protections, include Individual Taxpayer Identification Number filers in any relief at the state level, and more. Even so, we continue to support state bills related to COVID-19 relief, such as CalFresh, Simpler for Seniors and CalFresh, Prison Preenrollment and the Racial Justice Act for when the Legislature reconvenes. We are also assisting our partners in accessing federal CARES and Families First provisions and shifting our advocacy to the federal level when necessary.

The Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California instituted a new program to engage our Policy Council, pastors and members of Lutheran congregations in California. We call it Advocacy in Quarantine.

  • We set a weekly Wednesday Zoom meeting where LOPP-CA staff offer a roughly 25 minute overview of the federal government’s response to Covid-19, the State of California’s response, and pending state legislation we are following and sponsoring. We also highlight the work that our allies and ministry partners are doing in the state.
  • We then direct them to actions that would take them about 5 minutes to complete (I.e.; call or tweet the governor to release prisoners and ICE detainees on #FaithfulFridays)

We are grateful for an incredible response from our members, and we’re getting feedback from our ministry partners that the calls are already being noticed. We are seriously contemplating how this can become a part of our programing when we go back into session.

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AiQ State

AiQ: April 4 Video

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AiQ State

AiQ: March 25

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State Updates

January 2020 Update

The Lutheran Office of Public Policy begins the 2020 legislative year remaining committed to the principles of economic justice, human rights, accompaniment and responsible stewardship and sustainability in service of a more peaceful and compassionate California. Our legislative and executive priorities for the year are:

IMMIGRATION/MIGRATION POLICY: We are looking forward to living into the ELCA declaration of being a sanctuary denomination in California- a sanctuary state. Our foundation is to advocate for and accompany our siblings who are immigrating to and moving through California. Education, poverty and other healthcare and human services remain a challenge for this population and we are committed to walking with them to seek equity.

HOUSING RIGHTS AND HOMELESSNESS: California is in the midst of a housing crisis that is affecting every corner of the state and wide swaths of the economic scale. We here at LOPP-CA are committed to finding equitable funding streams to encourage sustainable building of housing throughout California. Additionally, we are seeking services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

FOOD AND FARMING: California’s role in agricultural leadership is unrivaled. This affords us great opportunity to be leaders in food and farming policies that ensure just stewardship of our state’s resources to feed ourselves and the nation. If we believe that food and water are human rights- and we do- care must be taken to see that food is grown, transported and distributed equitably and with maximal attention toward care of God’s creation. We here at LOPP-CA are committed to these goals.

We look forward to continuing fruitful partnerships with ministry partners and others in civil society toward these and other goals as they serve to help us live our gospel mandates to Love Our Neighbor.

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State Updates

2020 Legislative Session Opens

The California Legislative Session begins today, January 6, 2020 and will run through August 31, 2020 with recesses throughout for members to meet with constituents in their districts.

We are looking forward to following bills in the California Senate and Assembly in four areas:

  • Hospitality: Immigration & Migration
  • Shelter: The Unhoused
  • Sustenance: Sustainable and Equitable Food & Farming Systems
  • Human Rights: Deep Childhood Poverty

We also look forward to Lutheran Lobby Day on May 20, 2020 at the Capitol building in Sacramento, where we will share our policy priorities and values as Lutherans with our representatives. All are welcome. Registration opens March 1, 2020.

This year, Director Regina Q. Banks and Hunger Fellow Nicole Newell will continue visiting and hosting advocacy trainings in congregations throughout the state. We are grateful for these partnerships and will continue to work with ELCA Advocacy, our Synod partners, CalLu, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in building a more just California.

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State Updates

October 2019 Update

by Regina Q. Banks, Director

POLICY COUNCIL MEETING AND PRIORITIES: The policy council of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy- CA met at the Luther Center in Glendale, CA on October 26, 2019 to discuss the legislative priorities of the ELCA and LOPP-CA, welcome new staff and plan FUNdraisers for the upcoming program year. It was a great meeting and much was decided. Look for updates soon. But set your calendars now for LUTHERAN LOBBY DAY 2020: Wednesday May 20, 2020. We will use this opportunity to again engage with legislators and staff on issues of concern to Lutherans across the state.

