Advocacy

By Sarah Dobson, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy 

Last week, Cedar Lake hosted 30+ Lutheran Services in America Disability Network (LSA-DN) members at their corporate headquarters in Louisville, KY for the LSA-DN 2016 Summer Meeting. In an effort to better understand each other's organizations, we decided to forgo holding our summer meeting in a hotel, as we have in past years, so that we could take a deeper look at a member organization. And to my surprise, everyone preferred meeting in a member conference room with meals brought in by Panera and snacks from the grocery store as opposed to the carefully curated environment of a hotel! DN members were able to better grasp how the host organization, Cedar Lake, was delivering long-term services and supports to people with disabilities and how they might be able to partner with, learn from, or help grow Cedar Lake.

The Bethesda College of Applied Learning is a unique, two-year post-secondary certificate program, the result of an innovative partnership with Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) and Bethesda Lutheran Communities that helps adults with intellectual, developmental and other complex disabilities realize their dream of receiving a college education.

On May 5-6, I had the unique opportunity to represent Lutheran Services in America at the Climate Action 2016 summit in Washington, DC. The summit was a two-day event designed to drive high-level engagement with global leaders addressing how to deliver on climate commitments and how we can embed changes across the globe in government, key sectors and among the general population. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened the gathering by proclaiming, "Together we can build the world we want."

In February I attended a forum with a forum with some of the nation’s leading experts on family policy and child well-being. This was my second hill forum as an intern for Lutheran Services in America. The event was sponsored by The American Academy of Political and Social Science and The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The American Academy of Political and Social Science is one of the nation’s oldest learning societies, and is dedicated to the use of social science to address important social problems. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is devoted to developing a brighter future for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social, and health outcomes. Their work strengthens families, builds stronger communities, and ensures access to opportunity that children need to succeed.

The Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC), a program of AAPD, is proud to count Lutheran Services in America among its members. Together we work to mobilize the religious community to take action on disability policy with Congress, the President and Administration, and society at large. Currently we're mobilizing people of faith across America to sign a letter encouraging candidates to address disability concerns in their campaigns.

Sheri Hicks was recently honored for her enthusiastic community involvement at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota's 150th anniversary celebration. Sheri says building connections with people who can help you find the supports you need is important to living well every day.

It is hard to believe that I have already been working with Lutheran Services in America for six weeks. It seems like just yesterday I was walking past the Capitol building in awe, ecstatic that I found my way to LSA without getting lost or being late on my first day. Today, I went through the motions of getting on the metro and heading past the Capitol without any concerns. I know my way around now, this is starting to feel more like my city. Today, someone asked me for directions and I knew exactly what to tell them. A lot has happened in these six weeks, and I have started to look at the DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) as my adopted community.

Recently, Lutheran Services in America Disability Network (LSA-DN) had the privilege of hosting 30 self-advocates, family members, direct support staff and program staff from Bethesda Lutheran Communities, Filling Homes, KenCrest, Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Mosaic for our second "Speak Up! Self-Advocate Training" in Washington, DC.

The Washington, D.C. area has been preparing for the arrival next week of Pope Francis, leader of the global Roman Catholic Church. During this historic visit, the Pope will be welcomed by the President at the White House, will hold a special mass at Catholic University and will address a joint meeting of Congress, in addition to visiting local congregations and volunteers and a stop at an organization affiliated with Catholic Charities USA that feeds the poor and homeless in the city.