Final results are in for the mid-term elections. A new, Democratically-controlled House and Senate will take office in January.

As advocates, we know that we cannot assume political support for the issues that matter to us and to the homeless people we serve. While some members of Congress are more supportive than others, we must build support wherever we can among Democrats, Republicans and Independents. For better or worse, our own history shows that homelessness is not a partisan issue.

We must be prepared with our own agenda for Congress and the Administration. Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the McKinney-Vento Act. At the time, it was meant as only a first, emergency step towards addressing what Congress then said was a national crisis. While we have worked to expand and extend the McKinney-Vento Act and have made inroads into the larger anti-poverty programs, the Act still stands as the only major federal response to homelessness.

Its time to make good on the original promise to prevent and end homelessness. In 2007, we plan to call on the new Congress to do so. We need your ideas and input.

To get involved, please write to our Policy Director, Laurel Weir.

In 2007, Congress will begin the daunting task of reviewing and revising the No Child Left Behind Act, one of the nations most significant federal education laws, including its Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program. This program, originally a part of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, has been critical in ensuring that homeless students are able to enroll in school and maintain school stability.

In preparation for next year, NLCHP and the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children & Youth (NAEHCY) are soliciting comments from educators and advocates across the country. Through this process, we are gaining new insights into program successes and areas that need improvement. Our helpful contributors are sharing their ideas about how to better serve homeless students as well as best practices that have been working in their communities.

NLCHP and NAEHCY are planning to compile this information and share it with members of Congress as it reconsiders EHCY. Although Congress process will begin next year, it will most likely be a multi-year effort.

If you have experience with the EHCY program and have comments, concerns, or ideas about how to improve the law, please e-mail our Children & Youth staff attorney, Joy Moses.

NLCHP thanks the Freddie Mac Foundation for its support of the Children and Youth Program.

NLCHP recently completed a toolkit that will help organizations access property and other resources made available through the Department of Defenses 2005 military base closures. In prior rounds of closures, nonprofits have successfully applied for family housing units, jobs for homeless people, and money for homeless assistance programs.

Last year, government officials selected dozens of properties across the country to close as part of an ongoing restructuring project. Because of a 1994 law that NLCHP helped enact, homeless assistance groups have an opportunity to obtain at no cost buildings, land, money, and other resources that become available through the closings. The Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act requires communities to consider the needs of homeless people, as expressed by nonprofit applicants, when planning the redevelopment of former military facilities.

If your homeless assistance organization operates in a community that has military property slated for closure, you are encouraged to consider submitting an application.

Click here for NLCHPs Base Closure Toolkit.

Click here for the Department of Defenses base closure website.

For more information, please contact NLCHP Policy Director Laurel Weir.

NLCHP thanks the Fannie Mae Foundation for its support of this program.

This December 10, NLCHP will join with organizations across the country and around the world to celebrate International Human Rights Day 2006. This year, the official U.N. theme is Fighting Poverty: A Matter of Obligation, Not Charity.

As the holidays roll around, many peoples thoughts turn to the less fortunate in our society. They donate money, toys, and turkey dinners to help make homeless and poor peoples holidays a bit brighter. While Americans should be commended for their giving spirit, our holiday generosity belies a bleaker truth: our nation should not rely on charity to ensure that every American has a warm and safe holiday season.

The government has many programs in place aimed at the eradication of poverty and homelessness, but these programs are under-funded and inaccessible. This under-funding is not simply an unfortunate consequence of budgetary trade-offs  it is a violation of the human right to housing and many other human rights.

So please give generously this holiday season. But also use this time, especially on Human Rights Day, to advocate with your friends, family, and colleagues to make this country a place where we no longer need charity. Help our government see that fighting poverty is not a matter of charity, but a moral  and legal  obligation.

Click here for more information on the human right to housing.

Click here for more information on Human Rights Day 2006.

NLCHP thanks the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the U.S. Human Rights Fund for their support of the Human Rights Program.

The Ad Council recently launched an unprecedented Public Service Advertising (PSA) initiative entitled Generous Nation that will help bolster the programs of NLCHP as well the entire nonprofit community.

