Vote to see Community Deathcare Panels at SXSW 2024!
See links to vote below.

NHFA Board Member Isabel Knight & former Board Member Lashanna Williams are pitching two panels on community deathcare for the 2024 South by Southwest Conference. Your input during the Community Voting Period (until 8/20) can help make these panels a reality!

PANEL #1: ARE YOU AFRAID TO DIE ALONE? WHY WE NEED COMMUNITY DEATHCARE
Join us, a group of nonprofit leaders whose organizations are championing community deathcare as we talk about why deathcare is inherently a community-driven project. You cannot have a good death without a community, and the heroic, difficult, often thankless act of building that community is something that itself will help you live a longer, richer life. You simply can’t lift a body, wash and shroud a body, or dig a grave by yourself. The future we want to see is one where people die when they want to, where they want to, and how they want to. You are an integral part of making that happen.

With:
Isabel Knight, President, National Home Funeral Alliance
Sarit Wishnevski, Executive Director, Kavod v'Nichum
Lashanna Williams, Executive Director, A Sacred Passing
Emily Miller, Board Member, Green Burial Council

Vote for "Are You Afraid to Die Alone?" at SXSW 2024 here.

PANEL #2: ALIX IN FUNERALLAND: OVERCOMING IMPOSSIBLE DEATHCARE THINGS
Inspired by the nonsensical world of Alice in Wonderland, we identify “impossible” challenges experienced with deathcare, suggesting ways to overcome them, individually and collectively. Included: The Rabbit Hole (pressure for getting it right and doing enough), The White Rabbit (white western world social expectations for death and funerals), The Cheshire Cat (grief which comes and goes forcefully, without warning), The Queen of Hearts (marginalization of experiences from personal and professional structures), and a sequel, The Jabberwocky (a fearsome life that remains).

With:
Bonnie Bizzell, Owner & Guide, BOANN
Ashley Johnson, Founder, Death Doula, Loyal Hands
Lashanna Williams, Executive Director, A Sacred Passing
Sara Williams, President, Funeral Consumers Alliance North Carolina

Vote for “Alix in FuneralLand” at SXSW 2024 here.

Join NHFA at the FUNERAL RULE WORKSHOP with the Federal Trade Commission! September 7, 2023 at 9:30am. Washington, DC. In-person, virtual, or submit a public comment!

Let the FTC know that we want transparent funeral pricing for all – nobody should have to jump through hoops to understand funeral pricing, especially when they are grieving. 

The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission, is the governing body that regulates the funeral industry. They have one regulation called the Funeral Rule that determines what funeral homes can and cannot do.

This past November, they put out an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, basically letting the public know that they are considering amending the Funeral Rule and asking the public to comment on the changes to the Funeral Rule that they would like to see. This is a very rare occurrence since the FTC governs so many different industries.

Now they are having a free workshop in DC on September 7th to cover topics such as:

• Online or electronic disclosures of price information
• New forms of disposition of human remains
• The General Price List mandated by the rule
• The disclosures required by the rule, including the embalming disclosure;
• Whether third-party crematory fees and other third party fees should be disclosed in the general price list; and
• Whether funeral providers should be required or permitted to give out General Price Lists in languages other than English in certain circumstances.

Pro-consumer advocates aren’t asking for cumbersome, onerous, or costly accommodations, and they aren’t even asking for funeral homes to lower their prices: we are simply asking for funeral homes to post their prices online to make it easy and convenient for grieving people who are likely going through some of the worst times in their lives.

You can submit comments directly to the FTC by October 10, 2023. Link to submit comments here.

Special thanks to @thedeathdesigner on Instagram for this content.