Drawing on the expertise of more than four dozen sustainability practitioners in a variety of fields, the book teases from the limited progress made in the United States over the past two decades the overall patterns for that progress. It also reviews the most significant obstacles to sustainability, again showing patterns in those obstacles across a wide variety of areas. Finally, and building on this framework, the book explains in detail how to accelerate progress and overcome obstacles.  The book emphasizes climate change as a central sustainability issue.  It also emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing sustainability from a moral or ethical perspective.  The book is scheduled to be published in June prior to the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development.

The article is available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2049853.  Click on “Download this Paper.”

The book has already received significant endorsements.  For example:

“Using the knowledge and experience of leading sustainability practitioners, this book demystifies the quest for sustainability by providing a checklist of practical and tested ideas that can be used in any place or sector to create an attractive and sustainable future.”

Timothy E. Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund & Former U.S. Senator (CO)

For more information about the book, including how to order the book and other endorsements, see http://www.actingasiftomorrowmatters.com/.

Please urge your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 3619 to ensure that tenants continue to be protected at foreclosure.

Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) has introduced legislation, the Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (H.R. 3619), that would make 2009’s Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) permanent law. Specifically, the bill would:

• Remove the 2014 PTFA sunset date.
• Add a private right of action to better ensure compliance with the law.

Foreclosure and Renters

Prior to the passage of the PTFA in May 2009, tenants living in a property in foreclosure were often required to move with as little as a few days’ notice. These renters often had no idea that their landlord had fallen behind on mortgage payments, and renters usually had continued to pay their rent even as their landlord had failed to pay the mortgage.

The enactment of the PTFA was a major step forward in achieving housing stability for renters after a foreclosure, as the law ensures that most tenants can stay in their homes for the remainder of their leases or for at least 90 days post-foreclosure.

However, if Congress does not take action to extend the law, the PTFA will expire on December 31, 2014. Ask your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 3619 today!

Call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 to be connected to your Representative’s office. You can also go to http://www.house.gov to find your Representative’s direct number.

After calling, please email us at outreach@nlihc.org to let us know which office you called and how the call went.

Thank you for your continued support and action!

As usual, we understand that there is a lot of information here and in the links provided for further information. Please know that you aren’t expected to act on everything! Just choose the issues that are most important to you and take action. Sometimes you will be directed to action pages of other organizations—don’t worry! These are organizations that we work with regularly and who share a common interest.

Please consider contacting your legislators to thank them when they support your position as well, or to express your disappointment when they don’t. We don’t follow up with them often enough. They need our feedback to understand how we feel. Go to our Take Action page (http://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/index_files/Page630.htm) to find links to contact information for your legislators.

Our website is updated regularly—please visit to find updated links, resources, etc. at http://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org. It is a work in progress, and issue pages continue to be created as time permits. If there is something you would really like to see that isn’t there, please contact us at s.strauss@pachurches.org.

And finally—If you appreciate this ministry, we would very much appreciate your support; you can learn how by clicking here.

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URGENT ACTIONS

If you don’t have time for any other actions, please consider taking action on these issues!

Urge Congress to Prevent Nutrition Assistance Cuts

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10874

This week the House is voting on $36 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance programs, which would kick 2 million people off of food aid, cut benefits for 44 million more, and drop 280,000 low-income children from the free school lunch program. Ask your members of Congress to prevent cuts to programs that keep millions of families from going hungry each day.

Sign Bread for the World Petition to Stop SNAP/Food Stamp Cuts in Federal Budget

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10856

The dramatic cuts of $169 billion to SNAP proposed this year in the U.S. House of Representatives would have a devastating impact on all of our congregations’ efforts to address increasing need. Every church across America would need to come up with, on average, an extra $50,000 dedicated to feeding people — every year for the next 10 years — to make up for these cuts.

Don't Let 300% Payday Loans Prey on Pennsylvania Families—Take Action TODAY to Keep Payday Lending Out of PA

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5415/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10586

Payday loans trap low-wage workers in a cycle of re-borrowing their own wages at effective interest rates that often exceed 300%. Payday loans at these high-rates are currently illegal in Pennsylvania.  HB 2191 permits a product that is a debt trap by design – it does NOT protect consumers!

