Call Your Legislator!

CALL NOW and GET YOUR FRIENDS & COMMUNITY TO DO THE SAME

Ask for your State Senator’s and State Representative’s support for restoring the cuts to the budget for housing, services, and education.

Need help finding your elected official? Go to www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm or call 1-866-268-8603, Committee of Seventy’s Citizen Access Center

SCRIPT (This is just a guide. Say what is most important to you in your own way.)

Hello, may I please speak with [SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE]? My name is _______ and I live in [NAME OF AREA].

I'm calling to ask for your continued support of housing, services, education, and healthcare in this year’s State and city budget. Help Philadelphia continue to provide these services and maintain a balanced budget by passing the 1% sales tax increase for the city of Philadelphia.

I also support raising taxes over cutting services in the state budget. Please protect… (pick one or two points from this list)

1. Housing and Homeless Programs—Please fully restore funding for the vital Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED) budget programs. Protect the State investment in local housing and community revitalization that generated 4,000 jobs and helped build, rehab, or repair 7,000 homes statewide over the past 2 yrs.

2. Mental health and substance abuse services—The cuts proposed during this process are devastating for persons in the community who need mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services; thousands of individuals will lose access to needed services. With the proposed cuts to date, almost 7,000 persons receiving mental health services will no longer be able to access services, and an additional 6,000 persons will lose access to drug and alcohol treatment services thru Behavioral Health Special Initiative (BHSI) funds.

3. Education and Health Care Programs - 4,200 kids will lose their health coverage and education programs if funding is cut. The economic health of our community depends on the education and health of our youth. For example, Project H.O.M.E. would directly lose over $130,000 in funding for the Teen Program at its Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs through the elimination of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit.

Do we have the [REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR’s] support to restore the cuts to the budget for housing, services, healthcare, and education?

Thank you for taking the time to talk today.