Rev Sally Bingham Relates Her Journey into Faith Based Environmental Advocacy

7:07 AM in advocacy, Aqua, based, bingham, environmental, faith, her, into, journey, relates, rev, sally

Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, an Episcopal priest who founded Interfaith Power & Light, relates the story of how she became involved in the environmental movement and how IPF was founded in San Francisco. There are 40 state organizations that belong to IPL, including New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light. Rev. Bingham spoke at NMIPLs annual Fall Gathering on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 in Albuquerque. This video shows only 10 minutes of her full address. (Watch for a separate post about the fall gathering later this week).

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Sen Jerry Ortiz y Pino to Keynote Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Conference on November 7

1:09 AM in 7, advocacy, Aqua, conference, jerry, keynote, lutheran, ministry, november, on, ortiz, pino, sen, to, y

Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino

The  Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico invites you to its annual Advocacy Conference on  Saturday, November 7, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, 211 Jefferson NE (map). The cost is $15 per person, including lunch.

State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino, a member of the New Mexico Senate since 2005, will be the keynote speaker during lunch. He is currently Chair of the Senate Public Affairs Committee and Chair of the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee.

Breakout session topics  include advocacy basics, hunger, predatory lending, solitary confinement and more.

 Registration Information
To register, send a check for $15 to Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-NM, 1701 Arroyo Chamiso, Santa Fe, NM, 87505. Include your name, address, phone number and email address.  

Or you can email the information to info@lutheranadvocacynm.org or call 505-984-8005 and pay at the door. Please register by Nov. 3.

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Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces Receives Advocacy Award

3:47 PM in advocacy, Aqua, award, church, cruces, in, las, lutheran, peace, receives

Peace Lutheran Church was presented the Haaland Award for Advocacy at the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-NM,... https://t.co/WRdRjIpf3a

— PeaceLutheranLC (@plc_lc) February 6, 2016

Picture (left to right): Rev. Ron Brooker (retired pastor, member of Peace Lutheran Church, and member of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-NM policy committee), the Rev. Jared Carson (pastor of Peace Lutheran Church), Ellen Young (writer, member of Peace, and an advocate active in LAM-NM and Bread for the World). 

Display at Peace Lutheran

Judy Messal, chair of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexicos policy committee (standing at the far right in the picture), offered these remarks at the ceremony where members of Peace Lutheran Church were honored for their advocacy work.  The award presentation was part of LAM-NMs annual bishops luncheon in Santa Fe on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016.  (Peace Lutheran Church as been participating in Bread for the Worlds Offering of Letters.

(In 2016, members of the church wrote 87 letters to Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Rep. Steve Pearce urging for the Child Nutrition Act to be reauthorized).

It is my great pleasure to speak about Peace Lutheran Church of Las Cruces: this years recipient of the Chris and John Haaland Advocacy Award. The award was created to honor the Haalands, whose  passion for justice was instrumental in establishing our Lutheran Advocacy Ministry here in New Mexico.

Past recipients of the award have been the following:
• Ivan Westergaard, supporter of Lutheran advocacy, leader in Albuquerque Interfaith
• And Carlos Navarro, New Mexico Coordinator for Bread for the World.

Now, Peace Lutheran Church, we recognize the steadfast advocacy work you have done. Since the first year of Lutheran advocacy in New Mexico 1984, you have been involved—both your clergy and the people of your congregation have supported us. 

Members of Peace had been leaders in our statewide ministry. Throughout our 32 years, there has always been a member of Peace on our Policy Committee.  But you didn’t stop there. You have an active, even a model, Bread for the World ministry advocating just policies to alleviate hunger in the United States and abroad.

Your members also have been active advocates in your community on matters affecting homeless children, immigrants, and others.

I also want to mention the Border Service Corps, a program your congregation-- relatively small at the time--had the courage to establish in the 1990s. The program provides opportunities for young people of various faith backgrounds-- from the U.S. and even abroad--to serve people on the U.S./Mexico border. Living simply together, earning only small stipends, they work in daycare programs for homeless children, in health clinics and ACLU offices, in Catholic Charities legal services, in food pantries, in Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and more.

And finally, as advocates, they work toward systemic change.

In all these ways, Peace Lutheran Church, your faithful advocacy inspires us.

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State Legislative Update from the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry

1:46 AM in advocacy, Aqua, from, legislative, lutheran, ministry, state, the, update

The following update from the 2016 session of the New Mexico State Legislature comes from Ruth Hoffman, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico.

Summary of the major bills relating to the LAM-NM Advocacy Agenda 

(Bills LAM-NM supports are "green" & bills we oppose are "red") 

The estimates of state revenue are dismal! 
This means that the state budget for the next fiscal year will be very lean and the budget for the current fiscal year is underfunded. It is crucial that the state budget not be balanced by making deep cuts in the programs that impact the lives of our many neighbors living in poverty. HB2, the state budget bill, has passed the House and is now in the Senate Finance Committee. 

Affordable Housing & Homelessness: 
SB63 (Sen. Nancy Rodriguez) Requests an appropriation of $5 million for the State Housing Trust Fund which provides funding to build affordable housing projects around the state. SB63 is in the Senate Finance Committee.

