PathWays PA Policy Blog

From our friends at PCCY Next week, on Tuesday June 3rd, hundreds of advocates for early childhood education -- staff, teachers, program directors, parents, early intervention workers, and more -- will stream to the state Capitol in Harrisburg for an annual day of advocacy. In the morning there will be information sessions and you'll visit your state representative and/or state senator with other advocates; at 2 PM there will be a rally in the Capitol Rotunda. Click here for more information on the day. So PCCY can match participants with legislative visits, please register here! At least three buses are scheduled to leave from the Southeast. To reserve a seat on a bus, you must fill out and return this form.

Here is what we're reading as the shutdown continues: How the Shutdown is Impacting Specific Federal Workforce Programs : Based the information that is currently available, here is the National Skills Coalition's best understanding so far of the impact of the shutdown on certain employment and training programs. Domestic Violence Programs See Their Funding End : The Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and other federal agencies funding domestic violence programs planned to fund the programs through Friday, October 4, 2013. Since the shutdown has not ended, many programs must rely on any funds they have in hand to see them through the fiscal crisis. If You Rely On Government Websites, Sorry:  Along with the government shutdown has come the shuttering of many websites, ranging from the American Community Survey database to NASA.gov.  If You Rely on Government Programs, You May Not Have Them for Much Longer : As we enter week 2 of the shutdown,...

With the upcoming cuts due to sequestration that will affect 57,000 children in Head Start, the Center for American Progress and the National Head Start Association will hold and event tomorrow, August 28 beginning at 10:00am to focus on the impact of the cuts to the Head Start program and the need to refocus the conversation on early childhood toward one about strategic investments. Panel of guests will include: Martha Coven, Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance, and Labor, U.S. Office of Management and Budget  Michael Linden, Managing Director, Economic Policy, Center for American Progress  Sharon Parrott, Vice President for Budget Policy and Economic Opportunity, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  Colleen Rathgeb, Director of Policy, Office of Head Start  Space is limited, so RSVP is required!  You can also watch the live webcast!

The Coalition on Human Needs has been compiling stories about real harm. Poor people with disabilities, one step away from homelessness, who were given a rental voucher only to have it snatched back because of federal sequestration cuts. Three to five year olds dropped from Head Start, or losing summer programs. Seniors only getting home-delivered meals every other Friday. Long-term unemployed with benefits cut 10 percent or more (nearly 18 percent in California). The country needs is a comprehensive fix to all the cuts caused by sequestration - fixing the cuts that leave people hungry, threaten homelessness and health care, shortchange children's education and the unemployeds' chance at jobs, just to name some of what is happening around the country. Email Your Congressperson Now!

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.