Dear John, 

In this week’s newsletter:

• PIF Webinar This Week: Medicaid Unwinding and Immigrant Families
• Have you Signed on? LIFT the BAR Act Sign on
• Partner Webinar: The Advocate’s Guide to Using American Community Survey Data
• Fact Sheet: Public Programs and Green Card Concerns
• Partner Spotlight: Michigan Advocates Win Language Access Legislation

PIF’s recent survey of advocates and community organizations asked how their states performed on key issues for immigrant families in the Medicaid “unwinding.” Our survey report finds major gaps in states’ performance, which put health care access for millions at risk.

Please join us for a webinar THIS WEEK, on Thursday, December 14 at 12:30pm ET / 9:30am PT to learn more about the threat to immigrant families, what PIF is doing to protect health care access, and how your organization can help. Speakers include:

• Adriana Cadena, PIF
• Sonya Schwartz, PIF
• Justin Gust, El Centro, Kansas
• Vanessa Zapata, Tennessee Justice Center
• Kate Purrington, Health Law Advocates, Massachusetts

Register Today

Earlier this year, PIF launched a sign on letter for national, state and local organizations to show their support for the LIFT the BAR Act (HR. 4170/S. 2038). Hundreds of organizations joined us and signed the letter. We continue to accept sign ons on a rolling basis. 

Has your organization already signed the letter? Check out the current list of organizational signatories. Sign on if you haven’t already! We urge all PIF members to be on this letter. 

As a reminder, the LIFT the BAR Act would:

• Restore access to federal public benefits for lawfully present immigrants, including people with Lawful Permanent Resident status (green card holders), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, special immigrant juveniles, and other federally authorized non-citizens residing in the United States;
• Eliminate the five-year bar for Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, TANF, and SSI; 
• Remove arbitrary barriers by ensuring that immigrants with sponsors have access to services based on the income and resources that are actually available to them;
• Remove state authority to impose additional restrictions on immigrants who qualify for benefits; and
• Restore flexibility for states and localities to provide benefits to immigrants with their own funds.

A wide range of resources and backgrounders on the LIFT the BAR Act are available on our 5-Year Bar Resource page.  

Has Your Organization Signed On?

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey provides data advocates can use to show the need for child care, affordable housing, income assistance, services for people with disabilities, and much more. The Coalition on Human Needs is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, December 13 at 1 p.m. ET to help advocates to learn how to make use of all the information available. 

Register

A new analysis by the Urban Institute spotlights the ongoing impact of the public charge chilling effect on immigrant families with children. The brief summarizes survey results showing that 43% of people in immigrant families with children reported recent hardships like food insecurity or problems paying rent. This is similar to immigrant families without children. But the survey also found that immigrant families with children were twice as likely to avoid safety net programs than those without children – 17% and 9%, respectively. With ¼ of all children living in immigrant families, the chilling effect has a massive impact – the Urban Institute estimates that it effectively denies basic needs to as many as 4 million children.

Read the Report

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently signed the “Statewide Meaningful Language Access Coordination Act,” which requires state departments and agencies to take reasonable steps to help Michigan residents with limited English proficiency access state services. The push for this law was led by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), with all PIF-MI partners actively engaged to see it through to final signing, from doing research, to providing written and oral testimony, to mobilizing additional partners. 

The Governor’s office touted the law as key to “modernizing government” and characterized it as essential to boost the state’s economy. “With this new law, Michigan signals that it is important for all residents to have meaningful access to our state government,” said Christine Sauvé, Policy, Engagement, and Communications Coordinator at MIRC. 

“No matter what language you speak or where you were born, we all benefit when people with limited English language proficiency can participate fully in public life and are included in many of the important government communications that this would cover,” Sauvé said.

Congratulations, PIF-Michigan partners!

Michigan Radio NPR Article

MLPP Language Access Issue Brief

Visit our website at www.pifcoalition.org

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.