As legislators discuss funding levels in the FY2022 federal budget later this Spring, it is a critical time to highlight the housing and homeless needs in our communities. In a time when those of us struggling with housing insecurity need help the most, let’s insist that Congress meets our annual housing needs in the federal budget.

Summer 2020 marked the hottest summer on record for Arizona. Maricopa County experienced 53 days of temperatures above 110 degrees or higher and 145 days of 100 degrees or higher. The month of August 2020 marked the hottest month ever recorded in Maricopa County.

As the hand count of the more than 2 million ballots cast in Maricopa County continues, many questions have been raised about who is involved, who is paying for it, how the Senate plans to keep ballots and voter information secure and who is allowed to observe in person.

Thursday, April 22 at the Leaders Climate Summit, President Biden announced the US is setting a goal of 50-52% emissions reduction by 2030 below 2005 levels.

Join Interfaith Immigration Coalition in urging the Biden administration and Congressional leaders to include a pathway to citizenship in any and all upcoming recovery packages.

To close the COVID vaccination gap, VIP is partnering with Maricopa County Public Health Department and St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church to offer a vaccine clinic at their parish. Advocates will be walking in the 85031 Maryvale neighborhood to spread the word about vaccines and their local vaccination clinic.

Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes the Advocates’ Guide to Housing and Community Development Policyto educate advocates of all kinds about the programs and policies that make housing affordable to low-income people across America. 

In Arizona, lawmakers are … launching what is the most extensive endeavor around the country to look backward and scrutinize the official November results, in which Biden won the state by 10,457 votes.

Unlike SNAP, WIC has a smaller budget, and less of a spotlight. Now, Congress and the USDA are working to address food insecurity in families head-on by investing in and modernizing the program.

Wednesday, April 14 is National Call-In Day to urge Congress to include in the American Jobs Plan a major expansion of rental assistance; $70 billion to repair public housing; and an investment of $40 billion in the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve affordable housing.

​On March 9, 2021, in response to the impending trial of Derek Chauvin, the Healing Our City Virtual Prayer Tent was launched. The daily prayer tent is expansive and inclusive, including people of all faiths, denominations, races, and orientations.

The House has passed the bipartisan Equality Act (H.R. 5), a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes alongside race, gender, religion, national origin, age, and disability. Now we need to urge the Senate to introduce and pass an amended version of this legislation too.

President Biden’s Covid-19 relief package is poised to bring a historic reduction in poverty rates, with nonmetro counties among the biggest beneficiaries.

LAMA and Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest are teaming up on behalf of refugees to support H.R.2237 aka The GRACE Act. Join the appeal by participating in the ACT ON GRACE campaign.

The Children’s Defense Fund just released the latest version of their annual State of America’s Children report. The report compiles the latest data on a wide range of issues impacting children and highlights the ways in which COVID-19 has exacerbated these concerns.

An increase in unaccompanied children and asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico has given rise to claims of a crisis. Individuals, families and children seeking protection are no crisis — the crisis is the circumstances they are fleeing and the moral challenge of safe welcome.

“If you want to get serious about racism as white folks, your theme should not be ‘Who is my neighbor?’ but ‘Who am I?”’

The ELCA social message on Human Rights affirms: In the name of the God who creates every human being out of love, this church teaches human dignity is God’s gift to every person and that the commitment to universal rights protects that dignity.