August 2022
Photograph of the PA Capitol dome.
The dome of the PA Capitol Building
Contact the Gubernatorial Candidates Now!  

In November 2022, Pennsylvania voters will elect a new Governor. How will the next Governor support Pennsylvania’s 40,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness? 

People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and its partners have organized a campaign called Children Cannot Wait that seeks responses from candidates for office. In the last two years, PEC’s leadership forums featured national, state, and local leadership who offered recommendations on how best to support children and youth experiencing homelessness. (learn more at https://www.pec- cares.org/ bellsummit.html). We are providing these recommendations in a new policy brief. These recommendations define the agenda for the next Governor. Read it here. 

Action Step: Contact Gubernatorial Candidates Doug Mastriano and Josh Shapiro and tell them to endorse the campaign. Email through these key staff members:  

Campaign of Doug Mastriano: Kimberly Orr at kimberly@doug4gov.com  
Campaign of Josh Shapiro: Larry Hailsham at larry@joshshapiro.org  
How COVID-19 Affected the Identification of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania   
People’s Emergency Center is releasing a new policy brief that explores how COVID-19 affected the education system’s ability to identify children and youth who experience homelessness in Pennsylvania.  

The reported number of children and youth experiencing homelessness declined by 11 percent between School Year (SY) 2018 and SY 2021(*) according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) evaluation of its Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness program (ECYEH). The PDE reports do not offer an analysis of why the numbers changed, but the single largest factor that occurred during this time is COVID-19.  

To help learn why these numbers changed, we surveyed experts from throughout the Commonwealth who work with children and youth experiencing homelessness.  

Read our policy brief that shows what the experts were saying.  
PEC celebrates 50 years of putting people first 11/03/22 at the Penn Museum from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Graphic in street art style of the Sphinx and pyramids.
Celebrate 50 years of impact with us! Click the image now to purchase tickets! We have so much to celebrate with you:

  • 2 M + safe nights for 20,000 parents, youth and children housed at PEC, while they built skills essential to thrive.
  • $1.5 M in financial assistance that helped families secure or keep a home. 
  • 3 M+ healthy meals for families, youth, and children.
  • 235,000 hours of teaching computer skills for new learners. 
  • 40,000 books for children to build their own libraries at home.

We will be honoring members of our community who have made incredible accomplishments: Destiny Jackson, Diane Mapp, and Joe Willard. Featured Speaker is Nikki Johnson-Huston, Esq. Early Bird ticket prices end 8/31.