NEW ACTIONS

Urge Congress to Support Healthy, Sustainable Food Production in the Farm Bill

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10827

Billions of federal taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize unhealthy, processed foods instead of the fruits and vegetables recommended for a healthy diet. Ask your members of Congress to support healthy and sustainable food production in the Farm Bill.

This Mother's Day Moms Need Paid Sick Days—Support the Healthy Families Act

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10863

Nearly 80% of low-wage workers-and nearly 40% of private sector workers–don’t have access to a single paid sick day. The Healthy Families Act would set an important national standard for paid sick days. Its passage would be a critical step toward meeting the health and financial needs of working families.

Keep Funding Intact for Early Childhood Education in PA

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10849

Education offers multiple pathways to learning and success, but early learning is the doorway every child needs to pass through to get on that path. That door must be open to every child. That’s why we need your help to tell lawmakers: If you cut these programs – you close the door to early learning!

Help Keep Water Profiteers from Demolishing a Low-Income Community

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10842

The Susquehanna River has recently been experiencing drought-like conditions due to the lack of precipitation. The last thing the SRBC should do is approve more water withdrawals for fracking, yet at their next meeting they are considering another 18, amounting to almost 20 million gallons per day.

OTHER ACTIONS

Please visit our“Take Action”page at http://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/index_files/Page630.htm for the most up-to-date listing ofall current actions you can take by category. Categories include: New Actions; Children and Families; Economy and Economic Justice; Education; Environment; Global Issues; Government Reform; Health Care; Housing; Human Rights; Hunger; Immigration; Peacemaking; Torture; Trade; Women.

You can also check out our Weblog Take Action page at http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?cat=10.

Important and Time Sensitive News!

So Much Happening: Here’s How You Can Keep Informed Between Updates

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=9416

PA Senate Moves Budget, Deep Cuts Remain

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10868

Lawsuit Filed to Challenge PA’s Vote-Suppressing ID Bill

http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?p=10836

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EVENTS 

For a full listing of events, go to the Events Calendar at http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?page_id=92.

Events in the coming weeks:

Please check http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?page_id=92 for information on new events posted between news updates.

Newly posted events: http://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/index_files/Page411.htm

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OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES TO LEARN AND ACT

We have a current listing of opportunities and resources to participate in national conference calls, calls for comments on policies or legislation, and activities that individuals/congregations can engage in aside from Actions.

For summaries of the most recently posted resources, go to http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?cat=2161.

For the most recent job, internship and fellowship postings, go to http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?cat=2295.

For the most recent information about grants, competitions, and places where you can plug in and become active, go to http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/?cat=2296.

For a listing of Council-related resources go to the “Resources” link at http://www.pachurchesadvocacy.org/index_files/Page498.htm.

NEWS POSTS 

Please visit our weblog (http://pachurchesadvocacy.org/weblog/) for the latest news and information. For previous News Summaries, click on the “News Summaries” link on the right side of the page. 

Subscribe to our weblog via RSS (What is RSS?) or e-mail.

SUPPORT THE COUNCIL’S ADVOCACY WORK 

Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pennsylvania-Council-of-Churches-Advocacy/133182573363816.

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/slstrauss. 

If you received this message from a friend, sign up for Pennsylvania Council of Churches Advocacy e-mails at http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5415/t/5044/signUp.jsp?key=794. 

Financial support for the Council’s Advocacy Ministry is always welcome! Go to our online support page at http://www.pachurches.org/Donations/donations.htm and enter “Advocacy Ministry Support” under “Comments.” 

And finally…PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL!

Are you familiar with the cult sensation, The Hunger Games? Well now that the fanfare and hype have simmered down the REAL hunger games have begun in our own capital.

This week the House is voting on $36 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance programs, which would kick 2 million people off of food aid, cut benefits for 44 million more, and drop 280,000 low-income children from the free school lunch program.

Ask your members of Congress to prevent cuts to programs that keep millions of families from going hungry each day at http://www2.americanprogress.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=210.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, (formerly known as food stamps) is the cornerstone of the nutrition safety net. The program helps put food on the table for nearly 45 million low-income participants each month—the majority of whom are children, elderly, disabled, or working poor. In 2010 alone SNAP lifted more than 5 million Americans above the poverty line.

Watch “The REAL Hunger Games” trailer at the link above to see the how our own capital is cutting programs to fight hunger in America.

