Category: Policy

Children Cannot Wait: Highest number of Children and Youth Identified as Homeless in Pennsylvania – 40,003!

7/20/2023

A new report from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) shows that in School Year (SY) 2021-2022 there were 40,003 children and youth were identified as homeless throughout the Commonwealth, an all-time high.

HopePHL has summarized this report to inform practitioners and policy makers about children and youth experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia.

With this Policy Brief we continue HopePHL’s series called the “Children Cannot Wait Campaign” (see https://bit.ly/3qAQGIX). Part 1 of our exploration of the data offered by PDE will focus on Pennsylvania; Part 2 will focus on the data specific to Philadelphia; and Part 3 will look at homelessness by school district.

rEAD THE pOLICY bRIEF

Analysis of Federal Reserve Bank's Report on Early Learning

6/14/2023

A family’s homelessness can be prolonged for longer periods of time by a lack of childcare.

HopePHL’s Building Early Links for Learning (BELL) project works to help parents and homeless housing provider agencies find high-quality childcare, navigate through applications, and much more. However, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of available early learning programs. Numerous efforts at the national, state, and local level are working to get the early learning system back to pre-COVID levels, but long-term systemic problems like low staff wages, inadequate number of subsidies, and a lack of infant/toddler childcare hinder the system’s recovery.

The Federal Reserve’s Early Care and Education Work Group has produced a series of reports on the status of childcare as it relates to its mission of sustainable employment. This paper is a summary of its most recent report, which can be found here.

Who should read this paper: HopePHL is summarizing the report for the homeless housing system, other human service systems and policy makers because the availability of childcare affects all industries. In addition, there are numerous advisory councils and coalitions preparing early childhood education (ECE) policy work to offer to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Philadelphia’s future Mayor, and current and future City Council members. Information in this paper serves to add to the body of knowledge about ECE to a non-ECE audience.

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‘Thank you’ Representatives Evans, Scanlon, Wild, and Boyle!

4/3/2023

Recently, local Congressional members proposed increasing support for two key programs that support thousands of Pennsylvania's children and youth experiencing homelessness. A bipartisan "Dear Colleague" letter was circulated in the U.S. House of Representatives, calling for $800 million for the McKinney-Vento Act's Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program and $300 million for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) program in the FY2024 budget.

The EHCY and RHYA programs have been underfunded for several years, but the American Rescue Plan delivered increases to these programs, thanks to bipartisan support that seized on the opportunity to expand services. As a result, Pennsylvania received a one-time allocation of $32 million to serve over 30,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness, compared to the usual budget of less than $6 million. This increase helped 8,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia.

We are happy to report that Congresspersons Dwight Evans (Philadelphia), Mary Jo Scanlon (Delaware), Susan Wild (Lehigh), and Brendan Boyle (Philadelphia) have signed onto the letter. The next step is for the House Appropriations Committee to decide whether to support this effort. We are reaching out to PA-based Appropriations Committee members Guy Renschenthaler (14th District, SW Pennsylvania) and Matt Cartwright (8th District, NW Pennsylvania), and we ask advocates in those regions to contact their representatives.

Family Service Provider Network Releases Mayoral Policy Brief

2/7/2023

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The Family Service Provider Network, brought to you by HopePHL, has developed a list of recommendations for consideration by the candidates for Mayor of Philadelphia. For more information about the Family Service Provider Network, email [email protected]