Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work.

I want to share a letter we're sending today from our executive director, Christine Murphy. To donate to CCLP, visit www.cclponline.org/donate. Also please notice at the end of the letter the generous matching grant from the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado. Your gift could have twice the impact. Thank you.

Perry Swanson
Communications director

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Dear friend,

I want to tell you a story about something in short supply: Results. Plenty of organizations are producing plenty of talk these days. I think you’ll agree the Colorado Center on Law and Policy is an exception. We get results for our mission: Justice and economic security for all Coloradans.

If that mission reflects your values, and if you agree our work makes a real difference for people who need it, I’d like to ask for your support. The only way we can continue to get results is with generous financial help from people like you.

During the past year, we’ve been sounding alarms as the state government failed to keep its commitments to the poor. It failed, for example, to provide food stamps to eligible families. Our advocacy didn’t stop with just talk, though. When state officials still wouldn’t give needy families the benefits to which they are entitled, and the state’s computer benefits system remained broken,  we decided to go to court. We anticipate confronting the state before a judge no later than January.

Another part of our agenda is reforms to ensure Colorado’s tax and budget policies work for everyone. Again, this isn’t just talk. During 2010 the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, a project of CCLP, persuaded state lawmakers to take a balanced approach to the state’s economic crisis, including new sources of revenue to limit reductions in services. The General Assembly closed 11 sales tax exemptions and income tax credits estimated to save more than $450 million during the next three years. That money will be available to educate students, repair roads, protect abused children and more.

The staff of our Economic Self-Sufficiency program leads the stakeholder group in the legislative Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. Thanks to that group’s advocacy, state lawmakers approved a range of positive changes this year such as removing some of the barriers for families receiving child-care assistance, enabling parents to continue working.

National health care reform was a big part of our agenda during the past year.  Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, we have been working to educate people about what reform means for them, making presentations across the state and keeping people informed through our weekly Health Law and Policy Update newsletter. Our staff played a major role in helping defeat Amendment 63 in the Nov. 2 election. Colorado is the only state so far where voters have rejected a constitutional amendment purporting to reject health care reform’s individual mandate. CCLP continues its traditional role of defending the rights of people on Medicaid. In April, we realized the state, because it was misinterpreting federal law, was about to terminate Medicaid benefits for more than 2,700 eligible people. We brought the error to the state’s attention and worked with officials to ensure people did not lose benefits.

We need your help now and in the coming year to continue our work to make Colorado the kind of community we want it to be:

• The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute team will be fighting in 2011 to minimize reductions to vital public services, improve accountability and transparency in public spending and increase revenue available for public investments.
• Part of the health team’s focus in 2011 will be guiding the creation of a Colorado Health Insurance Exchange, a major part of national health care reform designed to ensure maximum choices and value for consumers.
• The Economic Self-Sufficiency program will expand its work in 2011 to address the needs of Older Coloradans and refugees in the state.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work. We will continue to ensure that policies that harm Coloradans don’t pass unchallenged, we will continue to report on issues that impact economic security for all of us and we will continue to fight for fair and equitable budget policies that move Colorado toward a more secure future.

Your gift today of $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford, is essential for us to continue fighting. Invest in CCLP and you will see the results. Thank you for your support of our work.
Happy holidays,



Christine Murphy
Executive director

P.S. We have a wonderful opportunity to multiply your contribution: If you increase your giving over last year, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado will match your increase!