LAMA Advocacy Update: September 2022

Arizona Hunger Policy Retreat participants

Arizona Anti-Hunger Alliance. LAMA, together with its Arizona Hunger Policy Workgroup partners including Bread for the World, World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task-Force (WHEAT), Arizona Food Bank Network and Arizona Food Systems Network and Arizona Faith Network, hosted Arizona’s first statewide gathering of hunger advocates. More than 50 gathered to discuss shared values and goals, and set in motion the new Arizona Anti-Hunger Alliance (AzAHA) an organization for combined messaging, 2023 policy proposals, education, training, and organizing, cultivating and activating advocates.

Becoming Conference. LAMA joined the Lutheran and interfaith State Public Policy Offices (SPPO) and staff of the Witness in Society team from the Washington, D.C. office at the Becoming Conference in Chicago on Wednesday, August 24 - 28. The group discussed Civic Engagement, Christian Nationalism, Abortion, the Inflation Reduction Act, Hunger, Housing, Climate and the Farm Bill, along with a variety of housekeeping issues.

LAMA Summit. LAMA’s third annual Advocacy Summit on Saturday, November 5, 2022 will feature a keynote address by the Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. Participants will meet and engage with congregational LAMA liaisons, the LAMA policy council, and other Lutherans and friends across Arizona who share a common belief that we are called through our baptismal covenant “…to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” Register here.

LAMA Liaison Roundtable. As the election season in Arizona and across the country heats up, LAMA is activating a monthly Roundtable to strategize about civic engagement, and advocacy engagement in general, at the congregational level.

Read updates from other ELCA State Public Policy Offices (SPPO)