News Releases

Lutheran Services in America Asks Obama Transition Team, Congress to Consider Economic Impact on Health and Human Services

January 9, 2009 (Baltimore, MD) - In the last year, Urban Mission based in Steubenville, Ohio, has seen a 32 percent increase in food requests and a 27 percent increase in families seeking shelter.

Urban Mission, one of almost 300 Lutheran health and human service organizations in the national alliance called Lutheran Services in America (LSA), is not alone in increased calls for services as a result of the recession. LSA members from across the United States have told LSA of not only increasing demand for assistance, but also of decreasing, delayed and declining government investment in services, decreasing numbers of volunteers and donations, shrinking access to credit, and factors in the external environment such as disasters, declining housing values and rising unemployment rates.

In his talk on January 8 about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, President-Elect Barack Obama said:

It’s a plan that recognizes both the paradox and the promise of this moment – the fact that there are millions of Americans trying to find work, even as, all around the country, there is so much work to be done. That’s why we’ll invest in priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century.

Jill Schumann, President and CEO of Lutheran Services in American, said, “LSA member organizations know the importance of not dismantling social service infrastructure just when the country needs it most.”

The State of Illinois has been significantly behind in payments to organizations such as Lutheran Social Services of Illinois in Des Plaines and Lutheran Child and Family Services in River Forest. Despite recent borrowing by the state to pay down some of its outstanding debts, the state currently owes LSSI more than $4 million for services provided under contracts with the state.

Schumann adds, “When President-Elect Obama says ‘… the time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded,’ LSA members can nod their heads. Our members not only offer help to people, they truly create opportunities for people in thousands of communities throughout the United States. That’s because we believe that all people are entrusted with gifts to share. People must assume personal responsibility for contributing to their own well-being. They also have responsibility to care for others – to contribute to the good of the whole by using their unique gifts and skills. Lutheran public policy asks, ‘What sorts of policies equip people for these dual roles of caring for self and caring for others?’”

LSA’s economic impact statement is available on the LSA website.

Lutheran Services in America creates opportunities with people in thousands of communities throughout the United States and the Caribbean as an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and their nearly 300 health and human service organizations. Working neighbor to neighbor through services in health care, aging and disability supports, community development, housing, and child and family strengthening, these organizations together touch the lives of more than six million people or one in 50 Americans each year.

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