FW: Call for McKinney Meetings
Christine Johansen
From: Amanda Krusemark [mailto:AKrus...@NAEH.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 9:17 AM
To: Amanda Krusemark
Cc: Catherine Seif
Subject: Call for McKinney Meetings
Hi McKinney Campaign Advocates,
I hope you’re all doing well. This week, Congress is expected to pass a temporary FY 2011 stopgap funding measure, which will fund the government for 3 more weeks, through Friday, April 8. Members of Congress have expressed a LOT of interest in reaching a final deal before April 8, so that they can finally finish FY 2011 appropriations. So, what happens now?
○ Right now, House, Senate, and White House negotiators are trying to work out a compromise on a “top-line” number related to the overall spending level for all federal discretionary programs.
○ Reps. Moore and Green have decided to continue circulating their House McKinney sign-on letter a bit longer, since no agreement has been reached yet.
à Please let your Representatives know they still have time to join. Remember, they can contact Andrew Stevens in Rep. Moore’s office at Andrew....@mail.house.gov to join.
○ Once they can reach an agreement, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will work together to fill in the program-specific details – including the McKinney funding level.
We really want to thank everyone for all of your GREAT work over the last couple of days on the House sign-on letter. At last count, we’re up to more than 20 Representatives who have signed on, and several more have said they are likely to join. Keep up the great work!
So, that’s what’s happening in Congress. But what about among advocates? Across the nation, social services advocacy groups are encouraging people to meet with their Members of Congress next week, when they will be home for a congressional recess, to discuss the value of key social services programs. Let’s make sure homelessness isn’t forgotten as part of this effort! Please try to schedule local meetings for NEXT WEEK with your Members of Congress (or a district staff person who handles housing issues, if the Member isn’t available).
1. Use the attached sample meeting request form to contact your Senators’ and Representatives’ district offices to request a meeting next week. If you’re not sure who to direct the request to, just let me know.
2. Prepare for the meeting using the attached sample meeting agenda and talking points. I can also help you strategize about tailoring the message to your individual Member(s). Explain the importance of providing an INCREASE to the McKinney-Vento program in FY 2011.
3. Let us know which office(s) you contacted, and what kind of response you get.
Key Messages: Why Level Funding Isn’t Good Enough
○ Because of their high cost, renewals would basically swallow up ALL of the McKinney-Vento funds if the program receives flat funding. This basically means NO progress toward implementing HEARTH through new CoC projects or the continuation of HPRP through HEARTH, and NO help to deal with the effects of the recession.
○ These programs work. We’ve seen McKinney-Vento programs contribute to strong national and local declines in recent years. We need to continue this progress.
○ Flat funding would put a dead stop to our strong momentum from the last several years under multiple Administrations and multiple Congresses of actually SOLVING homelessness.
○ With a funding level of $2.2 billion, we could make significant progress toward implementing HEARTH and addressing the effects of the recession through new resources for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing.
Although it may seem disheartening, the Alliance is still VERY optimistic that we can get an INCREASE to the McKinney-Vento program when all is said and done – if we keep pushing! Although we may not get the full $2.2 billion we’re hoping for, it’s important that we keep the pressure on Members of Congress, so that they understand how much more progress we could make with $2.2 billion than with flat funding or something in between. It’s up to all of us to continue the GREAT work we’ve been doing recently to educate Members of Congress and make the case for just how VERY important McKinney-Vento programs are to our community’s efforts to end homelessness. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
Amanda
Amanda Krusemark
Program and Policy Associate
National Alliance to End Homelessness
1518 K Street NW, Suite 410
Washington, DC 20005
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