May 11, 2012
Public Theologians Advocate on Behalf of General Assistance
By LAMPa Seminarian Dustin Wright
Wow, I’m blogging from the start of Lutheran Day at the Capitol and it’s really exciting to see so many Lutherans from throughout Pennsylvania living out their baptismal call to do justice! In addition to working on issues such as combating a pay-day lending bill, protecting Pennsylvanians from a proposed food-stamp asset test and strengthening the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, another major issue we’re working on today is protection of PA’s General Assistance Program.
The General Assistance program supports the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians who have no other income. It is truly a program of last resort that is in danger of being cut from this year’s PA state budget. The only people who can receive GA funds are:
- Disabled or sick adults without children,
- Domestic violence survivors, many of whom have just fled their abusers,
- Adults caring for someone who is sick or disabled, or for an unrelated child,
- Adults participating in alcohol and other drug treatment programs, and
- Children living with an unrelated adult.
We’re trying something new with this particular advocacy issue by recording advocacy videos, putting them up on YouTube, and tweeting them to @GovernorCorbett and other legislators. You can watch these videos here – and even tweet links to them if you’re a twitter user. If you’re interested in helping out, record a video, posted it to YouTube (LAMPa can help with that if needed) and tweet it to @GovernorCorbett. Be sure to use the #GeneralAssistance hashtag and let LAMPa know about your video by tweeting us @LAMPaADVOCACY. Thanks so much friends!
For additional information on General Assistance you can read LAMPa’s GA Issue Brief
