On the morning of September 6 Crossroads Urban Center will be holding its annual Poverty Summit at at Hilltop United Methodist Church in Sandy. Highlights for the summit will include:

• A keynote address about how Medicaid cuts may impact Salt Lake County by Salt Lake County Council Member Suzanne Harrison.
• A panel discussion about how Utah can reduce SNAP benefit theft featuring Gina Cornia, from Utahns Against Hunger,  Representative Tyler Clancy, from the Utah House of Representatives,  Shantelle Roberts, from the Utah Department of Workforce Services, Tiffany Blair, from the Otherside Village, and Lieutenant Chad Jenson from the Utah State Bureau of Investigation.
• A panel discussion on why housing and other gaps in Utah's homeless services system featuring Tara Rollins from the Utah Housing Coalition, Representative  Representative Carol Spackman Moss, and Senator Nate Blouin, and,
• Presentation of the annual Hellraiser Award to one of Utah's fiercest champions for people who depend on Medicaid to access basic healthcare, Stephanie Burdick.

In short, the summit really is going to be a fun and important event.

Raising teenagers can be challenging. Now, some powerful members of the United States Senate want to make things harder for low income parents of children aged fourteen and older by quadrupling the paperwork they are required to complete to maintain access to healthcare through Medicaid coverage.

How much paperwork is too much paperwork?

On Thursday, May 1, 2025, the Faith and Advocacy Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness submitted the following letter to Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services, and other state leaders, raising concerns about a proposal to add work requirements to Utah’s Medicaid Program.  The letter was signed by 67 people from eleven different denominations and three different nonprofit organizations, located in areas ranging from Ogden to Park City to Springville.  This proposal would require thousands of underemployed and unemployed Utahns to apply for 48 jobs within three months in order to maintain access to basic healthcare. 

Here are six statements from people about why they signed the letter:

1. Rev. Lora Young, Minister, South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society:  "Parents want a better life for their children.  This waiver does not help them succeed- the difference between 29 and 30 hours per week is a systemic issue for business owners and corporations rooted in a healthcare system that has failed us.  Placing burdens to somehow prove worthiness for benefits through metrics such as requiring 48 applications in three months does not change the job market, wage rates, marketability or skills or the availability of reliable and affordable child care.  It only makes a parents life more difficult and stressful- because now they have yet one more stressor to address.  Let's create policies that recognize and address real barriers so that parents can succeed rather than struggle even more to make ends meet.  Utah can be a model for sensible, compassionate, fair and effective policies that support families- this has long been a value in Utah and as a faith leader I know we can accomplish this and so much more if we work together on this."  
2. Reverend Philip M. Rogers II, Mountain Vista United Methodist Church:  "As a United Methodist clergyperson fully committed to justice and compassion, I am deeply troubled by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services move to impose stricter work requirements on Medicaid recipients. Healthcare is a human right, not a reward for employment. Policies that threaten to strip coverage from vulnerable neighbors contradict the biblical call to do good, do no harm, and stay in love with God by caring for the least among us. While I believe the intention of our state leaders is likely pure- urging all of our fellow community members to become self-sustaining and to contribute to the greater good of the community- this action will only serve to further bury them in a system that is not created for independence and I call on our state leaders to reconsider this and stand against unjust ideas."
3. Charles Hines, Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi Christian Church (Disciples of Christ):  "As a person involved with prison ministry, I believe that good job programs sell themselves. People, released from prison, with children over age 6 should not have to live under the cloud of losing Medicaid. The challenges already faced by released prisoners are great."
4.  Deb Elstad, Lay Leader, Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church:  "As Lutherans and Christians, the central call to believers is most emphatic that we tend first to our less able or less fortunate neighbors: feed the hungry, care for the sick and homeless.  We are compelled to open the doors wide to provide for these neighbors. Legislative efforts that would increase barriers, reduce or eliminate assistance already provided by federal or state programs is in opposition to these fundamentals. We believe everyone is worthy of healthcare and basic life-sustaining services. All efforts to create them and maintain them are of utmost importance."
5. Linda F. Smith,  Board Member, First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City:  “Requiring parents of school-aged children who are already working part-time to apply for 48 different  jobs every three months is not going to help them achieve better earnings or better employment. They already have incentives to do that. Many have challenges with balancing their work schedules and their kids school schedules, many have children with disabilities or medical needs that preclude working more than they already are." 
6. Alice Griffin, Board Member, Crossroads Urban Center:  ""Crossroads Urban Center's food pantries and thrift store help people every day who are working low wage jobs that don't provide healthcare benefits.  They come to us because they don't get paid enough to be able to pay for rent all their other bills.  Those people should not be be forced to take time off work to apply for 48 other low paying jobs in three months.  Instead they need programs that help them find better jobs without risking losing the job they already have."

