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TANF Forum Overview and Urgent
Calls-to-Action
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In early November, PathWaysPA and the United Way of Southeastern
Pennsylvania hosted a forum titled TANF and Family
Supports: A Policy and Advocacy Update. To a packed
audience, panelists delivered engaging messages and answered pointed
questions. With this e-alert, PathWaysPA summarizes the presentations,
provides links to the PowerPoint files referenced by the panelists,
offers additional links to supplementary information, and includes
updates on key issues. For questions or comments, please email
Sydelle Zove,
Policy Analyst, or call her at 610-543-5022.
The forum began with a message from
Carol Goertzel,
who said that advocacy is critical in making a difference. TANF,
childcare, foster care, food stamps, healthcare-these and other issues
demand our participation and vigilance. Ms. Goertzel
thanked the United Way
for co-sponsoring the forum and for welcoming the group into
its Benjamin Franklin
Parkway building. She extended sincere
thanks to each of the panelists and to participants who took the time to
stay informed. Use the links to the left of this column to jump
to summaries of panelist's presentations.
Urgent Calls-to-Action
1. Call U.S. Senators Specter,
202-224-4254, and Santorum, 202-224-6324. Urge them to keep TANF out of the budget reconciliation bill.
Also tell them that as proposed, TANF reforms as well
as funding cuts and program changes in child support
enforcement, foster care, Medical Assistance, and school loans will
have a devastating impact
on the Commonwealth's economic well being and
on its families.
2. Call your state senator and representative.
Urge them to-
·
Vote "NO" on TABOR
legislation.
·
Press the leadership to call for a vote on minimum wage
legislation.
·
Vote "YES" on emergency heating assistance,
HB
1539.
Click here
to find your state legislators.
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Legislative News from Washington
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Cathleen Palm, Publisher, The
Advocates Agenda, and Consultant to the Pennsylvania Welfare Coalition
Rarely have the issues of federal and
state funding for domestic programs been presented so succinctly.
Cathleen Palm delivered a forty-five minute overview of Congressional
budget reconciliation and related spending decisions, noting that as she
spoke, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives was
struggling to find the votes needed to pass the so-called deficit
reduction bill. (Later that day, after scaling back
some of the spending cuts, the leadership did pick up a few votes and the
bill passed 217-215. For an update on both the Senate and House bills,
click on the link below. Congress will reconvene on December 12.)
What is missing from the discussion in Washington,
according to Cathleen Palm, is an adherence to the underlying principle
of shared sacrifice. In prior administrations, deficit reduction
was achieved by making spending cuts across all programs, not just those
that serve lower-income Americans and the disenfranchised. Fiscal
conservatives argue that it is critical to control growth in spending,
but they are not willing to apply that standard uniformly. Ms. Palm noted
that where costs are rising dramatically because of inflation, as is the
case with medical care, controlling growth necessarily means reducing
benefits and limiting eligibility. Level funding represents a real cut.
By enacting deficit reduction through the budget reconciliation process, Congress
is choosing to balance the federal budget on the backs of our nation's
poorest, most vulnerable residents.
Ms. Palm urged audience members to stay
informed, saying that the "turmoil is not over; the job is not
done." Senators Specter and Santorum wield measurable influence in
Washington and when Congress reconvenes, budget deficit reduction, tax
cuts, and TANF reauthorization legislation will need all of our
attention. For a brief, shining moment after Hurricane Katrina there was
hope that compassion and resolve returned to the national policy debate,
but more recently, the familiar rhetoric of waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency,
together with re-election considerations are once again defining the
discussion.
Click here to read a December 8, 2005 update on the
budget and TANF.
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The Online Budget Worksheet: Gateway to
Benefits and Tax Credits
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Erika Loperbey,
Senior Training Coordinator, PathWaysPA
The Self-Sufficiency Project at
PathWaysPA helps low-income women achieve family economic well-being. One
of the tools used to build independence is the Online Budget Worksheet.
