February 26, 2021
On January 13th Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller announced the selection of a vendor (Aunt Bertha) for Resource Information and Services Enterprise – or RISE PA – an upcoming statewide resource and referral tool. RISE PA is a “collaborative effort between multiple state agencies, counties, and local non-profits and community organizations, health...
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February 22, 2021
From the National Low Income Housing Association: The U.S. Department of the Treasury released on February 22nd, 2021 a new FAQ to help states and communities quickly distribute more than $25 billion in emergency rental assistance to renters in need. The revised FAQ directly addresses the significant flaws in the guidance issued by the previous administration and includes many...
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February 8, 2021
On Friday, Feb. 5, Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law SB109, now known as Act 1, directing more than $900 million in federal pandemic aid to struggling businesses, private schools, landlords and tenants unable to meet rent or utility bills because of economic downturn related to the failure to stop the spread of the disease. Thank you...
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February 8, 2021
Gov. Wolf continued to place education at the forefront of his agenda with a his 2021 budget proposal in an effort to close the gaps in one of the least equitable school funding systems in the country, increase affordability of college education and job training. The budget, outlined in an address on Feb. 3, would...
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February 4, 2021
On March 31, 2021 the utility shutoff moratorium protecting vulnerable Pennsylvanians from service termination will expire. With moratoria in place since the beginning of the pandemic, customers had been protected from losing their utility services. With many if not more Pennsylvanians still suffering from the economic downturn, the prospect of an unrenewed moratorium is daunting. When the initial moratorium began in March 2020,...
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January 22, 2021
Posted on January 22, 2021 by ELCA Advocacy “With the start of the 117th Congress and a new administration, and as the devastating COVID-19 pandemic influences our lives and shapes our concerns, we face pressing need for national policy action. Yet even with changes, as Christians in the world our engagement is consistently shaped by...
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January 7, 2021
The latest COVID-19 Relief Bill was signed into law on December 27, 2020. The $900 billion COVID-relief package includes housing provisions such as $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and an extension of the CDC’s federal eviction moratorium through January 31st. The relief bill will provide essential and desperately needed protections for renters, tens of...
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December 18, 2020
Join LAMPa United Lutheran Seminary (ULS) Intern Margaret (Meg) Folkemer for a weekly Compline Service. Since early pandemic days, Meg has been leading a compline or night prayer service every Wednesday evening live on Facebook with her family. According to Meg, “we started it as a simple way to provide connection with one another and...
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December 15, 2020
The room was spare and dimly lit. We sat on folding chairs in a circle—young Honduran women and some of us from the ELCA. We had come to Honduras to observe the work of AMMPARO (Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities). This is the ELCA’s strategy to help youth who have been...
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December 4, 2020
“God heard the cry of a homeless people and delivered them out of oppression in Egypt. Jesus, “who [had] nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58), ministered with compassion to the poor and vulnerable. In practicing hospitality, we are promised to encounter the living Lord: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). ...
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