by Bill Tibbitts

On March 23, 2025 Mia Love died.  Love was a descendant of Haitian immigrants who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, moved to Utah. started a family.  In 2008 she successfully ran to be a member of the Saratoga Springs City Council and the first person of African American descent to win an election in Utah County.  She later became Mayor of Saratoga Springs and then, in 2012, become the first African American Republican women to be elected to Congress.

My personal interactions with MIa Love are fairly limited.  During Donald Trump's first term in office she was one of the few Republicans  in Congress who were willing to publicly support legislation that would have provided a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants who first came to the United States as children, also know as "Dreamers".   During this time I helped to organize meetings with Love's congressional staff and ,members of the coalition that is now called FACE Hunger and Homelessness.  The purpose of these meetings was to thank Love for spending political capital to support young people who had lived most of their lives in the United States and ask if there were ways we could support her efforts to promote good legislation.

In one of the meetings with staff someone mentioned that my son, Oliver, had recently died after a long battle with leukemia.  Her staff person expressed sympathy and then the conversation was redirected to discussing immigrations policy.  A day or two later I was surprised when this staff person told me that Love had expressed an interest in talking to me personally.  When she called we did not talk about policy at all.  Instead she told me that she had read Oliver's obituary and that he sounded like a remarkable person.  She listened while I told her stories about Oliver and then told me a bit about her own children.  When we finished talking she asked for my wife's phone number and then called her and talked for much longer than she had talked to me.  

I do not claim to have any kind of deep insight into Love's character because of those two phone calls.  What I do know is that she was a sitting member of Congress and a mother with children at home and so she really did not have time to call either me or my wife that day.  She had an impulse to reach out and be kind to  strangers and she acted on it despite all the other demands for her time and attention.  I am not always as good at acting on those kinds of impulses but it was a blessing at that moment in my life that someone else was willing and able to model that type of kindness.

Love's funeral will take place one week from today, on April 7, and so a lot of important and powerful people are paying tribute to her and her legacy.  Last week Congress honored her with a moment of silence.  On Sunday her body will lie in state in the Rotunda at the Utah Capitol Building.  

One way people who represent Utah in Congress could honor Love's legacy in a deeply meaningful way with ongoing effects would be to pass legislation implementing the kinds of moderate, bipartisan, immigration reforms that Love championed while she was in Congress.   It should be possible to reach a bipartisan agreement on some positive immigration changes.  Earlier this year President Trump said, "“We have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age. And many of these are middle-aged people now. They don’t even speak the language of their country,”

I personally want to challenge the people who represent Utah in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to honor Love's courage and kindness by publicly announcing their intent to work on immigration legislation that protects Dreamers and refugees from places like Haiti, where Love's parents were born.  Perhaps the bill enacting these positive changes could even include her name.   In 2018, after meeting with President Trump, Mia Love stated, "The goal of any immigration reform should reflect our commitment to family, national defense, community and compassion.  Tonight, I received assurance from the President about his support for a permanent fix for DACA recipients."

A permanent fix for Dreamers was not passed in 2018.  Hopefully Congress will pass one in 2025.

If you agree that Congress should begin work this year on bipartisan immigration reform please contact Senator Lee, Senator Curtis and your Representative and let tell them.

Senator Mike Lee Contact Information

• Website Contact Form:   https://www.lee.senate.gov/contact​
• Ogden Office:   801-392-9633
• Salt Lake Office:  801-524-5933

Senator John Cutis Contact Information

• Website Contact Form:  https://www.curtis.senate.gov/share-your-opinion/​
• Provo Office:  801-841-2665
• Salt Lake Office:  801-524-4380

Utah's Representatives in Congress:

• Utah Congressional District 1:  Representative Blake Moore
• Utah Congressional District 2:   Representative Celeste Maloy
• Utah Congressional District 3:  Representative Mike Kennedy
• Utah Congressional District 4:   Representative Burgess Owens

If you are unsure who your Representative in Congress is you can find them here:  
www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative