PathWays PA Policy Blog

While I have been trying to keep up with the news on the latest poverty data, today was my first opportunity to work with it.  As I began to look at the changes from 2009 to 2010, I came across a surprising discovery: the highest percentage point increase in poverty in the five county area was not in Philadelphia - it was in Bucks County.

FEDERAL UPDATES FEDERAL UPDATES   Tell your legislators the importance of skilled jobs programs   We know that across the country, Americans are looking for jobs so that they can support their families and acheive their dreams.  What is less known is that across the country, employers are searching for workers - but too often they come up empty because they can't find workers with the skills and education needed to perform in the workplace.  We need job-training opportunities as part of any job plan to ensure that all workers and employers can take advantage of the current job market and help prepare America for the future.  Please take a moment to tell your legislators how important job-training is.   To write your legislator, click here .     Support Programs That Keep More Money in Your Pocket!     As Congress takes on the task of deficit reduction, we have a unique opportunity to advocate for programs and servic...

Tell City Council That You Support Earned Sick Days! Last week, Philadelphia City Council's Committee on Public Health and Human Services unanimously passed a bill supporting earned sick days for all workers in Philadelphia. With this passage, the bill now moves to consideration by the full City Council. Members of City Council are already hearing from people opposed to the bill. If you support earned sick days, they need to hear from you as well! In Philadelphia, two in every five workers have no opportunity to earn paid sick time, meaning they must "choose" between the jobs they need and the families they love. When people have no choice but to work sick, they risk infecting others, especially since the people most likely to be without earned sick days are those that handle our food and those that work with vulnerable populations (like children, the elderly, and the sick). If you support sick time for all workers, please let City Council know. What else ...

If you're like me, you may have already broken some of your New Year's resolutions (perhaps I can exercise every day once I get over this cold :) ), but there are resolutions out there which are easy to keep.  Please take a look at the ideas below to help inspire yourself to commit to advocacy in the New Year (and thanks to the National Coalition for Literacy's 11 Ways to Recommit to Advocacy , which inspired me!) Remember what inspires you : 2010 was a hard year for many advocates, especially as we dealt with budget deficits , program cuts , and increased waiting lists for those in need.  2011 promises more challenges with new legislators coming into office and new budget cuts looming, but it can also be an opportunity.  Take a moment to remember why advocacy is important to you, whether it is a sense of justice, a personal story , or a client's success, and share that story with legislators and with friends.  And if 2011 starts getting you down, continue remembe...

A new joint study by the University of Michigan and the University of California Los Angeles recently did a statistical analysis of 2,350 children to learn some of the best predictors of their math and reading achievement. What they learned is that the best predictor is not family income, or the child's neighborhood, or even the mother's amount of schooling. The best predictor, according to the study, is the mother's reading level . This outcome is no surprise to educators and participants of adult literacy classes, who have long seen the value in providing educational opportunities to adults.  However, in Pennsylvania, that value is not always backed by funding.  Over the past two years, the budget allocation for adult literacy has decreased by 50%. Meanwhile, GED classes are filling more quickly than ever. Even though the fiscal year just began in July, many counties have run out of space in their programs and begun waiting lists. Eighty percent of jobs in tod...

As we mentioned a few weeks ago , nearly 43,000 adults in Pennsylvania may be losing their health insurance early next year when adultBasic, an affordable health care option for adults who have recently lost health coverage and meet certain income guidelines, runs out of money.  In addition to writing a letter to legislators in support of the program, there is also an opportunity to sign on to a letter asking the Governor-elect to take action on adultBasic.  People using the adultBasic system can also tell their stories to Athena Ford so that those stories can be shared with legislators and the news media. adultBasic is close to running out of money due to a cut in funding from the state Tobacco Settlement and lower-than-expected payment rates from insurance companies who fund the programs .  As The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, most adultBasic funding comes from the state's Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies, who in past years have contributed between $81.9 mill...

Today, PathWays PA had the privilege of speaking at a meeting of the Delaware Valley Grantmakers to discuss the " perfect storm " of policy and economic issues that will be coming to a head by the end of this year.  Among those issues are the end of the Way to Work program , the lack of extensions for unemployment compensation , the need for adult literacy and Industry Partnerships , and the impact of domestic violence in Pennsylvania.  To learn more, please download our report !

Did you miss our press conference on unemployment modernization yesterday featuring Carol Goertzel from PathWays PA and Sharon Dietrich from CLS ? If so, you can listen here , and then take action below! Unemployment Compensation Benefits - write to your legislator : Pennsylvania has the opportunity to receive $273 million from the federal government in return for making some small, commonsense changes to unemployment compensation (including making sure that survivors of domestic violence qualify for unemployment if they must leave their jobs). If you agree some changes should be made, write to your legislators now!   Unemployment Compensation Benefits - write a letter to the editor : Unemployment continues to exceed 9.3% throughout our state. How can we help the unemployed? One way to start would be to accept $273 million from the federal government in unemployment compensation (UC) funds. If you support accepting this $273 million, please tell your story!   ima...

