Jeff Naylor of Homes for Families passed on this action alert. OUR calls/emails can make a big difference since OUR Western Mass. Representative John Olver chairs the Congressional Committee that will make the funding decisions.
The Federal House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations Subcommittee will finalize its spending reccomendations for the FY2011 federal budget Thursday morning, July 1! This is the subcommittee in the House of Representatives that recommends the amount in the budget for the McKinney Vento funding.
In order to fully fund McKinney-Vento for next year please send 2 emails to the following:
1. Email Blair Anderson Blair.Anderson@mail.house.gov in Chairman Olver’s office and Laura Hogshead Laura.Hogshead@mail.house.gov in the committee office TODAY . A sample email is below.
2. And CALL Rep. Olver’s office, too:
Washington, D.C. office: 202-225-5335
Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties: 413-532-7010
Berkshire County: 413-442-0946
The sample email:
Dear Ms. Hogshead and Mr. Anderson,
I am writing to urge Chairman to fund for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants programs at of $2.4 billion in the FY 2011 HUD appropriations bill.
We greatly appreciate his commitment to ending homelessness and his assistance in enacting the HEARTH Act last year, which reauthorizes the McKinney program.
I know you have received many letters, calls, and emails this year about the importance of providing $2.4 billion for McKinney programs in FY 2011. Without that funding level, we will be unable to fully implement the HEARTH Act, and Western, MA may receive little to no funding for new projects in FY 2011.
Please let me know when would be a good time to follow up with you. I look forward to Chairman Olver’s support on this critical issue.
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Let’s do it!
