Patricia Hartig, director of advocacy and public support, will be a guest at the White House on Friday, October 28 as part of a day‐long event with other leaders from Lutheran health and human service organizations across the country. Lutheran Services in America, which helped organize the event, expects more than 160 participants from almost 30 states and over 50 different Lutheran organizations. The leaders are coming to Washington to meet with Obama Administration officials; attend issue‐specific sessions with policy makers; and discuss questions, concerns, and recommendations about social service provision. Participants also will participate in a White House tour. Hartig says she hopes to learn more about the Obama Administration’s priorities and raise key issues facing Lutheran Social Services and the communities it supports.

A part of the ad signed by LSA, view the full ad here.

Lutheran Services in America, an umbrella organization of more than 300 Lutheran social ministries that includes Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, joined 178 other organizations in signing a two-page ad that ran on July 14 in Roll Call, a political newspaper read by many in Congress and their staffs. The ad highlights the need to retain funding in Medicaid for the nation’s most vulnerable older adults and people with disabilities. The ad says more than a quarter of all seniors and people with disabilities depend on Medicaid, and cutting the program could deny millions the choice to receive the services they need to live independently in their homes and communities. In addition, these cuts could cost thousands of direct-care jobs, putting a greater burden on individuals and families. To read the National Council on Aging’s press release about the ad, click here. To see the ad itself, click here.

Today, June 20, is World Refugee Day. Refugees are people who have been forced to leave their homelands because of war or persecution; they arrive in the United States with very little. Please contact your U.S. Congressman and ask him or her to join Senator Carl Levin in co-sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act of 2011. Take action here: http://capwiz.com/lssm/issues/alert/?alertid=50730691.

The bishops of the ELCA's two Lower Michigan synods, the Rev. Stephen Marsh and the Rev. John Schleicher, present tips on how to talk to your elected officials and ask for their support on important public policy issues. See it here.