PathWays PA Policy Blog

Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown will be holding a bag lunch series on March 4 at 12:00PM at City Hall in the Council Caucus Room 401. The upcoming session will focus on getting to the next level in your career through role responsibility, career ownership, setting meaningful goals, awareness of strengths and areas of needed development.  Seating is Limited, please R.S.V.P. to Katherine J. Gilmore at 215-686-3438 or Katherine.gilmore@phila.gov . Don't forget to bring your own lunch.

From our friends at the National Women's Law Center Ask the EEOC it to act swiftly and issue immediate guidance on employers' accommodation obligations to pregnant workers under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While such guidance has been promised for many months, it has yet to be issued. There is a critical need for the EEOC to move quickly, to provide clarity to employers, employees, practitioners, and the courts. You can sign-on by emailing Amy Tannenbaum at atannenbaum@nwlc.org by Friday, February 28. State and local organizations, as well as national organizations, are encouraged to join. Please feel free circulate to your networks.

PathWays PA is offering free GED Prep classes for Adult Learners in Delaware County seeking to a GED to improve literacy skills, or to gain or retain employment. Morning, afternoon, and evening sessions are available. We are also looking for tutors to work with our adult learners. To enroll or to learn more about tutoring opportunities, please contact PathWays PA at 610-543-5022.

From our friends at Tax Credits for Working Families On Wednesday, March 5, from 3:00PM-4:00PM, Tax Credits for Working Families will host an informative webinar on the details of the President's proposal to increase the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and its potential impact on low-income workers. Panelists will also discuss the proposal's prospects on Capitol Hill. Confirmed speakers include: Aviva Aron-Dine, Associate Director for Economic Policy, Office of Management and Budget Elaine Maag, Senior Research Associate, the Tax Policy Center Deborah Stein, Tax Credits for Working Families Please join. Register here .

From our friends at the Pre K for PA Campaign  The Pre K for PA campaign will be holding an event on February 26 from 7:00PM-8:30PM at Upper Darby High School located at: 8201 Lansdowne Ave in Lansdowne, PA. The event will provide information on the Pre K for PA campaign and explore easy ways everyone can make sure elected officials make early learning a priority. The campaign is advocating for all children to have access to free, quality Pre-K. Children with access to high-qaulity Pre-K programs arrive in kindergarten ready to learn and are more likely to advance grades and have improved social skills.

Join the Pennsylvania Conference for Women online on February 18 for a free teleclass with Lena West, the leading expert on how women entrepreneurs can monetize social media. Get Your Brand Straight: How to Maximize Social Media to Make Sure Your Message Is Part of Your Messaging Tuesday, Feb. 18 from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm EST Learn more and register at http://www.paconferenceforwomen.org/free-teleclass-lena-west-get-brand-straight/#more-11469 .

From our friends at the National Skills Coalition If you support workforce development, please have your organization sign onto the letter asking Appropriations subcommittees to restore federal workforce programs to finally end the sequestration funding. Funding has been partially restored, but your help is still needed to help the programs receive the largest possible allocation. Time is of the essence. The more funding that is able to be allocated to the various departments that oversee workforce programs, that better chance the programs will see needed funding for programs across the country. Please sign on by March 7! Sign Here

PathWays PA's IRS certified volunteers can prepare taxes for you at no cost! The VITA program is available to individuals and families earning less than $52,000 per year. PathWays PA and our partners offer service locations in the Greater Philadelphia region, including Montgomery County, Delaware County, and Camden, NJ. To schedule an appointment and view all our tax locations, please visit our website or call (610) 543-5022 or 1(800) 209-2914. Appointments are necessary at most locations, but PathWays PA offers drop-off sites at Suburban Station and Market East Station. Visit our website for more details.

From our friends at the Coalition on Human Needs Beginning at 3:00PM, Senator Tom Harkin, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the lead Senate sponsor of legislation to raise the minimum wage will speak with others on their plans for the Fair Minimum Wage Act. A large coalition of groups is coming together to make 2014 a year of action to raise the minimum wage. The webinar will focus on the latest facts about how the minimum wage increase will help workers, families, and the economy, how to dispel myths spread by opponents, and how to join in actions from local events to social media campaigns. You can ask questions and will get resource materials you'll need. Additional speakers include: Christine Owens : Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project, Chris is a national spokesperson and expert on worker rights, including the minimum wage and unemployment insurance Moderator-Ellen Teller : Director of Government Rel...

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi visited Philadelphia Friday to push for a plan designed to boost women's economic prospects. The series of bills is aimed at closing the gender wage gap, making child care more affordable, and requiring paid sick and family leave for many private-sector workers. At a Community College of Philadelphia event, which attracted about 70 people, Pelosi was flanked by local workers such as Onetha McKnight, a wheelchair attendant at Philadelphia International Airport. Without paid sick days, McKnight said she faces impossible decisions. PathWays PA, the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces, Childspace CDI, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Job with Justice Philadelphia, and the Fund for Women and Girls are delighted with we could host Leader Pelosi at Community College of Philadelphia. To see images and tweets from the event, please visit http://storify.com/PathWaysPolicy/when-womensucceed-america-succeeds-philadelphia .

2016 Update - We passed earned sick days in Philadelphia in 2015, but not much else has changed. 1993. Just typing the year sets my mind spiraling through happy memories. 1993 was the year I began high school. It was a year of flannel shirts and clunky boots. It was the year I fell in love with baseball, and the year my dad and I went to see the Phillies in the playoffs. It is a year I can’t think of without smiling. A lot has changed since then. My fashion sense is (somewhat) different, and so are the members of the Phillies. It’s been five years since I watched a playoff game with my dad: we managed to watch the Phillies on a tiny TV in his hospital room a few months before he died. As for my high school friends, when we talk, it is mostly on Facebook. Oddly enough, though, what my high schools friends and I often talk about is a bill that was signed into law on February 5, 1993, without any of us paying much attention: the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act guarantees up...

From our friends at Women's Law Project In Philadelphia, it is now unlawful for an employer to deny a pregnant employee access to water, bathroom breaks, or any other reasonable accommodation that does not present an undue hardship to the employer. On January 20, 2014, Mayor Nutter signed into law an amendment to the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance that makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to provide reasonable accommodations to employees for needs related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. It is enforced by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.