The campaign was created to inspire and motivate the public to help their communities by giving the time, money, or whatever it takes to help their fellow Americans. The message of the campaign is a simple one: Dont almost give  give.

The campaign of TV, radio, print, and internet PSAs will encourage viewers to visit a new, comprehensive website where they can find ways to donate their money, donate their time, and learn about nontraditional ways to help their community. The website links to the nations leading service organizations, and NLCHP is listed under the Homelessness/Poverty category.

Another way to give to NLCHP this holiday season is directly through our website. Thank you for considering us in your holiday giving plan.

There are many opportunities to make a difference in your community. So, when youre looking to contribute this holiday season, Dont almost give  give.

Click here for the Ad Council's Generous Nation website.

Click here for the NLCHP page on the Generous Nation website.

Maria Foscarinis, NLCHP Founder and Executive Director, has been named the 2006 recipient of the Annual Public Interest Achievement Award by the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) of the Columbia Law School.

"Maria is the type of leader that we all wish to be," said Kaitlin Cordes, president of the PILF board of directors, "one who is both effective and passionate enough to make a difference in the world."

Since 1991, PILF has hosted an annual dinner to bring together Columbia Law School alumni, faculty, students, and New York area lawyers to present the Public Interest Achievement Award to an individual who has made significant contributions to public interest law.

Maria will receive the award during a dinner at the Faculty House at Columbia University on November 29 for her role as an architect of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and for her tireless efforts to advocate for solutions to homelessness at the national level since 1985.

"The PILF board of directors believes she is an inspiring role model for students who want to blaze their own trail and contribute to society," Cordes explained.

NLCHP filed an amicus brief in a case challenging Las Vegas new law that prohibits sharing food with indigent people in public parks. NLCHP was joined by the National Coalition for the Homeless, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, National Center on Family Homelessness, National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness, and National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in opposing Las Vegas new law.

The law is a fairly outrageous example of a city discriminating against poor and homeless individuals, said Tulin Ozdeger, NLCHP Civil Rights Staff Attorney. Instead of punishing providers who are meeting a need, the City should be pursuing solutions to homelessness.

The plaintiffs in the suit, represented by the ACLU of Nevada, are various individuals who share food with homeless people in public parks. To provide a greater context of the impact of this law, NLCHPs brief focused on the homeless persons perspective. NLCHP and its partners state that, due to a lack of adequate shelter space and affordable housing in Las Vegas, many homeless people are forced to live outside. Those individuals may have difficulty accessing indoor food programs for a variety of reasons and, therefore, rely on outdoor food programs. Further, the law violates their equal protection rights, as well as their right to associate with the providers of food.

Click here for a copy of the amicus brief.

NLCHPs Domestic Violence Program regularly organizes and participates in teleconferences and in- person education and trainings for advocates, service providers, and housing providers on housing protections for domestic violence survivors in Public and Section 8 housing and related developments. NLCHP and its partners help facilitate such trainings and encourage local advocates and housing providers to do the same.

Program director Naomi Stern has been, and continues to be, very active in educating advocates on the recent developments in housing protections.

In October, Stern organized and moderated a panel at the 2006 National Meeting of the Housing Justice Network, a biannual national conference of housing legal services providers.

This month, Stern spoke about local developments in fair housing and domestic violence issues at a staff lunch hosted by the Equal Rights Center, a D.C.-area fair housing organization. In addition, she spoke on a seminar panel about violence against women and housing for the 2006-2007 class of Womens Law and Public Policy Fellows.

Later this month, Stern is scheduled to speak about housing issues facing survivors of domestic and sexual violence at the 8th Ending Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Conference in Kentucky. She will also co-present in a teleconference for housing and family violence advocates hosted by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Texas Council on Family Violence.

In December, Stern is scheduled to clarify recently enacted protections to the Housing Task Force of the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau.

NLCHP thanks the Trellis Fund and the Freddie Mac Foundation for their support of the Domestic Violence Program.

Visit our website at www.nlchp.org! Contact us at (202) 638-2535 or email us at network@nlchp.org