UU FA Office

Healthcare

by UU FA Office

The current administration wanted to lower eligibility for New Jersey residents for FamilyCare to 29% of the Federal Poverty Level, meaning that an uninsured parent with two children earning more than $5,317 a year would no longer be eligible for health coverage.  This would require a federal waiver to release New Jersey from its Maintenance of Effort of eligibility.   UULMNJ was active in raising public concern over such a stark reduction.  New Jersey’s final waiver request recently submitted removed the 29% request.  This is a victory for UULMNJ.

One of the most important provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the establishment of health insurance exchanges. These exchanges will allow the self-employed, individuals and small businesses to find and compare options for high quality, comprehensive health insurance.  The Healthcare Task Force, as part of the NJ for Health Care [tt_vector icon=”fa-external-link”] coalition, is monitoring legislation to structure the exchanges to make sure that their implementation follows our UU values, and would like to try to hold regional meetings to inform local congregations on this issue.

The Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey [tt_vector icon=”fa-external-link”] is holding a forum on both of the above issues on October 11.

For more information, and to become involved with the Health Care Task Force, please contact director@uulmnj.org.

Environment

by UU FA Office

Rev. Craig Hirshberg, Rohn Hein, Sally Gellert, and Daphne Speck-Bartynski met with the NJ Environmental Federation Executive Director, Amy Goldsmith on August 29 to discuss areas of mutual interest.  It was agreed to take back to the Task force the idea of working with the Federation to:

  • Override the Executive Action of Governor Chris Christie to withdraw NJ from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s first market-based program to reduce global warming pollution.
  • Override the Executive Action of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that gives them broad authority to grant waivers to exempt companies from over 100 environmental regulations.
  • Oppose a bill that would push environmental standards back to weaker, federally set levels.
  • Oppose bills introduced to further delay or prevent implementation of revised “Water Quality Management Plans” which protect water quality by regulating where sewer and septic systems can go.

All who are interested are invited to join our monthly conference calls on the third Monday of each month at 7:30pm.  Contact director@uulmnj.org for call-in information.

Economic Justice Update – Sept 2011

by UU FA Office

The main focus of the Economic Justice Task Force has been working for affordable housing, advocating for those in need of affordable housing in the following ways:

After conditionally vetoing legislation pertaining to the Council on Affordable Housing, responsible for implementing the New Jersey’s Fair Housing Act, Gov. Christie recently abolished COAH, transferring its responsibilities to the Department of Community Affairs.  The Fair Share Housing Center plans to challenge this move in court.  UULMNJ is actively spearheading a faith community response in support of these court actions.

Please contact director@uulmnj.org more information and to get involved with the task force.

Moving Into Fall

by UU FA Office

Fund raising is a real necessity for the upcoming year. Therefore, the quieter summer months were a time for grant development.  UULMNJ received a Congregational Based Community Organizing Grant from the UU Funding Program.  This grant covered half of the CBCO training costs for up to five participants.  Two participants attended the NJ Regional Coalition community organizing training event in Valley Forge, PA, in August, one from Cherry Hill and one from Washington Crossing.  I, along with two other individuals will be able to take advantage of the grant in the next CBCO training probably taking place next Spring.  If you are interested, drop me an email at director@uulmnj.org.

Keep your fingers crossed!  An application for an Infrastructure Building grant was submitted to the UU Funding Program on September 15.  Thank you to two members of the UULMNJ finance committee, Carolyn Musser and Amy Tiedemann, who assisted in the grant writing.  Another grant letter of inquiry was submitted to The Funding Exchange (FEX.org), a funding consortium that specializes in funding advocacy and activists.

This is the second year of the two-year legislature, which means Trenton will be scrambling to pass existing legislation before they have to start over in January.   An important issue, and one UULMNJ will look at, is that of Health Care Exchanges. The decisions of how individuals and small businesses can pool resources and the oversight of that process will be decided within the next three to nine months.  You will be receiving regular updates as we proceed.

Finally, I just want to take a moment to thank all the hard working board, task force and liaison volunteers who have so graciously helped acclimate me to our state-wide advocacy movement. This is truly a collective effort.

I look forward to seeing you at the Fall Issues Workshop in October.

In faith,
Rev. Craig Hirshberg

Welcome to Our New Executive Director

by UU FA Office

The UU Legislative Ministry is proud to announce the hiring of Rev. Craig Hirshberg as our new Executive Director effective May 1, 2011. Our current director, Rev. Julia Hamilton has been hired as Assistant Minister at the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, CA.

Rev. Hirshberg comes to the Legislative Ministry with a wealth of experience in the pulpit and in the community. An ordained UU minister for the past 15 years, she was the founding minister at Somerset Hills and helped to build that church from the start to a thriving community of over 150 members. For the last six years Craig has been the Metro New York District Ministerial Settlement Representative and served the last four years as a District Adjunct Training Consultant.  Prior to becoming a UU Minister she worked for 16 years serving in local, metropolitan, national and international YMCA organizations. Immediately following college she was a community organizer in Akron, OH.

The organization is excited about the prospects of Craig’s leadership in taking the Legislative Ministry to a new level of success and commitment. Please welcome her warmly as she calls on you to be active in all of our endeavors.