Our priorities for 2020 have shifted but continue to reflect a deep concern for the least and the last in our communities, and care for creation and justice in our golden state. We will continue to advocate for the elimination of Deep Childhood Poverty and accompany those who immigrate to and migrate within California. After listening to your concerns during our congregation visits and in consultation with our partners at Lutheran Social Services of Northern California, we are adding engagement with and for the unhoused to our portfolio of issues. And with the addition of Nicole Newell as our Hunger Advocacy Fellow, we are adding food and farming as a new policy priority for the 2020 legislative session. As the largest producer of food in the U.S., California is dominated by large farms relying on undercompensated migrant labor and extensive use of water throughout the driest of months. These farming systems are too often disconnected from the processing, distributing, eating and waste aspects of the cycle. In keeping with God’s call to care for creation and our neighbor, LOPP-CA seeks to promote equitable food and farming systems in California that support healthy communities, full bellies and the preservation of vital ecosystems. Our policy council has decided to continue to support our ministry and secular partners in the implementation of the Clean Safe Affordable Drinking Water Fund though take a less active role.

All of these issues and more will be discussed leading up to and during Lutheran Lobby Day 2020 on May 20, 2020. If these priorities are in your area of expertise or you are looking for ways to get involved with LOPP-CA, there are openings for synod representatives in Pacifica, Sierra Pacific and Southwest California synods. Contact us at regina.banks@elca.org to discuss your service.

SYNOD AND CONGREGATION VISITS: A sincere Thank You goes out to the pastors and members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, San Jose; Ascension Lutheran Church, Thousand Oaks; University AME Zion Church, Palo Alto; and Advent Lutheran Church, Morgan Hill for welcoming us into your worship experiences. We continue to delight in the varied ways that the Holy Spirit manifests in your families. Continue to invite us. We will continue to walk with you.

Thank you to Bishop Mark Holmerud and staff of Sierra Pacific Synod for their hospitality during the 2019 Professional Leaders Conference at Monterey Tides. LOPP-CA was offered primetime to talk about the church’s way forward through advocacy, and God is truly still working through contacts and connections made there. Similarly, a big thank you goes to Trinity Lutheran Women of the ELCA members for welcoming our Director Regina Q. Banks’ offer of the Sunday sermon on October 20th. This was her first sermon. She was humbled and blessed to take that journey with you.

Categories
State Updates

September 2019 Update

LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS:
September 13 marked the end of the 2019 legislative year. Governor Gavin Newsome has until October 13, 2019 to sign or veto legislation in his possession. LOPP-CA is eagerly awaiting the final disposition of legislation we have been following this session. Please standby for word on all of our legislative priorities.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY SUMMIT:
LOPP-CA had a unique opportunity to engage with faith leaders across the world and spanning numerous traditions at the Climate Emergency Summit hosted by ELCA Advocacy in New York, NY. The summit was an extension of the United Nations General Assembly and provided an opportunity to turn a faith-based lens to the work of climate justice in our world.

HUNGER FELLOW WELCOME:
LOPP-CA is pleased to welcome Ms. Nicole Newell to our office as the 2019-2020 California Hunger Advocacy Fellow. Nicole Newell joins this year’s ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellows with a background in non-profit work, advocacy and teaching, both domestically and abroad. Her focus on food justice has led her to work in kitchens and on small-scale farms to develop context for sustainable food practices. With a BA in Practicing Theology from St. Olaf College, Nicole has a love for Lutherans and served with Lutheran Volunteer Corps in Washington, DC from 2015-2016. She grew up in Des Moines, IA but was born in Sacramento. Nicole is eager to bring her passion for the intersections of faith and justice to effect policy-level change in California. Please look for ways to invite Nicole into your policy ministries.

SYNODICAL AND CONGREGATION VISIT THANK YOUS:
A sincere “Thank You” goes out to the pastors and members of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran in Simi Valley for their warm welcome this month. This congregation made a special effort to include Advocacy in their “Gods Work. Our Hands.” Day of Service observance, and it was truly special. Please consider adding an advocacy component to this and other special occasions in your ministry.

Similarly, Sierra Pacific Women of the ELCA offered a warm and sisterly welcome to their annual retreat September 18-20 at the beautiful Bishop’s Ranch retreat center in Healdsburg, CA. The majestic scenery was a great backdrop for worship, work and rejuvenation. Congratulations to the new board of SPWELCA, and we at LOPP-CA look forward to working together closely.