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SNAP helps 1.9 million Pennsylvanians. That's why it is important for the United Way voice to be heard.
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PA United Way advocates report back from Capitol Hill visits about SNAP - elected officials want to hear from you
UWP and some of our members headed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, July 17th to speak with our congressional leaders on the importance of protecting SNAP in the Farm Bill. We had representatives from United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey and United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley in attendance with us. All of the offices our PA advocates visited said they want to hear more about local impacts of SNAP in their districts and to hear from the people who depend on SNAP daily.
As you may recall, both the House and Senate passed their respective versions of the Farm Bill, with the Senate proposal being the bipartisan approach United Way advocates prefer. A conference committee is starting to be appointed to work out the final details of the legislation. Thus far, the House has named their members of the committee, which include Congressman Glenn Thompson from Pennsylvania. The Senate should be naming their appointed members to the committee within the next week. With a Pennsylvania member on the committee our network is in a very important position to help influence the final product.
Our congressional offices told visitors that they would like to hear from their constituents and local United Ways. UWP needs your help to make that happen! Here are a few ways to get your voices heard:
- You can contact our congressional delegation using our action alert. Please feel free to share this alert with your boards, volunteers, and donors for their voices to be heard also!
- We have messaging to be utilized when speaking with legislators, which can be found on the members' only site on the UWP website. You will also find sample op-eds, letters to the editor, blog posts, and social media messaging for you to utilize.
- You can help UWP collect stories on how SNAP has impacted residents in your communities.
- Finally, we have a state sign-on letter that was distributed to UWP members this week. We are extending the deadline for members to sign-on until next Wednesday, July 25th. We encourage your United Way to sign-on, as this letter will be distributed to the entire state delegation. If you are interested in signing on, please contact Maggie (maggie@uwp.org).
Please take action and help United Way protect SNAP!
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Which communities will see Pre-K and Head Start expansion from the FY 2018-2019 funding increase?
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As a result of broad bipartisan support for increasing access to high quality early childhood education, the FY 2018-2019 budget provided a funding increase of $25 million for Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program. This means the Pre-K Counts program will expand for a total of 2125 new slots, and Head Start will have 490 new slots.
As a result of republicans and democrats coming together, spurred on by advocates in the Pre-K for PA campaign, including United Ways, another 2,615 of Pennsylvania's three- and four- year-olds will benefit from a high quality early learning experience. A total of $115 million in new dollars have been increased in high quality ECE since 2015, and this means just shy of 11,000 thousand new slots created and many more children who have benefited.
To find out more about where the increased capacity has been awarded, click here and view the links for 2018-2019 competitive awards on the right hand side of this page.
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United Way Worldwide Debuts Workplace by Facebook
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This week, everyone in the United Way network received an email to set up their Workplace by Facebook account. Clicking on the link included allowed you to set up an account that will connect you to the entire United Way network.
Workplace by Facebook will allow us to work smarter by encouraging real time connection. It will be easy, fast, and mobile-friendly. To get the full mobile experience, it is recommended that you download the app from your app store by searching for "Workplace by Facebook". It will also have a companion app for Workplace messages that will allow you to have instant conversations with any United Way staff member.
United Way of Pennsylvania is excited to be part of this program. We intend to create a member's group for our local United Ways that will allow you to network easily across the state. We also will be working to have resources for you posted to the group so that they are easily accessible.
Please take advantage of this amazing tool and be sure to bookmark the Workplace by Facebook website for easy access!
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PA 2-1-1 Board elects new members and officers
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Following is a current and complete list of members of the PA 2-1-1 board. The group recently held elections for new members and officers, and is looking for a few more recruits in categories which represent key partners and customers of 2-1-1.
Officers:
Chair - Nancy Kukovich, Adelphoi USA
Vice-Chair - Kristen Rotz, United Way of PA
Secretary - Marie Mulvihill, Primary Health Network
Treasurer - Tim Whelan, Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authority
Members:
Faith Curran,
ShellyLyons Communications
Donna Gority, Former County Commissioner
Blair County
Mike Jaruszewicz,
United Way of Erie County
Sara McCullough,
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey
Teresa Mongiavi, Esquire,
Brubaker Connaughton Goss & Lucarelli
Angela Reynolds,
United Way of Southwestern PA
J. Marc Rittle,
United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley
Joanne Troutman,
Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way
Jennifer Wintermyer,
Tri-County Community Action
The Boards of PA 2-1-1, Inc. and United Way of PA have expressed intent to merge. A leadership team with representatives of PA 2-1-1, Inc. and United Way of Pennsylvania are continuing merger discussions with a deadline to finalize merger plans by October 31, 2018.
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United Way of Southwestern PA announces leadership changes, United Fund of Warren County welcomes new executive director
Lacey Hanson has joined the United Fund of Warren County as Executive Director. She is a native of Warren County and has a strong background as a retail store manager. She draws parallels between her work meeting sales goals and the work she will do to meet fundraising goals in Warren County. The United Fund of Warren County is the largest United Fund in PA, raised more than $650,000 in 2017, and is the local lead partner in Warren County for 2-1-1 Northwest.
Meanwhile, United Way of Southwestern PA announced two staffing changes. Bobbi Watt Geer, who has held various leadership positions since starting with United Way such as COO, Westmoreland CEO, and Regional Vice President, has recently been appointed as the Senior Vice President of Administration at United Way of Southwestern PA.
Alyssa Cholodofsky has been promoted to Westmoreland
Region Director. She joined the United Way of Southwestern PA four years ago and has been serving as the Vice President of Impact and Development.
United Way of PA is pleased to announce these new roles and welcome Lacey to our membership!
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Southwest 2-1-1 region adds two counties
The PA 2-1-1 board recently took action to approve a request which moved Cambria and Somerset counties from the Central 2-1-1 region to the Southwest 2-1-1 region. All basic 2-1-1 contacts are now handled through the center in Pittsburgh which is operated by United Way of Southwestern PA. All coordinated entry calls for these two counties are being transferred from the southwest contact center to the regional call centers which are already trained on the policies and procedures for the 33 county Connect to Home project.
UWP and PA 2-1-1 will convene stakeholders to discuss the future of contact center operations for the remaining three counties of the Central region - Bedford, Blair and Centre. The current 2-1-1 provider for these three counties, Contact Altoona, has given notice that they will no longer provide this service as of October 1.
UWP and PA 2-1-1 are committed to maintaining access to 2-1-1 in these counties, and also assuring continuity for the Connect to Home project.
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New federal tax applies to nonprofits
The National Council of Nonprofits is increasing awareness of a new tax on employee transportation benefits which was enacted in federal tax reform. The tax applies to all kinds of nonprofits, including churches. The tax is a 21 percent tax on things like transit passes or free parking which are provided as employee benefits.
Representative John Conaway (R-TX) introduced legislation to repeal the taxes on nonprofit transportation benefits and on another change that significantly expands taxes on charitable nonprofits for unrelated business income.
According to the National Council, "while legislative action is possible late in the year, perhaps after the November elections, many nonprofits are already required to make estimated tax payments based on new tax provisions that are largely indecipherable."
If your organization is affected by this tax, you can weigh in on the IRS public comment form to insist that Treasury and the IRS delay implementing the two new Unrelated Business Income Tax subsections until one year after final rules are promulgated.
If you have questions, you can contact Kristen for more information.
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