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Definition of Advocacy
"Advocacy" is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as:
1. To speak, plead, or argue in favor of;
2. One that argues for a cause; a supporter or defender.
3. One that pleads on another's behalf; an intercessor.

ELCA Constitution
This church shall advocate for dignity and justice for all people, working for peace and reconciliation among the nations, and standing with the poor and powerless and committing itself to their needs. (Chapter 4.02c)

Learn more about how and why the ELCA does advocacy

HIV/AIDS Facts

• Every day, and estimated 5,000- 6,000 young people aged 15-25 become infected with HIV. Young people make up more than half of new infections. (UNAIDS 2006)
   
• The US has committed to spend 15 billion dollars to fight HIV/AIDS over the next five years.
   
• Antiretroviral drugs which can treat HIV and AIDS and prolong life, are now available for as little as $140 per person per year. This gives people incentive to get tested and learn their status. (UNAIDS 2006)
   
• Globally, almost one-fourth of those living with HIV are under the age of 25.
   
• 40 million: Number of people who are infected with HIV worldwide.
   
• 3 million: Number of people who died of AIDS in 2005 worldwide.
   
• 2.4 million: Number of people in Africa who died of AIDS in 2005.
   
• 6,000: Number of Africans who die of AIDS each day, the equivalent of two World Trade Center attacks daily.
   
• 12 million: Number of AIDS orphans in Africa.
   
• 6.5 million: Number of people in developing countries in need of life- saving AIDS medicine.
   
• 1.3 million: Number of people in developing countries that have access to life-saving AIDS medicine.

Take action and learn more about HIV and AIDS

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Environmental Facts

• If temperatures continue to rise, the U.S. Geological Survey predicts that Glacier National Park will have no glaciers left by 2030.
   
• The United States ranks first among all of the nations of the world in its global warming emissions. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined.
   
• According to international climate data, 1998 and 2005 were the hottest years on record, continuing a 25 year trend of rising temperatures. Many climatologists believe the rapid temperature rise over the past 50 years is heavily driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that have spewed carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere.
   
• Pollution from power plants cuts short the lives of nearly 24,000 Americans nationwide every year. Those 24,000 Americans die an average of 14 years early because of exposure to power plant pollution. 2,800 of those deaths are from lung cancer. Power plant pollution is responsible for 38,200 non-fatal heart attacks per year.
   
• Asthma is the leading chronic illness among children in the United States. Pollution increases the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 1995 asthma attacks caused 1.8 million emergency room visits and 10 million missed days of school, making it the leading cause of school absenteeism.
   
• Coal-fired power plants are the country's largest unregulated source of mercury pollution, accounting for a third of all airborne mercury. This pollution rains down on our rivers and lakes where it accumulates in the food chain, especially in fish. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and 44 state health departments have issued consumer advisories for pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children to avoid some types of fish because of high levels of mercury, which can cause brain damage.
   
• If every American home replaced just 5 conventional light bulbs with energy efficient lights, each family would save more than $60 every year in energy costs, and keep more than one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air – equal to the emissions of 8 million cars. That's a $6 billion energy savings for Americans, equivalent to the annual output of more than 21 power plants.
   
• Freshwater makes up only about 2.5% of all water on earth; less than 1 percent of the earth’s freshwater is readily available for human use.
   
• According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.1 billion people around the globe lack access to clean and adequate supplies of drinking water. Each year approximately 3.4 million people, many of them children, die from insufficient and unsafe drinking water.
   
• According to a 2006 report from the US Environmental Protection Agency, 42 percent of our nation’s small streams are in poor condition due to pollution.

Learn more about and take action on environmental issues.

Download the Caring for Creation discussion guide

Is your church environmentally friendly? Download the ELCA environmental audit to find out.

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International Facts

• Trafficking in persons, including children, is a modern form of slavery. International estimates indicate at least 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. The United States is not immune from this trade — an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year. (UNICEF)
   
• An estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labor around the world. Nearly 70 percent (171 million) of these children work in hazardous conditions — including working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or with dangerous machinery. (UNICEF 2006)
   
• 700 million people in Africa survive on less than a dollar a day. (Millennium Campaign, 2004)
   
• Globally we consume 80.1 million barrels of oil each day, where as our production is at 79.65 million barrels each day. (CIA Fact Book)
   
• The richest 20% of the world receives 85% of the total world income, while the poorest fifth of the world’s population gets only 1.4% of the global income. (World Council of Churches)
   
• The elimination of trade barriers could alone lift 300 million people out of poverty by 2015. (World Bank 2002)
   
• Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are female. (UN Millennium Project)
   
• An estimated 70 % of the 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger are women. (UNDP 2005)
   
• 115 million children are not in school: 56% of them are girls and 94% of them live in developing countries. (UN Millennium Project)
   
• Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19 in developing countries.
  (United Nations Population Fund, 2003)
   
• In most of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, one in three girls are married by their mid- to late- teenage years and have given birth at least once by the age of 18. (World Youth Report 2005)
   
• Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds, which is preventable and treatable with medication. (UN Millennium Project)
   
• Nearly 800 million people do not get enough food, and about 500 million people are chronically malnourished. A third of children are malnourished. (UN Millennium Project)
   
• In developing countries, one child in 10 dies before his or her fifth birthday, compared with 1 in 143 in high-income countries. (UNFPA 2005)

Learn about the Millennium Development Goals and the ONE Campaign to end hunger globally.

Download resources to teach your congregation about these issues.

Give to ELCA World Hunger.

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U.S. Facts

• Among industrialized countries, the United States ranks:
  • First in military exports.
  • First in defense expenditures.
  • First in Gross Domestic Product.
  • First in the number of millionaires and billionaires.
  • First in health technology.
  • 12th in living standards among our poorest one-fifth.
  • 13th in the gap between rich and poor.
  • 16th in lowest birth rates.
  • 18th in the percent of children in poverty.
  • 23rd in infant mortality.
  • Last in protecting children against gun violence.
    Source: State of America’s Children
    Children’s Defense Fund 2006
     
• Emergency Food and Shelter Facts - 2005
  • Emergency food requests increased an average of 12% in 24 cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Nashville, Tenn. More people requested emergency food and shelter in U.S. cities in 2005 than 2004.
     
  • 54% of requests for food came from children and their parents.
     
  • 40% of requests for food came from people with jobs.
     
  • 18% of food requests and 14% of emergency shelter requests went unmet.
     
  • Low-paying jobs and lack of affordable housing were noted as the top causes of hunger and homelessness.
     
  • 24% of homeless people in the United States have part-time or full-time jobs.
    Source: December 2005 Report of the U.S. Conference of Mayors
     
• Minimum Wage and Poverty
  For most Americans, financial emergencies such as a treatable illness, leaky roof or car insurance deductibles are difficult - but doable. Not so for the one in eight Americans who live in poverty. For a family of four, that income is $18,810 or less, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
  
  Just how far does $18,810 go?
  $18,810 total annual income
  - $5,674 basic shelter
  =$13,136
  - $2,383 utilities
  =$10,753
  - $4,498 paying for and fueling a car
  =$5,255
  - $5,616 food, even with $1,249 in food stamps or other public aid
  =-$351 deficit spending begins
  - $890 average out-of-pocket medical expenses with health insurance.
  =-$1,241 credit-card debt or loans increase
  - $3,386 child care, after subsidies
  =-$4,627 total annual deficit
  
  Expenses above are based on averages for families at this income level, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey. Not included: vehicle insurance, taxes, education, clothing, finance charges, entertainment, school supplies, furniture, life insurance, gifts or everyday emergencies.
  Sources: 2003 U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau for Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (www.naccrra.org).
   
• 0: Number of states in which a minimum-wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair-market rent (paying no more than 30 percent of income for housing).
   
• $8.72: Hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair-market rent in West Virginia.
   
• $21.14: Hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair-market rent in Massachusetts.
   
• 14.4 million: Number of Americans who paid more than half their income for housing and/or lived in physically substandard housing in 2001.
   
• 2 million: Number of rural homes that are moderately or severely inadequate, with structural problems, leaky roofs, faulty wiring and no indoor plumbing.
   
• 8% of whites live in poverty.
   
• 25% of American Indians and Alaska natives live in poverty.
   
• 23% of African Americans live in poverty.
   
• 21% of Latinos live in poverty.
   
• 10% of Asians and Pacific Islanders live in poverty.
  SOURCES: NATIONAL HOUSING CONFERENCE; NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION; HOUSING ASSISTANCE COUNCIL; POVERTY USA; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU.

Learn about:

• The federal budget process
• Rural concerns
• Domestic hunger issues

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Bible Quotes

Proverbs 31:8-9: Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. (NRSV)

Exodus 22:21-22: You shall not wrong or oppress the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. (NRSV)

Amos 5:24: Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (NRSV)

Micah 6:8: …And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. (NRSV)

Download a Bible study about advocacy - suitable for high school youth and adults.

Questions? Contact the ELCA Washington Office staff.

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