Erika Loperbey demonstrated the tool,
which was just updated and now offers links to information on
the Earned Income Credit, PA Tax Back, Supplemental Security Income,
childcare and housing subsidies, food stamps, and more. Based on the
user's county of residence, the worksheet makes certain assumptions about
essential expenses. Users can adjust these expenses up or down, and can
specify family size, age of children, and make other adjustments on the
eleven-page interactive worksheet. At each step, the worksheet estimates
eligibility for a host of benefits and provides links to access those
benefits, including a key link to COMPASS, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Access to Social Services-the State's
online benefits application.
The Budget Worksheet can be accessed
through PathWaysPA's website, and Ms. Loperbey is available to provide training to social
service agencies throughout Pennsylvania.
Click here to email Erika Loperbey.
Click here to visit the PathWaysPA website and test out
the Budget Worksheet.
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Policy Initiatives That Support
Self-Sufficiency
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Karen Sampson Johnson,
Director of Public Policy, PathWaysPA
Since 1998, Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been
stuck at $5.15 per hour. On September 6, 2005, at a hearing sponsored by
the Labor and Industry Committee of the PA Senate, PathWaysPA presented
testimony on behalf of the Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition. Far too many
workers put in a full workweek only to bring home poverty-level wages.
Raising the minimum wage to $7.15 per hour is a long-overdue step in
addressing this injustice.
Click here to read PathWaysPA's
testimony on raising the minimum wage.
On Tuesday, December 13, the
Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition will hold a press conference at State
Senator David Brightbill's district office in Lebanon, PA. The Senator, who is Majority Leader, recently vowed to
keep minimum wage legislation from coming to the floor for a vote. He
claims there are no minimum wage workers in his district. Following the
press conference, advocates will proceed to Harrisburg to visit individual
legislators.
Your help is
needed to raise Pennsylvania's
minimum wage. Join the Coalition. For more information, email John Dodds or
call him at 215-557-0822.
The development and introduction of paid
family leave legislation is another policy initiative underway at
PathWaysPA. Under current federal law, many employees are eligible for
family leave, but most decline to take time from the job because they
receive no paycheck during their absence. Some states have passed
legislation that offers partial pay during periods when workers must take
time to care for ill family members or spend time at home with a newborn.
PathWaysPA and groups across the country are looking at ways to develop a
paid leave option that is good for families and makes sense for business.
For information on the paid
family leave initiative, email Sydelle Zove, Policy Analyst, PathWaysPA, or call her at
610-543-5022.
(Please note that Karen Johnson left
PathWaysPA at the end of November. We wish her well in her new endeavors.
Policy/advocacy questions can be directed to Sydelle Zove.)
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The Campaign for a 2-1-1 Phone System,
and Proposed Caps on State Spending
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Joe Willard, Manager, Public Policy, United Way of Southeastern
Pennsylvania (UWSEPA)
2-1-1 The United Way
is coordinating a campaign to build a 2-1-1 phone system, which would
provide streamlined access to information and service hotlines throughout
Pennsylvania.
Joe Willard pointed out that thirty-two states already offer some version
of this system, thereby serving 137 million Americans. The Campaign is seeking
endorsements from organizations, is hoping to garner support from
elected officials, and wants to encourage groups to write letters to
local newspapers to help educate the public. A toolkit and other
information are available from the UWSEPA website. Click here to email Joe
Willard or call him at can 215-665-2584.
To learn more
about the Campaign for a 2-1-1 system, click here.
Spending Caps Unless voters across the state mobilize soon, Pennsylvania will join several other
states that impose limits on spending, which disregard revenues, the
needs of residents, and the role of the legislature or executive branch
in setting the budget. Often referred to as TABOR
legislation-Taxpayer Bill of Rights-these caps have resulted in the
substantial loss of services, especially to children, the frail, and the
elderly. Colorado
voters recently expressed their disdain for spending caps by approving a
referendum that provides a five-year moratorium on the imposition of
TABOR rules. An ad hoc group, the Pennsylvania Coalition on Common Sense
Priorities, circulated a letter that draws attention to the anticipated
devastating impact of spending caps, and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has assembled detailed data
that support this position. Joe Willard presented much of this data and
urged participants to take immediate action to stop enactment of caps.
Call your Pennsylvania State
Senators and Representatives and urge them to vote "NO" on
spending cap legislation, HB 2082 in the House, and SB 884 in the Senate.
