PathWays PA Policy Blog

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) , originally passed by Congress in 1998 and never reauthorized, provides a framework for a national workforce preparation and employment system. Improvements on the law are long overdue. One bill, H.R. 803 passed the House by a vote of 215-202. The Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act (H.R. 803) would narrow the range of perspectives on state and local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) by focusing on the representation of businesses with immediate and long-term employment opportunities in industries that are in demand and by eliminating requirements that boards include those involved in one-stop delivery or education and training on a day-to-day basis. The SKILLS Act does not meet the needs of different job seekers. The SKILLS Act weakens workforce investment with every amendment it makes. Considering the high rates of joblessness in the United States, we need to invest wisely in the American workforce now more t...

Check Out My Awesome Cause for a Chance to Get A $100 Amazon Gift Card CrowdRise is running an awesome contest right now and here's how you can win... Share a link to your fundraising page with all your friends and family and ask them to  give at least $18 to your cause . You can donate to your own page too. If you want a really great email to send to everyone about this amazing contest, please  click here , pay sort of close attention to #2, and you can generate a custom email just for you. If you don't have a fundraising page yet,  please click here  to get started. The collection of books you win may be really good but, if you win and you prefer a $100 Amazon gift card, we can definitely make that happen. The contest ends July 1st 11:59pm EST That should be about it. Thanks so much. PathWays PA Click Here  for all the contest rules. And if you have any questions please  Email Us  and we'll get back to you right away. ...

On Friday, June 28 at 11AM, PathWays PA, Chester Mayor John Linder, and other Delaware County elected officials will celebrate the opening of our new Transitional Learning Program (TLP) located at 419 Avenue of the States in Chester. TLP provides furnished apartments for homeless young women over an 18-month period while they continue their education, maintain a job or receive skills training. Group and individual counseling to pregnant adolescents and teen moms between the ages of 16 and 21 is also available. TLP assists young women in their transition to independence and is available to those who are not clients of the child welfare or juvenile justice system. Post discharge, PathWays PA provides aftercare services to all young women and their children for up to one year. Please join us for this special day. If you have any questions, please email Diana Marques .

20% of the child care subsidy funding has been cut over the last two years. Without additional funding, thousands of low-income parents have no opportunity to afford adequate child care. Currently, the waiting list for subsidized child care is at more than 8,000 children waiting eight months or more. The full increase in funding would reduce the waiting list for quality child care by 1,400 children.  Additional funds will also ensure more at-risk children can participate in high-quality child care programs through Keystone STARS. Currently, only 20% of children in subsidized child care attend the highest quality STAR 3 and 4 provider. The Senate will take up the budget this week. Ask them to restore $3 million to the child care services appropriation.

Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) will rally at the Harrisburg Capitol tomorrow at 1PM to ask the Legislature to fund public schools. PCCY is asking for an additional $120 million for Philadelphia public schools in order to avoid enacting the "doomsday budget" that the School Reform Commission (SRC) passed earlier this month. Click here to get on the bus or call Shanee Garner at PCCY 215-563-5848 x36 ( shaneeg@pccy.org ) for more information. If you can't make it tomorrow, contact your elected officials and ask for their support!

In less than two weeks, unless Congress acts, student loan rates will double on July 1st. This will put college out of reach for thousands of young people. Congress has yet to vote on Sen. Elizabeth Warren's solution ; loan students money at the same rate big banks get from the Federal Reserve Bank. It's fair and a good investment. The Senate is currently gridlocked on the issue, and the House passed a bill linking loans to the market which will make the problem worse. Your help is needed to assist future college students. Ask Congress to vote on Senator Warren's Student Loan Fairness Act!

Meals on Wheels provides over 1 million meals to seniors each day, but thousands of homebound seniors may not get a hot meal because Congress has cut funding for Meals on Wheels as part of the sequester. For millions of seniors, Social Security isn't enough to lift them out of poverty and hunger. In the past decade, there was a 78 percent increase in senior hunger. Please  ask Congress to restore funding to Meals on Wheels!