If you are planning on sending a letter or email before our June 14th Day of action here is a template for you to use.

Email or Letter Template: Use Sacramento County ARPA Dollars to Fund Community-Based

Organizations Serving Our Unhoused Neighbors

UUSS folks:  We are more powerful if we act together! Please:

• identify yourself as part of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento,
• email or send letter to the Supervisor of your County district AND cc Supervisor Rich Desmond in whose  district UUSS is located,
• if you do not live in the County email to BoardClerk@saccounty.net and all supervisors will receive it,
• Wait and send your email June 10-13 and send letters by USPS on June 8 or 9.

How to Use This Document:

Sacramento County has received a LOT of money from the federal government to help our communities recover from the impacts of the COVID pandemic. As advocates for health and racial equity, we are not impressed with how they have used it. Many decisions by the Board of Supervisors make it obvious that racial equity is not guiding decision making. Right now, our county leaders are deciding how to spend the rest of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. We are asking for the Board of Supervisors to make racial equity and housing solutions their top two priorities when allocating ARPA funds.

The following template is meant to help you email or send a letter to your local supervisor asking them to commit to giving ARPA funding to community-based organizations serving our unhoused neighbors. Sharing your own reasons for being invested in this issue and/or providing personal experiences will make your letter more memorable and impactful.

Dear [Supervisor],

My name is _______, and I am [a member or “with” as appropriate] of the Unitarian Universalist and I live in your district at ______ (or that you work, play, or go to church, etc., in Sacramento County if you aren’t a County resident). It is important to me that you use federal COVID relief money to directly fund community-based organizations that are serving unhoused people in Sacramento County because __________.

To meet the growing needs of our unhoused population, we need to fund community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide supportive services for the unhoused and prevention services that keep people off of the streets. Fund our local CBOs – don’t fund law enforcement to carry out homelessness responses.

Our local CBOs are effective and trusted, and they are already providing vital services to our unhoused neighbors, but they need more funding to address this urgent crisis. Housing is a human right, and homelessness is a racial justice issue – Black Californians are 6 times more likely to experience homelessness than their white peers.

I kindly ask that you send a written response to _______ and say whether you will commit a significant portion of Sacramento County’s American Rescue Plan Act funding to CBOs in service of our unhoused neighbors.

Sincerely,

Cc: Supervisor Rich Desmond