The 2013 Minnesota State Legislative Session has begun!  Now is the time to take a significant step toward ending poverty in Minnesota by 2020.

Please read the information below and then take three action steps.   

A Minnesota Without Poverty, along with over 70 other organizations, has embarked on a multi-year process to reinvigorate and move forward the recommendations from the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020. We have named that process Connecting to End Poverty: Moving the Legislative Commission to End Poverty Recommendations Forward in the Legislature.

Through this collaborative approach, we hope to drive progress toward ending poverty in Minnesota by doing the following:

• Convene organizations and key people
• Track progress toward ending poverty
• Inform the Legislature and the general public
• Plan for implementation of the recommendations

The first convening of organizations and leaders took place on December 5, 2012. At the event, participants identified upcoming policies which they felt would make the greatest impact. The two issues which received the most support were (1) Family Economic Security Act (which includes raising the minimum wage, childcare assistance, and tax credits), and (2) the Poverty Impact Statement (or Poverty Impact Projection-PIP). Both of these bills will be introduced soon.

Cynthia Boyd, from MinnPost, attended the December 5 convening and wrote two articles on issues from the event:

Proposals from anti-poverty conference

Do proposed laws need a 'poverty impact statement'?

The next steps in the Connecting to End Poverty work plan are now in process:

• Create a dedicated webpage (now available at http://www.mnwithoutpoverty.org/connecting-to-end-poverty.html )   This site, which is still in progress, will include background materials on the LCEP recommendations, documents presented by various speakers on Dec 5, bills introduced into the legislature, links to the organizations working on various aspects of the LCEP recommendations, information on how to jointly advocate for the identified issues, sites and dates for the regional convenings, and other pertinent information.
• Convene regional gatherings. We plan to host convenings on eight sites throughout the state. The planning and dates for these convenings are now in process and will be posted on the webpage as they are scheduled.  The purpose of these regional convenings is to engage statewide in making a coordinated and significant step in moving the LCEP recommendations forward during the 2013 legislative session and beyond.

We will continue to update you on the introduction of bills that help to implement the LCEP recommendations, especially the two priority issues: Family Economic Security Act, and the Poverty Impact Projections. 

Please visit the webpage often for updates.

Now-Please take the following three action steps to help move forward the work to end poverty in Minnesota:

• Read-or become familiar with-the recommendations of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020 (See a summary of report and link to full report at http://www.mnwithoutpoverty.org/resources/lcep-recommendations.html )
• Contact your state senator and representative to
  • Encourage them to read the LCEP report (Many of the newly-elected legislators have not heard of the LCEP report and recommendations).
  •  Alert them that several bills will be introduced this session to implement some of the LCEP recommendations.
  • Let them know you will contact them again, and ask for their support, when the bills have been introduced. 
• Attend JRLC's Day on the Hill-February 21, 2013:  If you have not registered, here is the link: http://www.jrlc.org/register-for-day-on-the-hill