Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT)

Austin 11 months ago

ACT and PICO: Faith and Families Summit on Economic Recovery in Washington, D.C.

The PICO National Network is growing in very exciting ways and experiencing power at a distinguished new level. We have been invited to the White House twice already in the first 50 days of the new administration, once to share in the signing of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA – formerly SCHIP, or “Healthy Families” in California) and also to participate in the president’s recent White House Summit on Health Care. Among the members of Congress and the various health care industry stakeholders in attendance, from hospitals to insurance companies, PICO was the only community organization invited to participate in the summit.

Sacramento ACT has been a part of this powerful journey every step of the way, lending support to PICO’s national agenda and building powerful new relationships inside the Beltway that we are leveraging back home on our local issue work. Most recently, an ACT delegation joined the PICO National Network on March 9-11 in Washington, D.C. to celebrate our hard-fought SCHIP reauthorization victory and to bring a new prophetic vision to the nation’s capitol around strategies to reduce preventable foreclosures by fixing the nation’s bankruptcy code and to achieve comprehensive, affordable health care reform at the federal level.

Pastor Donald Leeper of Sacrifice of Praise Church, youth leader Michelle O’Campo of the ACT Meadowview Partnership, and ACT board member Howard Lawrence from St. Mark’s UMC were able to sit down for 45 minutes with former state Attorney General-turned Congressman Dan Lungren (R–CA3) in his office on Capitol Hill, developing a strong new ally for ACT’s innovative strategies to combat youth violence in the Sacramento region. They also met with aides at Senator Barbara Boxer’s office, heard New York Senator Charles Schumer (D) praise PICO and its important role in the SCHIP victory, and represented ACT at an hour-long gathering with President Obama’s White House Director of Faith-based Initiatives, Joshua DuBouis. PICO leaders from around the country collectively engaged in over 100 research meetings with members of Congress and key departmental beaurocrats regarding housing foreclosure legislation, the impending battle for health care reform, education policy, immigration issues, and innumerable local concerns.

Our ACT delegation also participated in a press conference to welcome PICO’s “Recovery Express” into D.C., in which dozens of families from all over the United States rode to D.C. from coast to coast in a bus that stopped in many cities to collect stories of families suffering under our nation’s current economic and policy environment. At last count, the press conference had generated over 110 television news reports around the nation. Visit www.sacact.org to view our coverage on CNN and other news networks.

ACT is actively seeking to build our local committee of delegates to the PICO National team, and to assign two representatives to a national steering committee that will serve to channel our local power. If you have been an active leader in other areas of Sacramento ACT and have a passion for federal policy and national-level politics, please contact Austin Aslan on ACT staff to discuss becoming more involved in this important and exciting effort. Locally, we will be looking to hold a Sacramento area action on health care reform before summer. We learned this week that Obama and the Senate are preparing to move very quickly on the health care debate and we only have a short window of opportunity to pass major reforms. We also learned that there are plenty of areas where our input will be important and influential, such as with regards to the definition of “affordability” as a condition for any legislation. Please stay tuned for easy ways to participate in what is shaping up to be a once-a-generation window in US health policy.

Austin 11 months ago

Exciting stuff this week for ACT and all of our PICO Network orgs:

Dear PICO leaders, staff and friends,

We wanted to give you a quick update on some very exciting PICO activities over the next week and how you can participate in them.

Tomorrow on Thursday, March 5 PICO Executive Director Scott Reed has been invited to participate and speak representing our network at the White House Summit on Healthcare Reform. You should be able to watch live on C-SPAN beginning at about 1pm.

On Friday, March 6 PICO's Recovery Express leaves Antioch, CA for a cross-country trip that will include rallies and events in 10 cities along the way as new "Recovery Riders" get on board. Visit www.piconetwork.org/recoveryexpress to see the stops, read live blogging, watch video, make your voice heard in Congress on the foreclosure issue and learn how you can help or participate.

On Monday, March 9 PICO kicks off a three-day Faith and Families Summit on Economic Recovery in Washington, DC. Tuesday morning we're holding a Congressional Forum on Economic Recovery on Capitol Hill from 8:30-10am, followed by a 10:30am Rally to welcome the PICO Recovery Express on the Southwest side of the U.S. Capitol. We're hoping to live webcast these events. Stay tuned to www.piconetwork.org/faithandfamiliess... for more information.

Please let us know if you have questions or ideas.

Best,

Gordon Whitman
PICO national staff

Austin 11 months ago

TODAY, ACT youth and adults, along with our Yes to Youth partners, are urging that the City of Sacramento affirms its commitment to young people by adopting the Regional Compact for Children and Youth as their guiding principle for youth development. We will also ask the City to issue a report card highlighting progress and challenges in making Sacramento a youth-friendly city.

We hope to fill City Hall to demonstrate that the community is committed to making Sacramento a youth-friendly city. Taking a seat with us at this event is an easy way for YOU to make a big difference.

Tuesday, March 3 at 6:00pm. We expect our compact signing to be one of the first items on the agenda so arrive on time.

The location is CITY HALL Council Chambers, 915 "I" Street. There is free (after 6pm) curbside parking all around City Hall. You can also take advantage the parking garage located on the corner of I and 10th. Enter along 10th Street.