NFFN’s Washington Action Day for LIHEAP |
ANNOUNCEMENT
NFFN’s National Action for LIHEAP, March 23 – April 9, 2010
A Reconfigured LIHEAP Action Day
March 10, 2010
The Situation
Due to the historic snowfalls in Washington, the National Fuel Funds Network (NFFN) cancelled its LIHEAP Action Day, scheduled for February 10, 2010. The need for a strong national event to kick off 2010 grassroots lobbying remains. Consequently, NFFN will conduct National Action for LIHEAP, March 23 – April 9, 2010.
The Message
The NFFN has a three-fold message for the National Action for LIHEAP.
- LIHEAP needs $2.5 billion in supplemental funding for this year;
- LIHEAP should be funded at $7.6 billion for FY 2011; and
- The NFFN supports the Markey bill (H.R. 4554) reauthorizing LIHEAP and increasing funding authority to $7.6 billion.
Rationale: National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association statistics (www.neada.org) show record numbers of applicants for LIHEAP and record numbers of households receiving LIHEAP. Despite $5.1 billion in funding less than 20 percent of eligible households are actually receiving aid from the program. The Administration’s request of $3.2 billion for LIHEAP in FY 2011 is not enough to keep programs running at present levels of service.
According to NEADA, many states are running out of funds at a time when utility shut-off moratoria are ending.
Although the economy is beginning to recover, unemployment is still close to 10 percent and a record number of people are applying for LIHEAP for the first time.
The Plan
The NFFN Board of Directors, meeting in Detroit on March 24, will hold a lead press conference to release the contents of a letter from the organization to the Congressional leadership. NFFN encourages its members to conduct their own press events, highlighting the need for additional LIHEAP funding, during the National Action for LIHEAP.
The NFFN staff can provide supporting material for members holding press events. We welcome the initiative of any NFFN members to organize an event in your locale. Please email coling@nationalfuelfunds.org to indicate your interest, and we will respond promptly with more information.
Additionally, NFFN asks our members and allies to:
- arrange meetings with Congressional delegations during the March 29-April 4 Home District Work Period
- share information on the positive impact of recent increases in LIHEAP funding
- organize other grassroots activities, as appropriate, using the NFFN Toolkit for the National Action for LIHEAP for suggestions.
NFFN will support members in the above activities by building the case with information obtained from a survey of members and others on the positive community impact of LIHEAP, providing sample letters, press releases and other materials for use by the member organizations and updating the Action with details of the legislative situation and message.
Additionally the Campaign For Home Energy Assistance has produced "2010 State LIHEAP Fact Sheets" for use in Congressional visits. The state fact sheets include the funding levels (FY2008-2010), number of households served, and demographics of each state. These fact sheets can be an effective resource in demonstrating to Congressional offices the investment and impact that the program is making at the state level. These profiles can be found at http://www.liheap.org/factsheet.html
The Network asks supporters to display a message supporting additional funding for LIHEAP as their status on their Facebook pages at a certain time during the last week in March. If you don’t currently have a Facebook page, we urge you to open one before National Action for LIHEAP begins.
NFFN will use its Facebook page, as well as email alerts, to promote the National Action for LIHEAP. We encourage members to take photos of actions and meetings with legislators and write about them for distribution on Facebook and at www.nationalfuelfunds.org.
What you can do
Here’s what you can do to make the National Action for LIHEAP the effective tool that we need to convince Congress to provide more funding for LIHEAP in FY 2011.
- Participate in the 5 minute survey on the positive impact of LIHEAP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DQRP7WP.
- Write your Congressional delegation about the need for increased LIHEAP funding. NFFN will soon post sample letters on our website and alert you to them.
- Organize a local press conference or issue a press release announcing your Congressional letter.
- Arrange a meeting in your community with your Senator or Representative during the March 29-April 9 home district period.
- Become a fan of the National Fuel Funds Network on Facebook immediately and ask your Facebook friends to become fans of the National Fuel Funds Network also. Photograph and write about your local actions and post them on Facebook.
Thank you in advance for your participation in NFFN’s National Action for LIHEAP. Let us know when NFFN can help. Contact George Coling at coling@nationalfuelfunds.org.
George Coling,Executive Director
National Fuel Funds Network
1010 Vermont Ave., NW Suite 718
Washington, DC 20005
202-824-0660
coling@.nationalfuelfunds.org
LIHEAP Action Day Participants Take Capitol Hill
2009 Report
NFFN’s LIHEAP Action Day kicked off the lobbying effort on behalf of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program on February 11th, when more than 190 NFFN members and supporters took to Capitol Hill in a coordinated effort to gain support for the federal energy assistance program.
Participation in Action Day has continued to grow each year since its inception six years ago. This year more than 200 Congressional offices were visited by Action Day participants, including many of the new members in the House 
and Senate. Educating the new members of Congress was one of the priorities of Action Day.
Action Day events included a news conference in the Rayburn House Office Building featuring six US representatives and a LIHEAP recipient from Jackson, MS. Victoria Seals explained to the news media how funds from LIHEAP had helped her meet her utility bills during a difficult period in her life. She pointed out that LIHEAP is not only important to people who live in cold weather states but to people in warm weather states too.
House of Representatives members Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Gene Green (D-TX), Paul Hodes (D-NH), and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) all expressed their support for maintaining LIHEAP funding at $5.1 billion and said they believed there would be more legislative opportunities to increase LIHEAP funding for the current fiscal year.
The news conference was held just as members of the House and Senate were working out a compromise on the Obama Administration’s economic recovery plan and it was learned that the $1 billion for LIHEAP that had been in the House version of the bill had been eliminated.
NFFN Chairperson Sue Montgomery Corey told reporters about how the widespread national support for LIHEAP is 
demonstrated through Action Day. American Gas Association Chairman Thomas Skains spoke of his organization’s support for LIHEAP.
The AGA, who once again opened their offices for Action Day participants to use as a base of operations, also posted blogs about Action Day on their website. Type this link into your internet browser to visit the blog -- http://www.truebluenaturalgas.org/liheap-action-day-at-least-51-billion-in-funding-for-2010
Photo Gallery
View exciting coverage and photos from past Action Days