PathWays PA Policy Blog

Budget Secretary Zogby released the Governor's Mid-Year Budget Report which gives an overview of Commonwealth's financial state and funding programs as well as projections for the upcoming 2013-2014 budget and what programs the Governor would like to see department Secretaries focus on. The Governor has reiterated to departments that they should prepare to level funding and that he "no new tax" pledge will continue. This could potentially lead to increase funding roadblocks for human services which would lead to additional burdens on the working poor.

And they brought our favorite furry green creature from the Galapagos with them. Thanks so much to the Phillies for adopting PathWays PA families this holiday season!

A   lawsuit has been filed against the sports bar Chickie’s and Pete’s  airport branch for allegedly taking credit card fees out of waitstaff's tips.  These are workers who only earn $2.83 an hour plus their tips. An attorney representing a former employee said, Any reduction in tips...has a huge impact on their ability to earn a living. The United States Department of Labor has also started an investigation. ROC Philadelphia ,  PathWays PA , and many other organizations worked with Councilman Jim Kenney last year to  pass a bill in Philadelphia  ensuring that tipped workers did not have to pay credit card fees from their gratuities.

This post is from our friends at MomsRising .  Our thoughts at this time are with all those affected by the shooting in Connecticut, and with all those whose lives have been changed by violence.   We are beyond heartbroken as we think of the kindergarteners and others that died today in Connecticut. Today is the 3rd day this week when there's been a mass shooting in our nation. We are parents. Many NRA members are parents. And none of us want to live in a nation where children are gunned down. #Todayistheday for the NRA and for Congress to step up and start proposing laws that protect children and all people. *Sign on to our open letter to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and to Congress urging them to make today the last day that they block common-sense gun regulations that protect all of our families: http://action.momsrising.org/letter/newton_shooting1/?amp=&rd=1&t=2&referring_akid=3753.197376.BpXLjl It's time to put kids and common-sense fir...

Trust Across America , a national radio show on the Voice America Variety channel, will air “Good Businesses Providing a Good Place to Work” Wednesday, December, 19 at noon. During the hour long show, hosts Stephenie Hendricks and Richard Eidlin will explore a number of strategies that help to shape a good workplace; including the emerging field of the Culture of the Workplace, and other issues such as earned sick days and minimum wage. The guests represent businsses from across the country and include: Andy Shallal -Owner of Busboys and Poets and Eatonville Restaurants , Member of D.C. Restaurant Industry Roundtable Jason Michaud -owner of LOCAL and Redhill Restaurant , Member of L.A. Restaurant Industry Roundtable; Lew Prince -Managing Partner, Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, MO. Please listen and Call-In at (866) 472-5787 on Wednesday!

According to Dr. Heidi Hartmann, President of the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington, it's likely to be women and kids who suffer first if sequestration   is implemented. Here's what she had to say when interviewed on the Equal Time With Martha Burk radio show. There are many, many things [that would be cut]. The Maternal and Child Health block grant, Title X Family Planning, the Child Care and Development block grant that supports Head Start, child support enforcement. Food stamps are cut to some extent, and other food supplements like school breakfast and lunch programs. There's unemployment insurance, Pell education grants, housing assistance, home energy assistance. We could go on and on.

The new Kids Count policy report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that 6.5 million 16- to 24-year-olds are jobless and out of school. The lack of education, opportunity and connection to school or work has long-term implications for their financial stability as adults and can present significant costs to taxpayers, as government spends more to support them. The report emphasizes the need to provide multiple, flexible pathways to success for disconnected young people and find ways to reengage high-school dropouts. The report also advocates creating experiences that allow youth to gain early job skills through community service, internships, summer and part-time work and other opportunities.

The survey, conducted this fall, provides a snapshot of conditions for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable individuals and the human service agencies that provide services to these people. Survey data is comprised from responses from over 800 nonprofit organizations that serve all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Responding groups include, but are not limited to, food banks, domestic violence agencies, libraries, faith based organizations, children services and agencies that serve senior citizens and people with disabilities. The data clearly demonstrates that nonprofits and social services organizations have sacrificed and shared in the pain from Pennsylvania’s recent budget woes.

Weekly Newsletter Week of December 10, 2012 This Week's Issues to Watch :: CANDLELIGHT AGAINST CUTS :: HOMELESS MEMORIAL DAY RALLY :: PETITION TO CHANGE DPW'S NAME :: 2012 KIDS COUNT POLICY REPORT IS OUT :: TODAY IS NDDAY OF ACTION! :: ADD THE "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CUT" CAMPAIGN TO YOUR WEBSITE :: FRAC REPORT SAYS "THRIFTY FOOD PLAN" PROGRAM INADEQUATE Today in Your Neighborhood:   Candlelight Against Cuts "   Working families across the country are holding candlelight events to urge Congress to say no to cuts to benefits for Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, and to end tax cuts for the richest 2%. If you are interested, you can join an event near you.  Find an event  in ...