Take a moment to write to your legislator for Adult Education and Family Literacy Week! During this recession, every penny counts as Pennsylvanians search for family-sustaining employment. However, penny-wise can be pound-foolish when it comes to funding the programs Pennsylvanians need to find those jobs. Eighty percent of jobs in today’s economy require some form of education beyond high school. Since more than 750,000 adults in Pennsylvania (age 18-64) lack a high school diploma or GED, the only means they have of attaining these jobs is through adult education classes. However, over the past two years, the budget allocation for adult literacy has decreased by 50%. Meanwhile, GED classes are filling more quickly than ever. Even though the fiscal year just began in July, many counties have run out of space in their programs and begun waiting lists. If you support adult literacy, please write to your legislators today to let them know!

Are you ready to take action? PathWays PA now offers an Action Center that you can use to write to your legislators and to your local news media on the issues that matter to you. Legislative Action : Using the Action Center , you can send emails directly to your legislators about the issues that matter to you. We include facts and statistics on the issues, but you get to decide what you want to put in the letter! You don't even need to know who your legislators are - just put in your zip code and the alert will automatically go to the right people. Currently in the Action Center , you can write to your legislators about: Earned Sick Time : Everyone gets sick, but not everyone has time to get better. 2,227,059 Pennsylvania workers lack access to earned sick time, meaning that when they or their families are sick, they must choose between working while sick or losing their pay - or possibly their jobs. If you believe all Pennsylvanians should have access to earned sick t...

Unemployment continues to exceed 9.3% throughout our state. How can we help the unemployed? One way to start would be to accept $273 million from the federal government in unemployment compensation (UC) funds. Pennsylvania has the opportunity to join 39 other states in making some simple changes to our UC law. These changes include allowing workers to collect unemployment if they have to leave their job to care for a loved one who is ill or to escape a domestic violence situation. They would also make it easier for recent graduates and seasonal workers to get unemployment when they lose their jobs. While the best solution for our economy is to help the unemployed find good jobs, this can be impossible in such a gloomy economy. Turning our backs on our fellow Pennsylvanians while they struggle to find work and make ends meet is not the solution. If you support modernizing Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation, please contact your legislators and/or your local news medi...

During this recession, every penny counts as Pennsylvanians search for family-sustaining employment. However, penny-wise can be pound-foolish when it comes to funding the programs Pennsylvanians need to find those jobs. Eighty percent of jobs in today’s economy require some form of education beyond high school. Since more than 750,000 adults in Pennsylvania (age 18-64) lack a high school diploma or GED, the only means they have of attaining these jobs is through adult education classes. However, over the past two years, the budget allocation for adult literacy has decreased by 50%. Meanwhile, GED classes are filling more quickly than ever. Even though the fiscal year just began in July, many counties have run out of space in their programs and begun waiting lists. If you support adult literacy, please write to your legislators today to let them know! image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Libri_books2.jpg

Suffrage Pageant, 1913 In the United States, August 26th is recognized as Women's Equality Day to commemorate the full voting rights given to women when the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. This year we mark the 90th year of full voting rights for women and take this opportunity to focus on the inequities that remain. Take Action Now! On Women's Equality Day this year, 9to5: The National Association of Working Women , PathWays PA , and The Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces are inviting its members, activists, volunteers, allies and others to speak out, raise awareness, and take action for our paid sick days campaign. Celebrate Women's Equality! Nearly 40 million private sector employees have no access to earned sick days, including a high proportion of women. According to a survey released in June 2010, while 71 percent of men surveyed reported having paid sick days, only 57 percent of women earned the same benefit. Low-wage workers and workers ...

House Labor Relations Committee Held Hearing on Earned Sick Time Bill On August 17, the House’s Labor Relations Committee held a hearing to discuss the Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act (HB 1830), which gives Pennsylvania’s workers the opportunity to earn up to 6.5 days (52 hours) of paid sick time.  Workers would be permitted to use the hours they earn to care for themselves or a family member when they are sick or in instances of domestic violence. PathWays PA, along with other members of the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces, attended and testified at the hearing.  Prior to the hearing, Coalition members met with legislators to talk about this important issue and held a press conference.  Even in the dog days of summer, the Coalition was able to make a great deal of progress on moving toward allowing workers in Pennsylvania to earn paid sick days. To learn more about this issue please and to learn about our day in Harrisburg visit the Coalition...

When you go on an interview, employers can't ask you about your race or religion.  But to the surprise of many, employers can ask about marital and familial status - and they do.   Kiki Peppard learned all about the impact of these questions when, after moving to Pennsylvania over 15 years ago, 19 employers in a row asked whether she was married and had children.   After learning she was a single mother, they all terminated the interviews. Research shows that mothers, including single mothers, face discrimination and negative stereotyping when they look for employment.  While these questions seem close to sex discrimination, interviewers are not prohibited from asking them so long as they ask both men and women. The information that potential employers learn about an interview's familial status often becomes a factor in whether or not they hire a candidate - even though that information has nothing to do with how qualified a person is for the job.  Th...

PathWays PA is proud to offer a new way to contact your legislators directly about important issues .  Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out action alerts that will allow you to send targeted emails directly to your state and federal representatives on the issues that are important to you. Our first email is targeted to tomorrow's hearing on Earned Sick Time by the House Labor Relations Committee .  If you support earned sick time, please let your legislator know today! Currently in Pennsylvania 46 percent of workers have no earned sick time, and a majority of employees without this benefit work in food service and care giving positions. When workers without earned sick time are sick, they have to choose between going to work – where they could potentially infect co-workers or customers – and staying home – where they will lose pay and possibly their jobs.