SB202 (Sen. Bill ONeill) Adds "homelessness" as a protected group in the NM Hate Crimes Act. SB202 was tabled in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB59 & HB88 (Rep. Tomas Salazar) Request a total of $4.5 million for transitional/permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing and other services. No new funding for these programs is included in the current version of HB2, the state budget bill.

Family-Sustaining Income
LAM-NM is supporting increasing the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families monthly cash assistance amount.

No increase is included in the current version of HB2, the state budget bill.

SJR2 (Sen. Michael Padilla)
This constitutional amendment would allow an increase in the distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund to fund quality early childhood programs. SJR2 passed the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.

HJR11 (Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero)
This constitutional amendment would have asked voters to approve putting a cap of 36% on loans in our state. HJR11 was tabled in the House Business & Employment Committee.

Health Care
LAM-NM is advocating for adequate funding for the state Medicaid program. The current version of the HB2, the state budget bill, includes about a $40 million cut to the Medicaid program.

HB191 (Rep. Dennis Roch & Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto) and SB217 (Sen. Benny Shendo & Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage) Would create the profession of dental therapist. These bills have not been ruled germane for consideration in this session.

Hunger
SB52 (Sen. Nancy Rodriguez) Requests $400,000 for the State SNAP Supplement Program which serves over 11,000 seniors and people with disabilities by increasing their basic SNAP amount to at least $25. We are advocating for funding to increase the minimum amount to $30 per month. SB52 is in the Senate Finance Committee. Funding to increase the monthly minimum amount to $28 is included in the current version of HB2, the state budget bill.

Tax Policy
HB79 (Rep. Bill McCamley) Would increase the state Working Families Tax Credit from 10% to 20% of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and to repeal the capital gains tax deduction. HB79 passed the House Business & Employment Committee without recommendation and was tabled in the House Ways & Means Committee.

Immigration
HB99, as amended ( Rep. Paul Pacheco) HB99 passed the House and was amended in the Senate Public Affairs Committee to reflect the provisions in SB256 (Sens. John Arthur Smith & Stuart Ingle). HB99, as amended, passed that committee by a vote of 8-1 and then passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. The amendments provide for a 2 tier license system. Residents can choose to get a REAL ID drivers license if they need one or choose to get a drivers privilege card. Drivers privilege cards would be available to both legal residents and undocumented residents. HB99 is now in the Senate Finance Committee.

Criminal Justice
SB140 (Sen. Mary Kay Papen) Would prohibit solitary confinement for juveniles and people with a serious mental illness and would require prisons, jails and detention centers to report information about who is held in solitary confinement. SB140 has not been ruled germane for consideration in this session.

SJR1 (Sen. Peter Wirth & Sen. Sander Rue) This is a constitutional amendment for bail reform. SJR1 would allow judges to deny bail for dangerous arrestees and also prohibit keep arrestees who are not deemed dangerous from being held in jail only because they cant afford bail. SJR1 passed the Senate Floor by a vote of 29-9, has passed the House Judiciary Committee and is how in the House Regulatory & Public Affairs Committee.

LAM-NM will advocating on legislation relating to our 2016 Advocacy Agenda. We work in an advocacy partnership with the NM Conference of Churches and the Presbytery of Santa Fe.

Watch for LAM-NM Advocacy Updates and Action Alerts! Forward our Updates to others that might be interested in these issues using the link at the end of this email.

Thank you for your advocacy actions!

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Bread for the World Advocacy Outcomes for 2014

5:43 AM in 2014, advocacy, Aqua, bread, for, outcomes, the, world

Members of Congress rely on their constituents to keep them informed of issues and concerns in their districts. By writing your members of Congress, you’ve made yourself a valuable source of information. Congressional aides figure you represent others, so your voice becomes amplified. Writing letters gives you voice and power. Taking the time to write tells your members of Congress that you’re serious and that they’re accountable to you.  Exerpt from "Why Write to Congress", in Bread for the Worlds Take Action page.

Have you ever wondered what impact those letters to Congress, those meetings with congressional aides, those phone calls to Washington and the district office, those tweets, those letters to the editor are having?

The communications staff at Bread for the World put together these illustrations to show the progress against hunger since 1990 and the outcome of the advocacy efforts of grassroots members and staff during 2014 (illustrated in the five graphics below)

Remember those letters you wrote in 2014 urging Congress to reform food-aid programs? Legislators approved a set of reforms, and as a result, 1.5 million more people around the world have been fed.

These results, of course, did not occur in a vacuum. Bread for the World works in a number of coalitions (like the Modernizing Foreign Asissistance Network), and many other organizations and their members contributed to the outcome of the legislative initiatives.

This year, Bread for the World members (in partnership with other nutrition advocates) urged Congress to reauthorize child nutrition programs in our country, through our Feed Our Children campaign. In New Mexico, members of 18 congregations wrote more than 2,000 letters to Congress around this issue. Stay tuned for legislative updates.

Here are the graphics for the advocacy outcomes for 2014.

Food Aid Reform:

Circle of Protection:

Poverty-Focused Development Assistance

Immigration Reform

New USAID Strategy 

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