Dear Friend,

Congress is expected to vote in the coming days on the next coronavirus stimulus
package. This round is expected to largely deal with an increase in funding to
assist small businesses. While additional support to small businesses is
important, now is the time to raise our voices together to ensure that other
urgent and critical needs are addressed in this next round.

Take Action
[[link removed]]Please help us in advocating for:

* Increased support and funding to the healthcare system and medical workers to ensure our medical professionals have what they need to do their jobs
safely and treat infected patients — including greater access to PPE,
ventilators, and other necessary medical equipment.
* Dramatically increased testing through federally coordinated efforts, to ensure we have reliable and
holistic data to inform public health experts’ decisions to ease and lift
restrictions.
* Increased racial and demographic data to better understand the racial disparities around testing and treatment and
help inform future support to the communities and groups that are being
disproportionately impacted.
* Ensure a free, fair, and safe election in November by including at least $4 billion in additional funding for election
preparedness and mandating that states expand voter registration, recruit
additional poll workers, and implement in-person early voting, no-excuse
absentee voting by mail, voter education, and safe in-person voting on
Election Day.
* Increasing SNAP benefits by 15 percent to meet individual food needs and bolster local economies and businesses.
* Protect immigrant families by the release of all detained children, families, and adults, so they can
stay safe and healthy. Allow free access to medical tests and healthcare for
all members of the immigrant community, allow families who filed taxes with
Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) to receive a stimulus
check, so all American children can be protected, and suspend the public
charge rule.

This pandemic has revealed the inequities and injustices that have for too long
existed in our country. Though the virus may not discriminate, our systemic and
structural injustices do. And in the United States this means that those who are
bearing the brunt of the impact of this disease are those who have been
historically, structurally, systemically, and even politically marginalized and
oppressed. We must address the real needs of impacted communities — especially
those who have been left out of past negotiations.

Take Action
[[link removed]]We don’t expect this to be the last round of stimulus, and we will continue to
fight for these critical needs in later negotiations if they are not addressed
in this round.

In faith,

Rev. Adam Taylor
Executive Director

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