Emergency Food & Shelter Funds in Danger — Please Help!
Dear Friends,
As you know, Lamp provides vitally important services for a vulnerable and chronically homeless population in Los Angeles, aided by an extensive network of support including federal, state and city programs, foundation and corporate grants, and individual partners.
But Lamp’s ability to help with food, housing and rental assistance, mental health treatment, and social services is being threatened. Congress has targeted the federal Emergency Food & Shelter Program (EFSP) for a massive, $100 million cut - 50 percent of its current funding. And this cut could become law in a matter of weeks.
Please contact your representatives in Congress right away, and tell them how severely such a cut would impact Lamp and other agencies in Los Angeles. Ask them to urge the respective House and Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittees to limit the proposed EFSP cut to 25 percent of Fiscal Year 2010 spending (equal to a $50 million program cut). This smaller cut will keep EFSP spending at $150 million, the Fiscal Year 2008 funding level, which aligns with the spending reductions called for by the U.S. House majority.
Each year, Lamp helps change the lives of more than 1,000 individuals - improving health and building self-sufficiency among homeless men and women with severe mental illness and other co-occurring disorders.
With the help of EFSP funds, Lamp provides:
- Meals and snacks - In the past year, Lamp served about 182,000 meals and snacks to more than 2,000 men and women at the Lamp Village and Frank Rice Access Center.
- Supportive services, including physical and mental health assistance - Lamp’s Food Services Program acts as an important gateway to other programs that promote housing stability, and physical and mental wellness.
- Rental assistance - Lamp provides first month’s rent and eviction protection for at least 100 homeless and formerly homeless adults each year (generally between eight and nine per month). Without EFSP, more than half of these men and women would not have the resources to move from the streets to permanent homes, or to maintain housing once they have it
Please join us in telling Congress that we must protect programs to help our most vulnerable populations. Call the congressional switchboard for operator assistance at:
(202) 224-3121 (Senate)
(202) 225-3121 (House)
or find the direct contact information online at THOMAS.LOC.GOV.
Thank you, from the staff and members of Lamp.
Warm regards,
Donna Gallup, MSW, LSW
Executive Director
Contact Your Members of Congress
Below are links to letters to download, print, sign and send, or to e-mail your representatives in Congress.
Thank you.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D)
E-mail
Rep. Karen Bass, 33rd Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Xavier Becerra, 31st Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Howard L. Berman, 28th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Judy Chu, 32rd Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. David Dreier, 26th Congressional District (R)
E-mail
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, 22nd Congressional District (R)
E-mail
Rep. Howard P. McKeon, 25th Congressional District (R)
E-mail
Rep. Gary Miller, 42nd Congressional District (R)
E-mail
Rep. Grace Napolitano, 38th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Laura Richardson, 37th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, 46th Congressional District (R)
E-mail
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, 34th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Linda Sanchez, 39th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Adam Shiff, 29th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
Rep. Brad Sherman, 27th Congressional District (D)
E-mail
