Lancaster County Interfaith Justice Organization

Approximately 500 people attend the Rally in March of 2024 and heard the status of the research on our first two issues. The Pre-Trial Diversion research team provided background on our chosen solutions and the questions that we would ask the County Attorney at the May Assembly. The Mental Health Navigation research team gave background on the chosen solution of developing a mental health navigation system for residents of Lancaster County. The Affordable Housing research team focused on rising rates of eviction in Lancaster County, with a proposed solution being pre-eviction mediation.

Proposed solutions were presented to decision makers at the Nehemiah Assembly held on May 1, 2024 and attended by over 1100 people. The mental health research team presented facts on the amount of resources available in Lancaster County, and the challenge of finding the proper person or organization to solve an individual's mental health needs. The proposal was to build a navigation system by initiating a working team to investigate how such a system would work. The pre-trial diversion team focused on reducing the County Jail population by allowing more individuals to choose pre-trial diversion, rather than staying in the Jail while awaiting trial. Unfortunately the County Attorney did not show up at the event, and thus the solutions were not accepted. The Affordable Housing research team focused on how to avoid eviction. Their recommended solution was to develop a Pre-eviction Mediation program for landlords and tenants, to take place prior to reaching the point of filing for eviction.