We need your help to get the word out that these draconian cuts will harm millions of men, women and children across the country struggling against hunger. Will you ask Congress to protect and strengthen nutrition assistance?

Here is a sample message for Twitter or Facebook:

“May the odds be ever in your favor!” The REAL Hunger Games have just begun – See for yourself: http://cap.af/SNAPhunger #realhungergames

Please take the time to share ”The REAL Hunger Games” trailer on Twitter and Facebook and urge your members of Congress to protect and strengthen the programs like SNAP that prevent hunger in America.

Together we can take back the odds and let Congress know that we’re sick and tired of the hunger games in our own capital.

The Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee approved a 2012-13 budget plan today spending about $500 million more than the Governor proposed but well below 2010-11 levels.

The budget restores higher education funding to current year levels. It adds $50 million for accountability block grants and $50 million for distressed schools. Most of the cuts to public schools enacted this year remain intact. The budget restores only half of the $168 million in cuts to county human services proposed by the Governor, and adopts the Governor’s plan to eliminate a modest General Assistance cash grant program for 68,000 Pennsylvanians.

The Senate plan also leaves money on the table. It cuts the capital stock and franchise tax as planned, costing $90 million this year and $150 million more the following year, and scraps the Governor’s proposal to cap the sales tax vendor discount, which would have saved $41 million.

Get a full overview of the Senate budget at http://pennbpc.org/pa-senate-budget-plan-headed-toward-vote.

Nearly 80% of low-wage workers-and nearly 40% of private sector workers–don’t have access to a single paid sick day. What are they supposed to do when they land in the ER and are faced with losing a day’s pay, or possibly even their jobs, because they’re hurt or sick and can’t go to work?

Talk about painful! You can help by adding your name to MomsRising’s petition calling on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act at http://action.momsrising.org/sign/healthyfamilies/?akid=3257.1594885.M1jG7Q&rd=1&t=4. 

The Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1876, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1876; S. 984, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s984) would set an important national standard for paid sick days. Its passage would be a critical step toward meeting the health and financial needs of working families.

The Healthy Families Act would:

• Allow workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven job protected paid sick days each year to be used to recover from their own illness, access preventive care, or provide care for a sick family member.
• Allow workers who are victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault to use their paid sick days to recover or seek assistance related to an incident.
• Include a simple method for calculating accrued sick time. Workers would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours (seven days) per year, unless the employer selects a higher limit.
• Allow employers to require certification if an employee uses more than three paid sick days in a row. For victims of domestic violence, the certification may be from a law enforcement officer or victim advocate.
• Allow employers to continue using their existing policies, as long as they meet the minimums set forth in the Healthy Families Act (for time, types of use, and method of use).

So forget flowers. For Mother’s Day, help moms across America get paid sick days by urging Congress to support the Healthy Families Act.

Dear Bread Friends in Pennsylvania,

The dramatic cuts of $169 billion to SNAP proposed this year in the U.S. House of Representatives would have a devastating impact on all of our congregations’ efforts to address increasing need.

Every church across America would need to come up with, on average, an extra $50,000 dedicated to feeding people — every year for the next 10 years — to make up for these cuts.

We’re urging clergy and lay persons alike to sign a petition to Congress now by clicking www.bread.org/snapworks to say that feeding hungry people is not the sole responsibility of churches.  We’re also asking for stories about the impact of these proposed cuts on local feeding ministries. Here’s what a few people who have already signed the petition shared with us:

“My church is situated in a community of high need in Los Angeles County. Our church’s Food Pantry already serves over 400 people per week out of a garage. We are already at the breaking point! The need is real and raw. We absolutely cannot do this without the help of our elected leaders!”
    — Daniel in Bellflower, CA

“Our area churches are already collecting and handing out food in massive amounts simply to SUPPLEMENT those on SNAP and yet the shelves run empty time and time again. This is not a time for cutting programs that affect our most vulnerable, but a time to stand in solidarity with them.”
    — Katherine in Arlington, VA

“2,000 folks per month pass through one of our ministries in Gary, IN, homeless and without food. This would be devastating both to them and to us. We are barely making it now.”
    — Bob in Donaldson, IN

We have to tell Congress again and again that they must create a circle of protection around programs that are vital to hungry and poor people. And then we must pray hard that they will listen to their conscience as upright, moral persons of faith.

