Urge PA Legislators to Increase Funds for Industry Partnerships

This past summer, the Pennsylvania legislature passed an Industry Partnerships bill that permanently established the Industry Partnerships program as part of the state's workforce development strategy. While Industry Partnership advocates and our legislative champions were dismayed by the lack of funding that Industry Partnerships received in the 2011-12 Pennsylvania budget, we are happy to report that efforts to find additional funds for Industry Partnerships are ramping up.

A new House bill sponsored by Thomas Murt and Eugene DiGirolamo would designate 2% of the funds from a proposed natural gas drilling fee to Industry Partnerships—an estimated $2.7 million in this fiscal year and $11.2 million by 2017.

The first step in preserving Pennsylvania's Industry Partnership Program was passing SB 552. The next step is adequately funding the Industry Partnership Program. Since competition for funds is intense, your continued communication with legislators about the value of Industry Partnerships remains critical--any new revenues will go to programs that legislators hear about from their constituents.

Please email a letter to your member of the House Representatives asking them to support dedicating a portion of drilling fee receipts to Industry Partnerships. Make sure to include the information requested in brackets in the letter.

For more information please visit the Workforce PA website. You can also see a video of client telling their stories of how Industry Partnerships have helped them on PathWays PA’s Policy Blog.