August Recess is a congressional tradition that brings heightened opportunities to reach out to your federal lawmakers where you – and they – live. U.S. representatives traditionally return to their home districts in this month to engage with their constituents.

What does this mean for constituents? Town Halls and in-district meetings may be available in this period that create windows to raise your experiences, the experiences of your faith community, and policy concerns locally. It is a time faith voices can highlight ministries of accompaniment and draw attention to communities and concerns whose concerns may be disregarded in political processes.

How do you find out what opportunities are available? Your lawmaker’s Web presence is likely to highlight opportunities. One way to get to that Website is from govtrack.us. Local media and publicity may also share a schedule.

• If a Town Hall is listed, it may be an open forum or a virtual experience. You may need to register to attend and/or raise a question. Virtual experiences may be especially constrained in a question-and-answer format, but any Town Hall can be a meaningful connection point.
• You may request a local meeting in this period – but request this time on your lawmaker’s calendar as early as possible since calendars get filled.
  • Issue-centric meetings can be held in-person or virtually and will be strongest with intentional preparation including by pre-planning partner attendees. Find tips below.
  •  A showcase of your ministry can be an effective relationship builder with your presence in the community. In-person or virtually, a tour and impact illustration can position ongoing connection.
  • A chance for a lawmaker to speak or connect with constituents after a worship service or event can also be a strong relationship building experience, mindful that participation by congregations in such activities must be strictly nonpartisan and abide by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines.

If an ELCA-affiliated State Public Policy office is in your area, these leaders can be very helpful for local education and lawmaker connections.

Here is a ELCA Advocacy blog post with suggestions from our ELCA federal policy staff about issues that intersect with ELCA Federal Policy Priorities for the 119th Congress which are presently on the horizon. Question prompts may help you shape a timely way to use August Recess opportunities.

Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight

Helping someone participate in something new takes patience.

Most people don’t decide to vote because of a single conversation. They participate because someone they trust took the time to listen, answer questions, and stay connected.

Every conversation is a seed. Over time, those seeds can grow into action.

Begin with Their Story

Instead of starting with politics, begin with people’s everyday lives.

Ask questions like:

• How have rising costs affected you lately?
• What’s been weighing on you this year?
• What challenges have you or your family been facing?
• If you could change one thing about your community, what would it be?

People are often willing to open up when they know you genuinely want to understand their experiences.

Lead with Curiosity

Our goal isn’t to win an argument. It’s to understand one another.

• Listen with patience.
• Ask thoughtful follow-up questions.
• Resist the urge to immediately offer solutions.
• Look for opportunities to learn before trying to be heard.

When people feel seen and heard, they are far more likely to stay engaged in the conversation.

Connect Their Story to the Bigger Picture

As trust grows, gently connect their experiences to the decisions our communities make together.

If they mention rising utility bills:

• “I’ve been thinking about that too. It reminds me how much decisions about energy affect everyday families.”

If they’re worried about housing:

• “That’s one reason I’ve started paying more attention to local government. Those decisions shape what’s possible for our neighborhoods.”

If they mention health care:

• “Everyone deserves access to quality health care. That’s something I think about when I decide who to support.”

If they’re concerned about extreme heat:

• “I’ve learned how much local leaders influence investments in cooling centers, shade, trees, and neighborhood resilience.”

These connections invite reflection without putting someone on the defensive.

Remember the Goal

The goal isn’t to persuade someone in a single conversation.

It’s to help people recognize that many of the challenges they face are shared by their neighbors—and that, together, communities have the ability to shape a better future.

Healthy democracy begins with healthy relationships.

Stay Tuned

We’ll continue sharing practical ideas for having meaningful conversations about civic participation and voting.

Because building a stronger Nevada takes all of us.

A bipartisan group of members of Congress has successfully passed legislation aimed at increasing the nation’s housing supply by reducing some federal regulations, streamlining environmental reviews, accelerating the homebuilding process, and limiting the ability of large corporations to purchase single-family homes.

For Nevada, where housing affordability continues to be one of the state’s most pressing challenges, these conversations are especially important.

Nevada has experienced rapid population growth while the supply of affordable homes has struggled to keep pace. Many families spend a significant share of their income on housing, and rising home prices and rents have made it increasingly difficult for first-time homebuyers, essential workers, seniors, and young families to remain in the communities where they live and work.

While increasing the housing supply is an important step, this proposal alone will not solve Nevada’s housing challenges. Our state also faces rising construction costs, a shortage of skilled workers, increasing insurance premiums, limited infrastructure in fast-growing communities, and wages that have not kept pace with the cost of housing.