Funds Will Help Support Residential Services for Low-income Women and Their Children Just after Christmas in 2011, Samantha Singleton, 22, and her two-year-old daughter, Malaya, became homeless. Because of Malaya’s many medical issues, which include epilepsy, glaucoma and a feeding tube, there was a risk that she could be separated from her mother and put into foster care. Fortunately, mother and daughter found a temporary home at the PathWays PA Center for Families (CFF) in Media, Pa., a supervised group residence for women and their children who are referred by the child welfare system. It helps vulnerable, low-income mothers stabilize their lives and keep their families intact as they move toward employment and self-sufficiency. The CFF provides a variety of services to mothers like Singleton, such as GED and math classes, computer training, resume writing and interviewing skills as well as teaching parenting and life skills, encouraging responsibility and fostering self-este...

Figure A shows an example of the Self-Sufficiency Standard, with each monthly expense included in as a proportion of the total income necessary for a family with two adults, one preschooler, and one school-age child in Allegheny County. By far, housing and child care combined are the most expensive costs for families. Families with children (when one or more children are under school-age) generally spend about half their income on housing and child care expenses alone. The map (Figure B) highlights that the cost of meeting basic needs also varies geographically in Pennsylvania. The 2012-2013 Self-Sufficiency Standard for one parent with one preschooler ranges from $25,697 to $53,410 annually. The Self-Sufficiency Standard has stayed about the same since 2010 in each of the places shown for this family type in Figure C. The two largest budget items, housing and child care, had only modest changes since 2010. Since the first edition of the Pennsyl...

The number of people on food stamps has gone up in most mid-state municipalities over the past year, according to figures provided to The Patriot-News by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. According to an analysis done by Mark Price, an economist with Keystone Research Center, the number of people on food stamps in high poverty municipalities in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Perry and northern York counties grew from 51,972 in July 2008 to 82,704 in August 2012, an increase of 59 percent. But the number of people on food stamps in low poverty municipalities in the same region climbed from 5,723 in July 2008 to 12,081 in August 2012, an increase of 111 percent. And according to Price's analysis, this trend is a result of unemployment. “Although college graduates still have lower unemployment rates and are much less likely to live in poverty than other educational groups, even they have faced increased difficulty finding work and thus it is not surpris...

The International Labor Organization, a U.N. organization, estimates there are 1.5 million victims in developed economies worldwide, many of them children. In the United States, many of the crackdown efforts have focused on young girls forced into prostitution. Lawmakers are making a renewed effort to strengthen human trafficking laws. As The National Conference of State Legislatures gathers in D.C, the selection of human trafficking as a topic for one of the two meetings legislators will have at the White House shows how crucial the once-ignored issue has become to state lawmakers, who have  " seen a surprisingly sparse number of prosecutions "  under existing laws. See  Polaris Project's State Rating Map   on Combating Human Trafficking

City Council has approved $3 million in funding to support 100 additional shelter beds and other housing resources for victims of domestic violence in Philadelphia! In 2008, WAA (Women Against Abuse) alone was forced to turn away 1,705 requests for safety in shelter due to limited capacity. Less than four years later, this number skyrocketed to more than 8,400 turned away requests. This figure represents thousands of women and children in imminent danger who must find alternative sources of emergency housing - sometimes in other emergency shelters that are not intended to maintain the safety, privacy and confidentiality of residents, and other times in domestic violence shelters in neighboring counties. Read the UPenn Ortner Center Report:  Violence Against Women in Philadelphia Philadelphia Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline

1. Number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: 6,614: 2. Number of women, in the same period, killed as the result of domestic violence in the US: 11,766 3. Number of people per minute who experience intimate partner violence in the U.S.: 24 4. Number of workplace violence incidents in the U.S. annually that are the result of current or past intimate partner assaults: 18,700 5. Number of women in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 4 6. Number of men in the U.S. who report intimate partner violence: 1 in 7* 7. Number of women who will experience partner violence worldwide: 1 in 3 8. Order of causes of death for European women ages 16-44: domestic violence, cancer, traffic accidents 9. Increase in likelihood that a woman will die a violent death if a gun in present in the home: 270 percent 10. Number of women killed by spouses who were shot by guns kept by men in the home in France and South Africa: 1 in 3 Read the Entire List Here