As part of our effort to facilitate our BHPC community in becoming involved with social justice issues, the Social Advocacy Ministry (SAM) has compiled this brief list of resources and websites. These will enable you to contact organizations and to stay informed on issues of interest. Many of these address SAM's current focus on political and social efforts that affect the health and well-being of children in our nation. We can also help you find information on other topics of interest if you will contact us.
Presbyterian Church (USA) – National Headquarters, http://www.pcusa.org. From this Home Page, click on U.S. and World Mission for a list of related project sites, including: National Health Ministries, Disaster Assistance, Hunger Program, Racial Ethnic Ministries, Peacemaking, Women’s Advocacy, Social Witness Policy, and many other areas offering a wealth of information divided by international, national, community, and personal action perspectives.
Also visit the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association site: http://www.pcusa.org/phewa/about.htm
And the Presbyterian Child Advocacy Network: http://www.pcusa.org/phewa/pcan
And the Presbyterian National Health Ministries: http://www.pcusa.org/health/usa/about.htm
Presbyterian Church (USA) – Washington D.C. Office, http://www.pcusa.org/washington/
What is the PC (USA) Washington Office? The Presbyterian Washington Office is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The church has a long history of applying these biblically and theologically-based insights to issues that affect the public — maintaining a public policy ministry in the nation's capital since 1946.
Check their Legislative Action Center for information on how to contact elected officials, find PC (USA) policy statements, subscribe to their action alert listserv, and much more.
For more information, contact:
Rick Houston
Presbyterian Washington Office
110 Maryland Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-543-1126
rhouston@ctr.pcusa.org
Children’s Defense Fund – Religious Action: http://www.childrensdefense.org/ The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
From this home page, click on Religious Action under Engaging Faith Communities http://www.childrensdefense.org/religiousaction/default.aspx to find policy updates and action alerts, a checklist of federal proposals affecting children introduced in the 109th Congress, join their Religious Action Listserv, and much more.
Families USA: http://www.familiesusa.org/ Families USA is a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. They offer a variety of information and resources about children’s health issues, Medicaid and Medicare budget issues, affordable and accessible health insurance, prescription drugs, and much more.
Families USA
1201 New York Ave
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
202-628-3030
E-mail: info@familiesusa.org
Sojourners: http://www.sojo.net/ Sojourners is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice. Their site provides issue updates, action alerts, resources, an action alert listserv, and much more.
Community Ministries of Montgomery County (CMMC): www.communityministrymc.org BHPC is a founder and major supporter of CMMC, which is an interfaith coalition of congregations. “CMMC pursues social justice with an emphasis on identifying and meeting the needs of the poor, and leading and engaging Montgomery County’s faith communities in service, education, and advocacy.
Becky Wagner, Executive Director (BHPC member)
Community Ministry of
Montgomery County
114 W. Montgomery Avenue
Rockville, Maryland
20850-4213
Phone 301-762-8682
E-mail: administrator@communityministrymc.org
CARE USA: www.careusa.org The website of the international relief organization CARE includes numerous resources for staying informed about and taking action on, issues involving poverty and injustice around the world such as the crisis in Darfur, AIDS, and hunger. Join their online CARE Community to receive customized email updates and issue alerts.
We welcome your suggestions for other resources to add to this list by contacting Connie Dykstra at cdykstra@aecf.org
