There will be two workshop sessions the morning of Lutheran Day. See below for the many options that will be available for you to choose from to inform your learning and advocacy! We’ll send a way for you to name your preferences once you register!
We will be hosting webinars on our main topics of creation care and hunger before May 9 as an additional way to make sure you are well-informed for legislative visits.
Almost every ELCA congregation in Pennsylvania is engaged in some form of hunger ministry, and LAMPa partners with ELCA World Hunger in working for a just world, where all are fed. In this workshop, you will learn about priorities for advancing that goal in Pennsylvania and be prepared for effective advocacy on the state budget and beyond. Bring your faith to the table, along with stories from our hunger ministries to share with policymakers.
As a major energy producer and a serious source of greenhouse gas emissions, Pennsylvania is a big contributor to the climate crisis. That means what we do as Pennsylvanians has an incredible impact on all who share our common home – now and for generations to come. Our youth and young adults consistently name climate change as a call for the church to act with urgency. In this workshop, hear from Christine Moffett, ELCA Program Director for Environment and Energy Policy, about why and how the church is responding to the climate crisis. Learn how a changing climate is affecting our global companions and how we can act as church together in Pennsylvania for the sake of the world God loves.
In this workshop, led by Flora Cardoni, Field Director at PennEnvironment, you will learn about climate and clean energy legislation being considered in Harrisburg as well as strategies for how we can help move them forward together toward a just and livable future for all Pennsylvanians. What do you want your policymakers to do now in response to our duty to act as good stewards and good neighbors? What do our future children want us to say today?
Presenter: Winnie Okello
For centuries, Pennsylvanians have seen our failure to steward God’s good creation result in environmental degradation and the disproportionate harm to marginalized communities across the Commonwealth. Lutheran Disaster Response has accompanied many of those communities with relief, recovery, and rebuilding. Housed within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Pennsylvania Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) seeks “to engage, educate and empower” those most affected to raise their voices in the policymaking process and confront existing disparities (Office of Environmental Justice (pa.gov)). In this workshop, Winnie Okello, P.E., Statewide Strategic Coordinator for the OEJ, will talk about the office’s vision, explain what the newly strengthened office does, and discuss how we can work together, using new resources such as the PennEnviroScreen tool and eMap to heal, protect and restore communities affected by environmental injustice.
Presenter: Jen Thomas
A growing number of our congregations in every part of the state – rural, urban, and in- between – are serving neighbors facing homelessness or housing insecurity – from opening as extreme weather shelters to living as the church “without walls.” We know firsthand that Pennsylvania is not exempt from the national housing crisis, and therefore we are called to walk with our neighbors to find robust solutions.
Join us as we explore key housing policy priorities for 2024 and what to expect from legislators and staff during meetings. We will review the state budget process and examine how the different parties perceive the Commonwealth’s current financial position. Finally, we will review practical strategies and methods to effectively persuade lawmakers and ensure our neighbors’ concerns resonate deeply with them.
Presenter: Adam Garber
Since the ELCA called for an end to gun violence in 1994, the crisis has gotten, unfortunately worse. Places of worship and schools have been attacked. Communities across Pennsylvania are experiencing deadly shootings that traumatize communities.And suicides have climbed in rural communities, with the Poconos and coal country having some of the highest gun death rates in PA.
It’s easy to get lost in the news stories and suffering, but we’re making progress. New initiatives to secure firearms and expand background checks have recently advanced in PA. Investments in violence prevention have saved hundreds of lives in cities from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Join CeaseFirePA’s Executive Director to learn about recent efforts to save lives and how the Lutheran community’s moral voice can help save lives.
The ELCA has a long-standing commitment to making sure our immigrant neighbors are treated with justice and dignity. The right to mobility, to move freely, is inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Many other fundamental needs — to work, to education, and to human dignity — are only accessible via valid identification and adequate transportation. In 2002, PA changed its driver’s license policy to deny that right to undocumented immigrants.
Join our coalition partners, Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania (MILPA) and Driving PA Forward, to learn about the movement to ensure Driver’s Licenses for All, regardless of immigration status, so that all our neighbors can live, move, and work freely.
Data from 2023 shows that nearly 3 in 5 Pennsylvanians struggled to get needed healthcare because of cost. Many delay or forego care altogether. When folks do get care, more and more are ending up with debt (33%) and many have bills in collections (24%). These costs disproportionately impact rural communities and Black and Brown communities alike. However, Pennsylvania Republicans and Democrats are positioned to be able to work together to solve some of these challenges. Learn from experts at the Pennsylvania Health Access Network about efforts to reduce the costs of prescription drugs and hospital-based care – the two most expensive cost drivers – and how Pennsylvania can increase access to care in rural communities as well as stop medical debt from starting in the first place. Additionally, we will discuss opportunities to connect communities of faith and their members into these bipartisan campaigns to create more just and equitable healthcare access for all.
As Christians, we believe every human being is created in God’s image. LAMPa supports legislation to further human dignity and expand civil rights protections from discrimination. In this workshop, Ryan Matthews and Drew Medvid of the Human Rights Campaign — Pennsylvania will review the status of pending non-discrimination legislation as well as emerging threats to LGBTQ+ rights in the Commonwealth and share opportunities to advance protections for the community at the state and local level.
The FBI’s most recent report on hate crimes revealed not only a decade high in the number of crimes committed, but that offenses were more violent than in previous years. The PA Human Relations Commission reported in 2023 that hate crimes in Pennsylvania doubled from 2019 to 2020, and that in 2021 the Commonwealth had “the highest incidents of white supremacist propaganda distribution of any state in the country.” With incidents of both antisemitism and Islamophobia on the rise, legislation that invests in prevention, holds offenders of violent hate crimes responsible, and gives victims and their loved ones increased is more crucial than ever. Learn more about this bipartisan legislation supported by the PA Coalition Against Hate and how you can help make it law.
