Community Advocacy Network (CAN) Legislative Breakfast, the Capitol, Harrisburg, PA

Dr. Bernadine Ahonkhai and over a dozen nonprofit CEO’s from Mongomery and Bucks Counties were in Harrisburg on Wednesday, February 5, for legislative breakfast with several legislators and staff. Many Senators and House of Representatives attended the CAN sponsored breakfast. CAN members had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with legislators and personally engage them about CAN’s two critical Social Justice issues in both Montgomery County and BUCKS County which are – Affordable Housing/Homelessness and Mental Health and CAN’S willingness to work with legislators to help address and consequentially solve these looming issues. CAN Legislative Breakfast meeting took place a day after PA Governor Shapiro released his 2025 Budget. In the released budget, the Governor acknowledges the critical need to address housing affordability, homelessness and mental health issues. Shapiro signed an Executive Order in September 2024 creating a Housing Action Plan to address the state’s critical housing shortage, address homelessness, and increase the availability of affordable housing options. The hope is that the Housing Action Plan, when implemented, will ensure residents have access to safe, affordable housing and attract more people to live and work in the state. Coalition4Justice believes that these critical issues can be solved but it needs legislative leadership and full support to counties and municipalities. CAN’s legislative breakfast meeting was successful in building relationships with several legislators and their senior staff and ensuring legislators that CAN members are willing and able to work with them to solve the housing, homelessness and mental health crisis that face our communities. CAN is working on this year’s Advocacy Day in Harrisburg, Pa, scheduled for June 4, 2025.