Click here to find your state legislators.
Jump to the
website of the Pennsylvania
Budget and Policy Center for more background and
data.
Read letters from
the Pennsylvania
Coalition on Common Sense Priorities and the Pennsylvania
Welfare Coalition.
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TANF Simplification and Enhancements
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Georgine Beyer, Acting Executive Director, Philadelphia
County Assistance Office (PCAO), Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare (DPW)
Georgine Beyer, who
replaced Don Jose Stovall after his retirement in June, opened her
presentation by listing several recent enhancements in DPW's rules governing TANF benefits:
- Elimination of the Primary Wage Earner
requirement - the revised requirement eliminates the
restrictive rules tied to employment/work history of a two-parent
household and qualifies the intact households for incentives and
supports available under the TANF program.
- Relaxation of the verification requirement
for specified relatives - the new standard
accepts a client's statement as verification of relationship unless
there is evidence to the contrary. This revision is especially
helpful for some caretakers (grandparents, aunts, uncles) who could
have had difficulty providing verification such as birth
certificates.
- Relaxation of change of address
verification requirement - the CAO can
immediately act on a reported change of address, and verification
will be required only at renewal (recertification).
- Removal of the six-month, face-to-face
interview requirement - for all TANF budgets
(households) enrolled in simplified reporting,
the CAO will require face-to-face interviews at twelve-month
renewals (formerly six-month intervals).
- Relaxation of change-reporting requirement
- previously, clients were required to report changes by the 10th
day following the date of the change. Now, clients have until
the 10th day of the month following the month in which
the change occurred.
Ms. Beyer reported on two additional
enhancements specific to Philadelphia
County.
- EARN Centers
- Employment Advancement and Retention Network
Centers. The
mission of the Centers is to provide assistance as clients make the
transition from welfare to work and to support them over time to
achieve higher wages and long-term attachments to work. PCAO
launched the first EARN Center this past February. Currently there
are three Centers providing services to clients-in the Kent,
West, and North Districts. Each Center operates under contract with
an independent vendor. By August 2006, PCAO will contract for an
additional four-to-six EARN Centers, and over time, each of Philadelphia's
District Offices will have its own Center.
You can view a detailed description of the EARN
Centers and services offered by clicking here.
This link will open a PowerPoint presentation prepared by PCAO. Use
the left click button on your mouse to move through the
presentation.
- Change Center
- After months of careful planning, PCAO debuted its automated call-in service with an
easy-to-remember phone number-215-560-PCAO. The service was rolled
out during the summer months, with clients from the Unity District
being the first to receive a specially designed and printed
brochure. Since September, the services of the Change
Center have been advertised
and made available to clients throughout Philadelphia County.
Callers can access and request information 24/7, and live help is
available from 7:30 am until 6:00 pm. Existing
clients can update case information and check on payment dates.
Callers can request application forms and general information, and
check on the status of recently submitted applications. The
comprehensive menu can be heard in English and Spanish. This fall,
PCAO introduced "house phones" in each of its District
Offices that link directly to the Change Center.
Clients arriving at the District Offices to report case changes will
be directed to these phones and can thereby avoid long waits to meet
with caseworkers.
By clicking here, you can view a detailed description of the
development of the Change
Center, its scope
of service, and the anticipated advantages of increased automation. This
link will open a PowerPoint presentation prepared by PCAO.
Use the left click button on your mouse to move through the presentation.
Use the links to download, view, and print the
Change Center brochure in English
and Spanish.
In closing, Georgine
Beyer invited participants to provide feedback on these enhancements. She
introduced Steve Magerman, Assistant Director
of the Office of Community Services, who said that the Community Services
staff is available to answer questions, make available printed material,
offer presentations, and intervene with District Office staff when client
concerns need follow up. Ms. Beyer noted that advocates and service
providers can contact District Administrators directly when client
concerns need attention. Use the
link below to access the District Administrator phone directory,
which was assembled by PathWaysPA. The Community Services Office of PCAO
can be contacted at 215-560-2603.
Click here to view, download, and print the PCAO District
Administrators directory.
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