Please click www.bread.org/snapworks to sign the petition. Make sure you check the special box for pastors and religious leaders if you are one because among our goals is to have 5,000 pastors sign the letter.

Nearly 600 early childhood education advocates converged on the Capitol for Early Childhood Action Day on May 1, packing the Rotunda and making sure lawmakers in both chambers heard the call to restore funding for proven programs including the Child Care Works subsidized child care, Keystone STARS, T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship program, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.

Since then, hopeful news emerged about the state’s financial outlook:

• Pennsylvania’s revenues are coming in stronger than initially projected.
• The Independent Fiscal Office estimates the state will end this fiscal year with about $400 million more than Gov. Tom Corbett expected when he outlined his 2012-13 spending plan three months ago.
• Gov. Corbett indicated he is “open to discussion” on restorations.

These are good signs, but lawmakers need to hear that you want restorations to early childhood education.

Urge your state legislators to fund early childhood education programs in 2012-13 at the same level they approved in the 2011-12 budget at https://secure3.convio.net/ppc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=639.

Education offers multiple pathways to learning and success, but early learning is the doorway every child needs to pass through to get on that path. That door must be open to every child. That’s why we need your help to tell lawmakers: If you cut these programs – you close the door to early learning!

Thanks to the strong turnout on Early Childhood Action Day, we have the momentum. And we know the money is there to restore these critical funds for early learning.  We need to tell them loud and clear: Restore funding cuts to early childhood education!

Click here to tell your state legislators to fund early childhood education programs in 2012-13 at the same level they approved in the 2011-12 budget.

Thank you for your efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania’s youngest learners.

Private water companies have always made their money by selling our most precious public resource. Now, Aqua America plans to destroy an entire low-income mobile home community so they can suck more water out of the Susquehanna River and sell it to fracking companies. Tell the members of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to revoke their withdrawal permit.

Residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park in Piatt Township, PA, are facing evictions on June 1 to make way for an enormous water withdrawal facility. If Aqua gets its way, the company will be allowed to remove 3 million gallons per day from the Susquehanna and kick out longtime residents who have nowhere else to go. The water will then be transported via pipeline to fracking sites all over Lycoming County, where it will be mixed with poisonous chemicals and injected into the earth.

The Susquehanna River has recently been experiencing drought-like conditions due to the lack of precipitation. The last thing the SRBC should do is approve more water withdrawals for fracking, yet at their next meeting they are considering another 18, amounting to almost 20 million gallons per day!

Stand up for the Susquehanna, and the good people at Riverdale Mobile Home Park, who we can all agree deserve better.

Tell the SRBC to overturn their decision and stop giving our water to frackers at http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10320.

The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, in conjunction with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Advancement Project, and Arnold & Porter LLP, has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court challenging the egregious Photo ID bill recently signed into law in Pennsylvania.

The lawsuit alleges that the law burdens the fundamental right to vote under the Pennsylvania constitution.

Our clients are people like Viviette Applewhite, a 92-year-old African American woman who worked as a welder during World War II and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the civil rights movement. Ms. Applewhite has voted in nearly every election since at least 1960, but she cannot obtain identification that complies with the new voter ID law.

If the law stays in place, Ms. Applewhite will not vote in November — the first time in more than 50 years that she missed an election.

The plaintiffs in this lawsuit are senior citizens whose records have been lost or destroyed over the years; veterans whose military ID cards are inadequate under the new law; and others with disabilities or with limited resources for whom the law’s requirements will be unacceptably difficult to meet.

Major organizations which advocate on behalf of the disenfranchised voters have also joined as plaintiffs: the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and the Homeless Advocacy Project.

With the complaint, we filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction to prevent the law from going into effect. The motion also asks the court to set an expedited trial schedule to allow the case to be tried well in advance of the November elections.

Read the complaint at http://www.pilcop.org/Petition_VOTER_ID.pdf.

Read the Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Expedited Trial at http://www.pilcop.org/MPrelimInj_VOTER_ID.pdf.

Plaintiff Videos:

• Viviette Applewhite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oetIv0tec&feature=youtu.be)
• Gloria Cuttino (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOassrpm-mw&feature=youtu.be)
• Wilola Lee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVWBHRmQH8&feature=youtu.be)