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We are excited to host the 2018 Tocqueville Society Reception in Harrisburg at the Governor's Residence. We look forward to seeing you and your Tocqueville members on May 22nd, 2018!
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2018 Statewide Tocqueville Reception Returns to Harrisburg's Governor's Residence
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United Way of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce that the 2018 Statewide Tocqueville Society Reception will be returning to Harrisburg. The reception will be held on May 22nd, 2018 from 5:30pm-8:30pm at the Governor's Residence. The residence is right off the Susquehanna River and has served as the home of eight governor's and their family. In addition to serving as a private residence, the building serves as a museum housing art exhibits and artifacts related to Pennsylvania's rich history. Tour guides will be available to talk to guests about the exhibits if they choose.
A Save the Date is available for our members to send to their Tocqueville Society members. Please click here to access the PDF file. Tocqueville step-up donors are also eligible to attend this event.
We need to raise more sponsorship to keep the costs for this event as low as possible. We have secured $5000 in sponsorship to date, with a goal of raising $17,000. If your United Way has prospects who would like to sponsor a statewide Tocqueville reception at the Governor's residence, UWP can provide sponsorship tiers and benefits, and support the ask with any assistance needed.
United Way of PA is also still accepting Keystone Spirit of the United Way Award Nominations until March 30th. Nominees should be members of the Tocqueville Society and nominated by their local United Way.
Award nominees must have an exceptional and sustained personal involvement with the United Way in the form of giving, advocating, and volunteering in his or her community and beyond its borders.
The Keystone Spirit of the United Way Award will be presented at the 2018 Tocqueville Society Reception. Nomination packets can be found
online here.
Please contact Amanda Barbarich at
[email protected]
or (717) 238-7365 x206 for any questions or to discuss sponsorship. Additional information will be sent by the end of March. For the most up-to-date information, feel free to visit UWP's Tocqueville Reception page for details at any time.
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United Way of PA VISTA Project Proposal Approved
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In December, UWP partnered with local United Ways to submit a portfolio of potential VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) assignments. The purpose of UWP's involvement is to help more United Ways leverage VISTA resources to tackle community problems, because they either can't submit an application large enough to be considered independently, or they want to leverage UWP's support to meet VISTA program requirements. Two of the assignments were approved with UWP as the intermediary for the project.
All VISTA projects must help eradicate poverty in their communities. VISTA members push to create solutions in the areas of education, health, and economic opportunity. This makes VISTA a perfect match for United Ways across Pennsylvania.
AmeriCorps VISTA members will be assigned to two sites in Pennsylvania through the project. The first site is through the Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way to launch their new in-depth referral-based out-of-school time program. The second site is through United Way of Lebanon County to expand utilization of early childhood education programs by low-income families. The two sites are anticipated to last two to three years.
UWP looks forward to creating a partnership where local United Ways will be able to share the costs of VISTA members and pool resources to provide training and support for the sites. UWP will be coordinating data reporting and VISTA application.
UWP will be interested in expanding the VISTA partnership to other interested United Ways in 2019. Look for opportunities later this year to learn how your organization can access this benefit and hear more about our new VISTA projects.
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Farm Bill expected by March 24th: Preparing for SNAP Impact
The Farm Bill to reauthorize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) is expected to be revealed between now and March 24th.
SNAP is the nation's largest anti-hunger program.
In 2017, about 42 million people access food through SNAP. In 2016 in Pennsylvania, 15% of residents utilized SNAP, which is roughly 1,864,000 people.
In April, the full House votes on the version of the Farm Bill that is reported out of committee. Also, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts of Kansas has said he wants to introduce and mark up the Senate's version of the Farm Bill in April. In late spring or early summer, the Senate's version of the Farm Bill could go to a full floor vote. The House and Senate would then need to reconcile any differences before submitting the Farm Bill for an executive signature.
It is important that there is a rapid advocacy response if the Farm Bill has harmful cuts to SNAP. This will be an excellent opportunity for United Way to push for this important, successful, and beneficial program. Remember:
- SNAP enrollment is counter-cyclical, expanding when the economy weakens and contracting when the economy recovers, making it one of our country's most responsive programs in stabilizing families.
- Children with regular access to nutritious food have improved academic performance and have decreased risk of behavior problems, obesity, illness and infection.
- SNAP's impact on children can last a lifetime. For example, research shows that adults who received food stamps as young children are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to suffer long-term health problems like obesity and heart disease.
- SNAP already does a lot with too little. Even though the food assistance SNAP provides is extremely modest-averaging only about $1.40 per person per meal-it's a lifesaver for many Americans. In addition, out of all public benefit programs, SNAP has one of the most rigorous systems to determine eligibility upfront. As a result, SNAP also has a low error rate,
meaning that the vast majority of SNAP benefits are issued correctly to eligible households.
Please stay tuned for opportunities to advocate for a stronger SNAP program to provide Pennsylvanians the resources necessary for a healthy life!
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Welcome United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey President/CEO Bill Golderer
Bill Golderer began his tenure as president and CEO of Pennsylvania's largest United Way at the beginning of March.
