PathWays PA Policy Blog

The Summer Food Service Program feeds hungry children when school is out so they can get the nutritious meals they need. The Summer Food Service Program Toolkit has officially launched on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) website to help sponsors and feeding sites create outreach materials for children and families, media, and community organizations, materials that assist in increasing awareness and participation in the program. Many of the items in the toolkit are customizable and may be downloaded and used by sponsors and feeding sites to assist in their outreach efforts. The toolkit is on the FNS Summer Food Service web page at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/library/toolkit.pdf . Image courtesy of christmasstockimages.com / CC BY 3.0

USDA announced it will be distributing $5 million in grants under the Hunger Free Communities Act, which will fund activities that include "food distribution, community outreach, resource development and other methods to make food more accessible to those most in need. One million will fund Planning and Assessment Grants to evaluate food insecurity in communities and develop strategies to become hunger-free. The remaining $4 million will support Implementation Grants for communities that already have a plan to end hunger and need resources for program implementation." Congress authorized such grants in the 2008 Farm Bill and appropriated the money in the 2010 Appropriations bill. The cost of the activities funded by the grant will be covered 80 percent by the federal government and 20 percent by the applicant. The grants will be available to public and not-for-profit organizations and require collaboration with one or more community partners. This must include a Food Polic...

Two weeks ago, the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP) , an initiative of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development , hosted a webinar that offers listeners a sector-based solution for eliminating gender disparities in the workforce. The webinar, which you can listen to here , features speakers from Workforce Results , Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) , and the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP) . Using interactive slideshows, the webinar highlights current employment trends and gender-based workforce inequities. Additionally, the webinar covers the resources, policies, and sector-based solutions available for improving women’s integration and earnings in job sectors, specifically in Green and Non-Traditional Jobs. Susan Crandall, President of Workforce Results, begins the webinar by looking at how current industry analysis helps explain the significant earnings gap between men and women . According to Crandall, women occupy more low-paying jobs than t...

Press Release: 2/3rd’s of 2020 Workforce Already Out of High School In Pennsylvania, Community Colleges, Other Workforce Entities the Best Way to Ensure Higher Education for Adults In today’s troubled economy, access to good jobs and wages has become more important than ever, creating another reason for Pennsylvania to take action to ensure more students can afford and access community college education and the increased earnings potential it provides. In a new report, “ Pennsylvania’s Workforce: The Role of Community Colleges, ” PathWays PA examines the impact that community colleges and other workforce development can have on the earnings of Pennsylvanians. “We know that community colleges are not and should not be the only method of workforce development in the state,” said Carol Goertzel, President/CEO of PathWays PA. “However, as more people are being laid off or underemployed, they need access to educational and technological experiences in order to find family-sustaining j...

When the Self-Sufficiency Standard is released every two years, it includes information on the cost of making ends meet for 7 different family configurations in every county in the state.  However, the Standard goes far beyond those 7 families.  Numbers for 70 different family types are compiled as part of the research each time the Standard is created.  You can now find the spreadsheet for those families on this blog.  Please take a moment to view the Standard and the different family configurations to learn more about what it takes to be self-sufficient in Pennsylvania.

State Budget Last week, the Governor and members of the General Assembly held their first official budget negotiation . All sides expressed a willingness to compromise in order to finish the budget by the June 30 deadline, however, the Governor has signaled that he will not back down from the funding he is seeking for public education. It appears that negotiations will continue surrounding revenue-raising options. Some options being considered include increasing the cigarette tax, imposing a tax on smokeless tobacco, and a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. Some legislators are expressing that the severance tax could have enough votes to pass , however, passage will depend on what details go into any bill. Any revenue raised will certainly go a long way to ensuring that there are fewer cuts in the budget protecting many programs and services relied upon by many Pennsylvanians. Layoffs Likely Without FMAP Funding Congress is considering legi...

Read this month's CapWatch for the latest article on the Standard! Financial Need of PA Families Defined What does it cost a family to meet daily needs without public or private assistance? “The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Pennsylvania 2010-11” released by PathWaysPA found that Pennsylvania families need varying amounts of income in different counties across the state. Read the full story here!