PathWays PA Policy Blog

Hurricane Harvey is having an unprecedented impact. According to the New York Times , officials can't even begin to estimate how many people left their homes, how many need evacuation, how many are missing, or even how much damage there is. What we do know is that recovery for the region will take years. If you're looking for ways to help, we've compiled a list of organizations working in the region. Please investigate the organizations for yourself before deciding to donate. Also, please remember that years of recovery will require years of funding. You may want to consider making a small recurring gift to relief work. Finally, please be sure to talk to your legislators about supporting survivors and finding ways to address the many impacts of climate change. The  Austin Disaster Relief Network pledges to meet immediate needs and to work long-term to rebuild in Texas. The  Texas Diaper Bank provides diapers and other items to families in Texas. The SPCA of Texas ...

From our friends at PHAN Today is a statewide Day of Action to defeat House Bill 59, a sneak attack on Medicaid that would impose harmful work requirements meant to reduce enrollment and cut necessary benefits . We need your help today to get the message out. Please use this social media cheat sheet on how to participate today as well as a series of social media-friendly graphics to illustrate the point. Feel free to share them widely and to encourage your followers to post our " I Oppose HB 59 " badge and call their legislators today. We'll be posting Facebook and Twitter content today to raise awareness about the harms of HB 59. Help amplify the message by retweeting our posts or share your own content using the hashtags #HB59, #MedicaidWorks, and #CareNotRedTape.

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia will be hosting a community education event to help you learn more about issues that directly impact you. These issues include knowing whether or not you are entitled to overtime pay, if your employer is required to provide paid sick leave, how to combat employer discrimination, and other similar issues. The workshop will be held the Community Legal Services North Philadelphia Office located at 1410 W. Erie Avenue on Monday August 21 at 6:00pm. This workshop is being hosted as part of the Services "Learn The Law" series which helps citizens get information about their legal problems. If you have any questions or are slightly curious, make an effort to stop by, it will be a very useful night full of helpful legal education!

Last week, it seemed as though the Senate Healthcare Bill was stopped in it's entirety. The Bill did not have enough votes to pass and Sen. McConnell's attempts to pass a repeal-only Bill forward were shut down, so it seemed as though the Affordable Care Act was safe for the time being. However, we are now hearing that there is a possibility of the Bill being revived and voted on once again this week. A CBO analysis showed the statistics behind the revised Senate Healthcare Bill - 22 million Americans would be kicked off of their insurance should it pass. This number was found before taking into account the "Cruz Amendment" which would allow insurance companies to offer less comprehensive insurance. Both repealing and replacing the ACA in this form (causing 22 million Americans to lose coverage) or repealing without replacing  (causing 32 million Americans to lose coverage), are unacceptable options.  Take advantage of this opportunity to call your senators at 866...

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (Labor-HHS-ED) passed a spending bill for the 2018 fiscal year (FY18) that provide important funding for youth homelessness programs. The bill has positives and negatives which will effect important programs that impact youth and young adults experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Some of the details of this legislation are as follows: Maintain $119 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs; Maintains $77 million for Education for Homeless Children and Youth Act grants; Makes cuts to important workforce development funding including the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Adult and Youth formula funding streams by about 5%, Reintegration of Ex-Offender Grants by 7% and SCSEP by 25%; Completely eliminates  the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, currently funded at $101 million, and Title X Family Planning Program, currently funded at $2...

Update 1:13 PM EST - Three Republican senators have already stated they will not support any outright repeal of the ACA without a replacement in place, making it unlikely that repeal will happen anytime soon. Last night, the latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act appeared to collapse when two Republican senators joined the ranks of those unable to vote yes on the bill. There are not enough votes to pass the bill, or even bring it up for debate. So what comes next? Senator Mitch McConnell has now called for a vote to repeal the ACA without replacing it. According to the Senator, the repeal would not actually take effect for two years . A look at ACA repeal by the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in January 2017 found that repeal legislation, by 2026, would: lead to 32 million people losing coverage double insurance premiums leave 75% of Americans without access to the individual market You can read an article from FiveThirtyEight.com here t...

The Department of Labor Women's Bureau will be hosting a webinar focused on Promising Employer Practices for Recruiting and Retaining Women in Construction next Wednesday (July 19th, 2017) at 2:00pm. Despite public and private efforts to increase the share of women in construction trades, women remain significantly underrepresented. As of a 2016 study, women make up only 3% of workers in construction and extraction occupations. Increasing the participation of women in high-wage, high-skill nontraditional fields such as construction are incredibly important to their economic security. This webinar hosted by the Women's Bureau will include a peer learning forum featuring advice from experienced contractors who have been successful in recruiting and retaining women in construction fields. Featured panelists will offer practical advice and applied learning to showcase promising approaches for recruiting and retaining women on job sites. The panelists who will be featured in t...