LutheranAdvocacy.org - Home

Sign up with Lutheran Advocacy--Illinois

Here We Stand: Lutheran Day 2007
Lutheran Day 2007 participants at the State Capitol. On April 25, approximately 200 Lutherans from across Illinois gathered in Springfield at the State Capitol for Here We Stand: Lutheran Day 2007. The focus of the day was learning about the state of the human care system in Illinois and asking lawmakers for bigger investments in the public-private safety net for people in need in the coming year’s budget. Co-sponsored by Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) and Lutheran Advocacy-Illinois along with seven other Lutheran social ministry organizations, Lutheran Day 2007 was a combination social justice rally, grassroots lobbying day and prayer vigil. Later in the afternoon a reception was held at the Executive Mansion for the presentation of the third annual Paul Simon Courage in Public Service Award to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Hartzler and former Congressman Lane Evans.

An over-arching theme for Lutheran Day 2007 was a call for strengthening all three “pillars” of the human care system: education, healthcare and human services. Says Pr. Dan Schwick, director of utheran Advocacy-Illinois, “Amidst significant attention being paid by Governor Blagojevich and members of the General Assembly to education and healthcare, Lutheran Day participants conveyed the message that all three pillars need to be strengthened.” For information, visit LutheranDay.org or call Dan Schwick at 847/635-4618.

LSA Public Policy Advocacy Update
Although the public policy agenda for Lutheran Advocacy—Illinois is primarily focused on state issues, we are also called upon from time to time to address similar issues on the federal level. We do this most often in association with the Washington DC Office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) or the Public Policy Advocacy Committee of Lutheran Services in America (LSA) an umbrella organization encompassing hundreds of social ministry organizations related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and/or the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). Daniel Schwick, Assistant to the President of LSSI, serves on the LSA Public Policy Advocacy Committee. To view the current LSA Public Policy Advocacy update, click here.

Lutheran Day 2006
On March 30, 2006, close to 200 Lutherans from all over Illinois gathered in and around the state capitol in Springfield to participate in Lutheran Day 2006. The day included theological reflections, issues briefings, advocacy training, face-to-face grassroots advocacy with state legislators, a prayer service in the Statehouse Rotunda and dinner at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. At the dinner, the second annual Paul Simon Courage in Public Service Award was given awarded to former Illinois Governor James Thompson in recognition of his recent service on the National 911 Commission (the award was received by State Senator Kirk Dillard on behalf of Governor Thompson who was not able to be present.

To view a PowerPoint slide show from Lutheran Day 2006 in Springfield, click here.

What is Advocacy
Advocacy means taking a stand. It involves studying an issue or a problem and trying to decide what should be done about it. Advocacy also means speaking for--or preferably with--a person or group that might otherwise have a difficult time being heard.

Lutheran Bishops Speak Out
ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson was joined by all 65 ELCA Synod bishops in urging Congress to consider "real reconciliation" instead of the political process called budget reconciliation.

The ELCA bishops' letter was sent to all members of Congress. The ELCA also took out a full-page add in the "Roll Call," a Capitol Hill newspaper. The ad featured the bishops' letter.

Click here to download the bishop's letter.

DATA SHOW THAT POOR FAMILIES PAY MORE FOR CONSUMER GOODS

A new report from The Brookings Institution shows just how expensive it is to be poor in America. The report, From Poverty, Opportunity: Putting the Market to Work for Lower Income Families, details the ways in which lower income families tend to pay more for the exact same consumer goods as do families with higher incomes. The report concludes:

Lower income families tend to pay higher than average prices for a wide array of basic household necessities - often for the exact same items - than higher income households. These basic necessities include financial services, car prices, car loans, car insurance, home loans, home insurance, furniture/appliances/electronics, and groceries.

A combination of real and perceived market risks, market abuses, and uneven consumer access to market information contribute to these additional costs incurred by lower income consumers.

Various factors help to drive up the costs for lower income consumers, including companies' real and perceived higher costs of doing business with lower income households, the dense concentration of businesses that sell high-priced goods in low income neighborhoods, business practice abuses, and lower income consumers' lack of access to good information. This access barrier can result from the fact that lower income consumers are less likely to compare prices, have internet access, have financial knowledge and are more likely to encounter language and cultural barriers.

Public and private leaders can reduce the cost of living for lower income consumers by reducing both real and perceived market risks in doing business with such consumers, curbing market abuses that inflate prices, and investing in making lower income consumers the savviest shoppers in the marketplace.

The Brookings report find that educing the cost of living for lower income households by just one percent would result in over $6.5 billion in new spending power for these families.

The findings from this report were gathered from both national data sources and data from 12 selected metropolitan areas, one of which is Chicago. Click here to read a one page fact sheet on the findings from Chicago.

Click here to read an article from the New York Times covering the report's findings.

Site Stats By: Opentracker