LSS President Elected to LSA Board

Barbara Dröher Kline was elected to a six-year term on the board of directors of Lutheran Services in America, an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and their related social ministry organizations (such as Lutheran Social Services of Northern California) LSA strengthens and adds value to the ministries of its member organizations, facilitates ministries best done together rather than as individual organizations, and enhances the witness of Lutheran social ministry. The national office is located at the Lutheran Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

LSA's more than 300 health and human service organizations provide care in thousands of communities in the United States and the Caribbean. Last year, these organizations served more than 6 million unduplicated clients, meaning that they served one in 50 people in the service territory. Utilizing the skill and dedication of a quarter of a million staff and volunteers, LSA member organizations provide services ranging from health care to disaster response, from services for children and families to care for the elderly, from adoption to advocacy.

Congratulations, Barbara!

LSS CFAO Appointed to County Leadership

Congratulations to Tracy Fraas, our Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, who was recently appointed to both the Family and Children’s Services Advisory Committee and the Economic Opportunity Council (EOC), both of Contra Costa County.

Organized under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the EOC is advisory council to the county Board of Supervisors and the Community Services Department. It is a tri-partite body with representation in the private, public and low-income sectors of Contra Costa County.

The FCSAC advises the Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator and the Employment and Human Services Director in the area of welfare and related services. This includes evaluation of the effectiveness of current and proposed social welfare programs and/or legislation, interpreting the functions of the County and the problems of public welfare to the citizens of the County, and identifying problems in the community that impinge on low-income residents, such as housing, transportation, education and employment opportunities.

LSS Ranks High in Sacramento County

Each year, Sacramento County goes through a ranking process for both new and renewal projects. This process is facilitated by Home Base, a law firm from the Bay Area, to which we submitted our HUD application and additional information as requested by the ranking committee (leverage letters, audit info, outcomes results, etc.) The ranking panel, made up of knowledgeable community partners, ranked the 29 renewal projects LSS scored:

#1 Saybrook
#2 Building Bridges Expansion
#7 Building Bridges
#11 Adolfo
#16 THPF

THANK YOU to all of you for your support – LSS leveraged over $8 million dollars in volunteer services, in-kind donations and financial contributions!

AIDS Financial Services Client Satisfaction Surveys

Last October we distributed client satisfaction surveys to 447 clients in our AIDS Financial Services program; 217, or 49 percent, responded.

98% of clients reported being either very satisfied or satisfied with staff sensitivity to needs, specifically including availability and respect.

93% of clients reported being either very satisfied or satisfied with the location of our office. Some of these clients have commented that our current location is “healthier” for them. The new space accommodates our continuing growth in size while at the same time maintaining a convenient proximity to other agencies and community services our clients regularly visit.

The majority of these responses show that the AFS program has been most helpful in money management and budgeting – 63%. This response is closely followed by the responses: “Increasing the stability of my life” (50%), “Advocacy with Social Security regarding my benefits” (47%), “Obtaining and/or maintaining permanent housing” (45%), “Reducing substance abuse” (32%), and “linking me with other services that are helpful” (30%).

Overall, 99% of clients reported being either very satisfied or satisfied with services being provided by the AFS program (5% higher than last year!). Overall, responses from clients were very supportive and favorable. We look forward in continuing providing services that are deemed both valuable and desirable to our clients in the next contract period.

Read the entire satisfaction survey results

Living in God's Grace: Bringing Good News to the Poor

We ask for your support and prayers for Lutheran Social Services of Northern California as we approach the Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly in Burlingame. The theme of this synod assembly is “Living in God’s Grace: Bringing Good News to the Poor.” Yet the draft budget for 2007, which the assembly will discuss and vote on, proposes REDUCING synod support for Lutheran Social Services from $25,000 to $1,000. The East Bay Conference will be presenting a resolution to the assembly to restore funding. We hope that lay and clergy voting delegates will correct the injustice of the drastic reduction in support and will ask that the Sierra Pacific Synod continue to sustain its financial support for the poorest of the poor through restoration of the Synod’s benevolent support to LSS of Northern California.

Read the East Bay Conference Resolution

Update Following the Synod Assembly

As you may know, the Sierra Pacific Finance Committee submitted a budget for 2007 that would have cut funding for LSS by 96%, from $25,000 to $1,000. In order to make up for this budget cut and meager funding, the Synod Finance Committee proposed a new program called "Second Mile Giving," in which LSS would be given two months in calendar year 2007 to solicit contributions from the congregations of the Sierra Pacific Synod, in order to obtain supplemental funds to enhance the amount included in the Synod Budget. The anticipated amounts to be earned from Second Mile Giving were listed in the proposed budget. This concerned us because bulletin inserts do not a budget make. The numbers listed are, at best, only expectations of what the congregations might contribute in 2007 to the Synod’s ministry partners.

The resolution offered by the East Bay Conference to restore LSS funding to its 2004 level of $50,500 failed. It needed a 2/3 majority to pass and the vote was pretty evenly split in half.

Several amendments were offered during the discussion of the motion to adopt the proposed budget. One proposed amendment suggested reducing support to the national church and eliminating synod staff’s 2% cost of living increase. Four or five amendments that cut line items to increase others were proposed, and were all defeated. A question posed from the floor as to what would happen if the assembly did not approve the budget sent synod staff and the parliamentarian to read the fine print in the Synod constitution and bylaws.

Finally, Pastor Jim Goldsmith of Eel River Parish made a motion to add about $60,000 to the revenue side of the budget, which would allow restoration of funding for ministry partners at their 2006 levels. The authorization of "Second Mile Giving" was implicitly included in the amended motion to adopt the budget, which means that LSS and other social ministries now have an opportunity in 2007 to supplement their funds from Synod through direct appeals to congregations. Voting members seemed excited by the challenge: the proposed amendment passed resoundingly and the budget was overwhelmingly approved. The assembly burst into applause and personally, after a couple of very frustrating days of tense expectation, I felt very proud to be there as both a representative of LSS and as a Lutheran of the Sierra Pacific Synod.

Thanks to everyone for your support, thoughtfulness and prayers!

LSS and the CNH District

At their recent district assembly, the CNH District of the LC-MS passed a resolution (number 3-03) to support the housing ministries of Lutheran Social Services of Northern California.

A summary of the actions taken by the assembly can be found here.

Full text of the resolutions

LSS Annual Phonathon

Our annual Phonathon will be held during the week of June 25. This is a wonderful chance to connect with our supporters, thank them for their previous gifts and invite their financial participation as we move forward.

Volunteers are needed to help staff phone lines on Sunday, June 25 and Monday, June 26 in Concord. Training, script, fellowship and dinner will be provided.

If you can help out, please let me know!

Yes, I'm able to make calls!

Online Giving

LSS is now able to accept secure donations through its website.

Our new online giving page recognizes the needs of our donors to have a more flexible, convenient, and efficient way to make financial gifts.

We hope you find this new option useful and welcome your feedback.

Thank you for your support of Lutheran Social Services of Northern California!

Current News