Category: Advocacy

On March 18, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, legislation which aims to provide economic relief for individuals, businesses, and organizations impacted by COVID-19, including Lutheran Services in America member organizations. Among its other provisions, the law provides increased federal support for Medicaid spending during the pandemic in the form of a 6.2% emergency Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase to states. The FMAP is the federal portion of the total Medicaid expenditure for each state.

The law also institutes a temporary paid sick leave mandate, along with an expansion of family and medical leave provisions. Employers with fewer than 500 employees, including nonprofits, will be required to provide employees who are themselves sick or quarantining two weeks of fully paid sick leave, and 10 additional weeks of leave at two-thirds pay. Employees caring for others who are sick or children whose childcare services are closed must be paid at two-thirds of their regular pay for up to 12 weeks. Employers will be fully reimbursed for providing this leave via a refundable tax credit allowed against the employer portion of payroll taxes—thus benefitting nonprofits. Any paid leave costs that exceed the amount of payroll taxes owed will be refundable to the employer at the end of each quarter. Finally, the law suspends SNAP work requirements and provides free testing for COVID-19, $2 billion in unemployment assistance and $1 billion in food aid.

Another relief bill is currently being written in Congress, which is expected to include additional specific support for the nonprofit sector and individuals and families.

Over 600 Lutheran Services in America member representatives reach out to Congress.

UPDATE: On March 27, 2020, President Trump  signed this bill into law.

On March 25, 2020, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to approve the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748), a $2.2 trillion package meant to address the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy. This is the third and by far the largest to date in what is expected to be a series of additional such relief measures. A vote in the House of Representatives is expected on Friday (3/27) to finalize this legislation.

Particularly important for Lutheran Services in America members, the package makes available forgivable loans for small business with less than 500 employees per location that can be used to cover payroll support, such as employee salaries, paid sick or medical leave, insurance premiums, and mortgage, rent, and utility payments. The package also creates a low-interest loan program that can be used for larger nonprofits who employee between 500 and 10,000 employees. (Additional key details to come shortly.)

Over 600 Lutheran Services in America member representatives sent nearly 1,150 messages to their Senators and Representatives, at all hours of the day and night, calling for nonprofit organizations to be included in this relief package. This priority outreach from so many people in our network made an enormous difference, and we heartily thank everyone for their vital efforts and action during this critical time!

While this legislation is an important step forward, we emphasize that much work remains to help ensure that health and human service agencies working on the frontlines of this crisis have access to the equipment, supplies, and funding they need to help carry out their work helping so many people each day. Lutheran Services in America will continue to work closely with our federal partners in the coming days and months to help ensure the needs of our members and the people they serve are front and center.

We issued a statement shortly after the Senate vote, in which we emphasized these loans are a “crucial part of this third Congressional relief package, given how many nonprofits like our 300 health and human services organizations are on the frontlines fighting COVID-19.” You can read the full statement here.

As the coronavirus pandemic stretches our nation’s health system to its limits, the importance of America’s human service professionals has never been more cut and dried. However, nonprofits cannot effectively serve their communities without adequate financial relief or resources from Washington. After more than two months of challenging work, human service professionals are united in telling Congress, “Fund the frontlines!”

As the national office of a sprawling network of more than 300 nonprofit health and human service organizations, Lutheran Services in America is using the collective calls for financial support from members as a springboard for changes in federal and state policy. By channeling these concerns about limited resources into the basis for advocacy efforts, we have been successful in communicating to lawmakers the needs of nonprofits and their workers who are fighting on the front lines of this deadly pandemic. Since March, Lutheran Services in America has worked to secure key priorities in coronavirus relief packages, including:

• Access to financial relief for health and human service nonprofits with more than 500 employees via forgivable loans
• Targeted financial resources for nonprofit frontline health and human services providers to cover unreimbursed expenses related to the pandemic
• Reimbursement of the cost of unemployment insurance benefits paid by nonprofits who self-fund these benefits
• Funding for vulnerable youth and children through the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and Title IV-E Chafee funds

These outstanding priorities are in addition to some steps we have already taken to address our members’ most prominent needs and concerns. We sought to relieve some of the burden related to business continuity by advocating for the Medicaid exemption with the CARES Act to be removed. We sought new partnerships to help with accelerated entry into the workforce and connected members to personal protective equipment supply networks.

We are also addressing the concerns from our membership through proactive methods in several other key areas. The expanded reliance on technology has opened up new opportunities for facilitating peer-to-peer sharing of news, resources, and insights. The exchange of information about adopting new protocols for residents, addressing employee morale, and other means of combating the COVID-19 strengthens the network’s ability to weather the storm of this unprecedented challenge.

Despite this tremendous progress, there is still much more to be done. We must double our efforts to protect the workforce of nonprofit health and human services organizations as they face narrowing revenue streams amidst a sliding economy. We need to ensure facilities are able to hire new staff quickly and safely at a time they are needed more than ever. We strive to address these challenges every day, and will continue to do so once this global crisis has abated. As Congress considers its next moves to help support the nation, we will push lawmakers and regulatory agencies any way we can to ensure nonprofits receive the resources they need to serve some of our most vulnerable populations.

We are not doing this alone. Lutheran Services in America keeps members informed through regular updates, action-oriented advocacy alerts, and an extensive library of resources, but the dedicated professionals working within our 300-member organization network are the driving force behind any change. We thank all of our members for your courageous efforts. You are on the front lines making a difference to so many every day. Together, we will continue to fight for funding for front line workers who risk their lives every day on behalf of the rest of us.

The House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package last Friday to help mitigate the disastrous effects of the pandemic. Lutheran Services in America has been a vocal advocate for the inclusion of nonprofits in any new aid packages. Our national network of health and human service organizations rallied to collectively voice support for our key priorities, which include some of the vital resources enumerated in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act — a bill that builds on the work of previous relief bills by including support for nonprofit organizations.

Thanks to the engagement of our members, we are pleased to see the bill addresses some of our most important priorities, including access to financial relief for health and human service nonprofits with more than 500 employees, and targeted financial resources for nonprofit frontline health and human services providers. The fulfillment of these priorities would grant nonprofits the funds and resources necessary to offer the care and service needed by many Americans during this critical time. While the HEROES Act is a welcome show of support for nonprofits in the House, there is still much work to do to gain similar support in the Senate in order to sustain our network’s crucial work.