Stations of the Cross as Prayer Practice in the Public Sphere
Simon Bears the Cross, Jerusalem. Photo by Rev. Erin Jones. Every Lent Christians around the world engage in devotional activities that deepen their faith and understanding of the gift of the Cross and the call to follow Jesus as disciples. One such devotional practice that has captured the
LAMPa Releases 2025-2027 Policy Agenda
The PA General Assembly runs on a biennial basis. LAMPa's Policy Council sets a policy agenda before each session begins and revises as necessary midway through the term. Below are the policy priorities and issue areas LAMPa will be focused on in as we begin this session. Other priorities
Gov. Shapiro’s Proposed Budget Supports Investments in Hunger, Housing, Education
Gov. Josh Shapiro this week proposed a $51.5 billion spending plan that includes increases in several LAMPa priority areas, including hunger, housing, education equity and violence prevention, while calling for an increased minimum wage and proposing changes intended to spur energy production. The budget proposal would tap about $4.5 billion
Kindling Faith Holds Election-Year Series on ELCA Social Teachings
Consider joining our partners at Kindling Faith as they--and we--engage with the question "What does it mean to be Lutheran in a crucial election year?" The series will focus on ELCA social teachings and how we might learn and engage in with one another around social issues in this election
PA Advocates Can Celebrate National School Breakfast Week With a Win and a Challenge
LAMPa hunger advocates and students can celebrate National School Breakfast Week (March 4-8) with a win and a challenge this year. In December, universal free school breakfast, which had been implemented during the pandemic, was made permanent with enactment in the Pennsylvania School Code. For years, LAMPa has been
Off to College? Remember to Register to Vote!
Do you know a student heading to college this fall? Freshman year is a time of big transitions, and voting may be one of them. Some students may be voting for the first time, or faced with the choice of transferring their registration or applying for an absentee or
A Call to Act as Church Begins 2023 Season of Creation: Let Justice and Peace Flow
The Prophet Isaiah proclaims: “Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43: 19). The Season of Creation is an international,
ELCA Advocacy Cafes Bring Conversation, Education, to Election Season
Our Christian faith compels us to attend to the world through the lens of our relationship to God and to one another. Sometimes, we may echo the sentiment: The world’s so big and I’m so small. Yet there is much we can do act for greater justice, and we are
Housing, Education and Creation Care Get Boost in State Budget
The 2022-23 Pennsylvania budget includes significant gains for education, housing and creation care, but only a modest increase for anti-hunger programs. A $1.8 billion increase in education funding makes strides toward decreasing the funding gap in what has been one of the least equitable school funding systems in the country.
New Report Shows Impact of School Nutrition Waivers, Calls for Extension
Student participation in school breakfast and lunch dropped dramatically across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, and child hunger would have spiked even more dramatically without waivers that allowed schools and community organizations to creatively adapt to keep feeding programs going, according to a new report by the Food Research &
