Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Opportunity:  Interfaith Advocacy for Social Justice

JRLC’s annual Day on the Hill provides an opportunity for each of you to speak up on major public policy issues facing the Minnesota Legislature and to speak with your elected officials about these issues.

March 20^th, 2012, 8:30pm-4:00pm

RiverCenter, St. Paul

 There is same day registration available and the registration fee will be $45.00.

 This year’s Keynote speaker will be the Rev. Alika Galloway!  This year’s theme, And What Does God require? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 17-18) gives us guidance in these troubled times about how to work as faithful citizens to bring about justice for all.  Join around 1,000 people to make your values and commitments clear to your representatives.

Two of the issues related to Day on the Hill directly relate to the advocacy work of DCEH.

• Secure, Affordable Housing

There will be information calling on the restoration of $2.9 million that was cut from the Long-Term Homeless Support Services Fund and there will be support for $40 million in bonding funds (SF2073/HF2485).

• Welfare to Work

There will also be a briefing on the need to protect the safety net from Welfare 2.0 legislation and on strategies for ending poverty.  Call your legislators to see if they already have a JRLC appointment set up, and if not, make your own appointment to see them.

Tentative Schedule

RiverCentre, 7th St. and Kellogg Ave, downtown St. Paul

8:30 Gathering, Registration, Breakfast

8:55 Welcome, Opening Prayer, About the Day

9:30 Keynote Speaker, Rev. Alika P. Galloway, Kwanzaa Community Church, Minneapolis

10:00 Issue Briefings Brian Rusche, JRLC and Marie Reigstad, Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice

10:30 District Table Discussion, Alison Killeen, JRLC, and District Leaders

11:15 Bus to the Capitol

Rotunda and State Capital Complex

11:45 2011 Interfaith Social Justice Awards

• iCAN Key Advocate of 2012 Award
• 2012 Interfaith Social Justice Community Award
• 2012 Lawrence D. Gibson Interfaith Social Justice Award

12:15 A Prayer for Justice

Afternoon Meetings with your legislators in Capitol or State Office Building

2:00 iCAN Key Advocate Caucus

3:15 Closing Action and Prayer

Drop off debriefing sheets and evaluation form and recycle name tags at front door of Capitol

4:00 Last shuttle back to RiverCentre

Shuttle Service: 17 school buses will begin departing RiverCentre at 11:15 to get all of us to the Capitol by 11:45. Look for the JRLC sign in the bus window. Two school buses will regularly shuttle between the front entrance of the Capitol and RiverCentre starting at 1:00 pm and the last shuttle departs from the Capitol at 4:00 pm.

The Message:  Please reject cuts to MFIP assistance (Minnesota’s Welfare to Work) for families with children.

Talking Points:

• 7 out of 10 recipients of the Minnesota Family Investment Program are children.
• Several Legislative “reform” proposals will put more children at risk of homelessness and hunger.
• These proposals will gut the social safety net for families in Minnesota.
• This is not the “reform” Minnesotans want.  This is not the “reform” our children deserve.

Whom to Contact:

Contact your Legislators asking them to support Funding for Housing in the Bonding Bill. To find your legislator, go to http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

Let us know who you contacted after you call these legislators! Please take one minute and take this one question survey so we are able to track who was contacted.   http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWQL9PG

Background:

2012 Welfare Reform Proposals:
Taking Shelter and Food Away from Minnesota Children

These proposals take us off the path toward ending homelessness and poverty in Minnesota. Rather, these proposals will push more children and familiesy into deep poverty and will intensify Hunger and Homelessness across Minnesota.

• 7 out of 10 people receiving assistance in the Minnesota Family Investment Program are children; half under the age of 5
• 3,900 children are homeless each night in Minnesota; one half of those served at food shelves are children
• Minnesota’s poverty rate has increased 62% in the past 10 years, greatly outpacing the predicted impact of the current economic situation

What these proposals will do:

• Significantly reduces the amount of time a family can receive assistance through the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) – the bill replaces the 60-month lifetime limit with 36 months
• Lowers the exit level from 115% FPG to 100% FPG (the FPG for a family of four is approximately $22,000)
• Disqualifies a person convicted of a drug offense within the last ten years from receiving assistance
• Requires applicants to pay for a criminal background check to determine if they have been convicted of a drug offense (if the applicant is found to be eligible, they will be reimbursed for the background check)
• Decreases the number of sanctions, from seven to three, that lead to a family losing MFIP assistance

The consequences of these proposals:

• Increase the growing number of homeless and hungry children in Minnesota.
• Increase government spending while removing support to Minnesota families most in need.
• Disproportionately harm communities of color due to disparities in the criminal justice system.
• Increase risk for women and children in domestic violence situations.
• Destabilize families.
• Use scarce human services dollars to criminalize families in poverty.
• Introduce unconstitutional practices that will violate civil rights and civil liberties and may invite litigation against the State of Minnesota.
• Reduce the likelihood people will seek much needed assistance for themselves and their families and rely.

The Message:  Invest in our communities with funding for housing in the 2012 Bonding Bill. This bill will place important investments in affordable housing. These investments will stabilize the housing market, create jobs and provide families with access to healthy and affordable homes, which all help to boost our state’s economy.

Talking Points:

• Affordable Housing for people with lower incomes was a need prior to the recession. We continue to need housing stock in our community that is affordable. Funding in the bonding bill will begin to address the gaps in the community.
• Research has shown that housing stability lowers costs of health care and improves education of children. Housing is important for the future of our community!
• Housing construction and rehabilitation funding will provide needed jobs for Minnesotans.   
• With vacancy rates low and apartment rents high, families, youth and individuals in our community need affordable housing options to end their homelessness! 

Whom to Contact:

Contact your Legislators asking them to support Funding for Housing in the Bonding Bill. To find your legislator, go to http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

Please contact the Bill Authors to say Thank you! See contact information of Bill Authors below.

House authors are: Representatives Howes (R-Walker); Hausman (DFL – St. Paul); McFarlane (R – White Bear Lake); Hansen (DFL – South St. Paul);Clark (DFL – Minneapolis); Ward (DFL – Brainerd) and our Senate authors are: Senators Pederson (R – St. Cloud); Hayden (DFL – Minneapolis); Tomassoni (DFL – Chisholm) ; Brown (R-Becker); Miller (R-Winona).

Let us know who you contacted after you call these legislators! Please take one minute and take this one question survey so we are able to track who was contacted.   http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NWQL9PG

Background:

With our housing advocate partners, we are making progress at the State Capitol to ensure that funding for affordable housing is in the bonding bill! Along with our advocacy that housing funding is important and needed; housing advocates are working with Legislators to determine the funding amount to include in the bonding bill.

We are pleased to report that a stand-alone housing bonding bill for $40 million for affordable housing was introduced in the State Legislature this week. Right now, housing resources are included in the Governor’s bonding proposal. The bill, SF2073/HF2485 increases the likelihood that housing is included in the Legislature’s bonding bill. Having affordable housing resources in both the Governor and State Legislature’s bonding proposal gives us a better chance that our request will be in the final package. Also, a stand-alone bill will allow advocates to rally for a housing-specific bonding ask.