Nevada’s housing needs are also unique. With more than 80 percent of the state’s land managed by the federal government, conversations about where and how housing is built often intersect with public land policy, water availability, transportation, and responsible community planning. Expanding housing should not come at the expense of Nevada’s treasured public lands or the long-term sustainability of our communities.

Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada (LEAN) believes everyone deserves access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. We support policies that increase the supply of housing while protecting renters, encouraging thoughtful land use, strengthening tenant protections, investing in affordable and workforce housing, and ensuring that homes remain places for families—not simply investment opportunities.

Housing is about more than buildings. It is about dignity, stability, and creating communities where every neighbor has the opportunity to thrive.

The ELCA Witness in Society federal advocacy office is tracking a busy and consequential season in Washington, with urgent attention to hunger, health care, housing, immigration, education, voting rights, disaster recovery, international food aid, care for creation and peace.

For Lutherans in Nevada these are not abstract federal debates. They touch food pantries, border communities, congregations, campus ministries, shelters, public schools and neighbors struggling to meet basic needs.

A central concern remains the 2026 Farm Bill and the future of SNAP, the nation’s largest anti-hunger program. ELCA advocacy staff are monitoring congressional action as lawmakers debate nutrition, agriculture, rural development, conservation and international food aid. New federal requirements and cost shifts could make it harder for states to administer SNAP and harder for eligible families to access food assistance. As Lutheran ministries report rising need, LEAN joins the call for a Farm Bill that supports both farmers and hungry families.

The team also raises concern about efforts to tighten access to Medicaid, TANF and other anti-poverty supports. These programs serve many of the poorest families in our communities, including children, seniors and people with disabilities. In Arizona, where AHCCCS is a lifeline for many families, federal choices that affect health care access deserve close attention.

Housing is another major federal priority. ELCA advocacy has supported bipartisan housing legislation that would expand affordability and housing supply, renew rural housing programs, update manufactured housing policy and strengthen disaster recovery. Congress has also advanced the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act as part of a larger housing package, which would help make Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding more reliable and timely after disasters. For Arizona communities facing housing instability, extreme heat and disaster risk, these investments matter.

ELCA advocacy is also tracking changes in education, civil rights enforcement and voting access. Proposed federal restructuring could affect protections for students with disabilities and historically marginalized students. Meanwhile, efforts to make voter registration and participation more difficult remain a concern, especially for women, rural voters, low-income communities, marginalized communities and members of Tribal Nations.

Immigration and refugee policy remain urgent as well. ELCA advocacy continues to raise concerns about large increases in immigration enforcement funding without sufficient protections, oversight or accountability. For Arizona Lutherans, this is close to home. Border communities, immigrant families, asylum seekers and congregations engaged in accompaniment ministry know that humane policy, due process and family unity are matters of faith and neighbor love.

Internationally, ELCA advocacy continues to engage food aid, humanitarian response, global health and peace. The Senate Farm Bill draft would extend vital international food aid programs, including Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition. ELCA advocacy is also monitoring global health response capacity and the humanitarian impact of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.

Taken together, these wide-ranging topics remind us that budgets, agency decisions and legislation are moral documents. They reveal whose needs are seen, whose burdens are shared and whose voices are heard. LEAN’s public witness is rooted not in partisanship, but in love of neighbor — especially neighbors who are hungry, unhoused, uninsured, displaced, excluded, disabled, endangered or unheard.

As Congress moves through the coming months, we encourage Arizona Lutherans to stay informed, pray for public servants, contact members of Congress, attend town halls, request meetings during district work periods and share what our congregations and ministries are seeing in local communities. Faithful advocacy is one way we live out our baptismal calling in public life: seeking justice, peace and the well-being of all.

Happy July, Nevada!

While many of us are thinking about barbecues, road trips, and staying cool, 24 new Nevada laws officially took effect on July 1!

Some of the changes include:
More opportunities to build backyard casitas (ADUs)
New school cellphone policies
Expanded behavioral health initiatives
Protections related to Nevada’s extreme heat
Consumer and homeowner protections
…and much more!

Most people don’t realize it, but laws passed during the legislative session don’t usually take effect right away. July 1 is when many of those ideas become reality.

This is a reminder that advocacy works. Every phone call, testimony, meeting with a legislator, email, and vote can help shape policies that affect our families and communities.

At LEAN, we’ll be breaking down these new laws over the coming weeks and exploring what they mean through the lens of faith and the common good.

Which new law are you most interested in learning more about?