Bill's job is described as follows: "Bill leads UWGPSNJ's mission to harness, leverage and strategically invest the collective power of more than 100,000 donors, advocates and volunteers, to end intergenerational poverty in the region. Through the Impact Fund, UWGPSNJ develops successful youth and stable, self-sufficient families by investing in the areas of early learning, career pathways and pipelines, and economic self-sufficiency, while also ensuring access to the community stability supports that individuals and families need to stay healthy and meet their most basic needs."
Prior to joining UWGPSNJ, Bill served as senior pastor at Arch Street Presbyterian Church. He was also the founder of Broad Street Ministry, which enables cross-sector collaboration to lift people out of homelessness, and has become known for the inclusive service it extends to community members in need. At Broad Street Ministry, hundreds of individuals and families in need are able to join community meals and, through the ministry's partnerships, access resources such as case management, medical services, behavioral health support, benefits counseling, and legal support. As a result of his work at Broad Street Ministry, Bill also had the opportunity to co-found Rooster Soup Company, the nation's first for-profit, crowd-funded social impact restaurant that creates jobs and returns revenue to Philadelphia's most impoverished citizens.
UWP staff had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Bill right before he started with United Way. We ate lunch at the Rooster Soup Company before a recent meeting in Philadelphia. Bill dropped by his successful venture to say hello. We gave him some very brief background on the work of United Way of Pennsylvania to coordinate our network around advocacy, and he shared some really interesting backstory on how Rooster Soup Company came to be. We look forward to working with Bill, and incidentally, we highly recommend this restaurant to any of our members when they visit Philadelphia.
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FINAL CALL: UWP Hill Day Registrations
UWP needs more of our members to join us in Harrisburg at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 17th to discuss our key issues with legislators.This year, we are focusing on state funding for PA 2-1-1 and access to high-quality pre-K. We know you see your own legislators regularly at community events, but we need you to help us deliver our message to all those who make decisions on our priority issues.
Prior to the event, we will provide a basic training on the materials and talking points we would like to be advocating for during our time on the Hill. The training webinar will take place on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 from 3:30 PM-4:30 PM.
We are extending the registration deadline to Friday, March 23. To register for our day of advocacy at the Capitol, please use this
link.
You should receive a confirmation email after registering.
If you have any questions about the event or issues registering, please reach out to Melissa Anese at [email protected].
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Director of PA Workforce Development Board & UW of Chester County join Workforce Development Webinar on March 28th
United Way of Pennsylvania would like to announce that Allison Jones, Director of the PA Workforce Development Board, and United Way of Chester County will be joining us for the workforce development webinar on March 28th.
The PA Workforce Development Board is the governor's principal private-sector policy adviser on building a strong workforce development system. The members are appointed by the governor and represent business executives, labor officials, education leaders, economic development practitioners, and local elected officials.
Allison will be joining us to discuss state resources available for workforce development programs in PA.
United Way of Chester County has formed a strong with the PA Careerlink to create the PA CareerLink - Chester County and United Way Financial Stability Center.
This facility joins the forces of PA CareerLink - Chester County and United Way's Financial Stability Center together in one building, with the goal of creating easy access to a coordinated network of employment and financial stability services provided by various partners.
During the webinar, United Way of Franklin County will also be presenting their workforce development program and sharing the process they followed to develop their program. During the presentations, questions will be accepted.
The webinar will be March 28th, 2018 from 3:00pm - 4:00pm and is free for our members. To register, please
click here.
This webinar is FREE for all our local United Ways CPOs and their staff to attend.
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UWP 2018 Statewide Conference approved for Flex Credits
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Conference attendees from local United Ways will be able to claim reimbursement through flex credits at United Way Worldwide. A reimbursement form will be sent to attendees on June 25th, 2018 and posted on the
conference website. The deadline for submitting this reimbursement form to United Way Worldwide will be July 20th, 2018. Attendees can be reimbursed:
- Registration fee up to $350
- Travel up to $500
- Per Diem: $200/day up to 3 days ($600 total)
For additional information, or to check your flex credit balance, please look at
United Way Worldwide's
Flex Credit Policy page. If you have specific questions about flex credits, address them to United Way Worldwide. Any questions about the conference can be directed to Amanda Barbarich at
[email protected] or (717) 238-7365 x206.
If you haven't registered yet for the conference, there's still time to enjoy the early bird rate of $300 for the whole conference!
Register online by May 31st and we'll see you in Erie!
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United Way membership certification form due June 30
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Annually, all United Ways in the U.S. must submit their membership certification, complete Database 2, and pay their annual membership investment (dues). The membership certification form is due June 30, 2018. United Way Worldwide will collect the membership certifications via DocuSign. If you are ready to get started and request your DocuSign link, click on the appropriate link below. You will receive your DocuSign link within two business days.
If a designee will enter responses into the form, to be signed later by your United Way's CEO and board chair, use this form.
If the person entering responses into the form will also sign the form (as an example, the CEO is entering responses and also signing the form), use this form.
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