| | Share the Success |  |
Nominations are being accepted for the 17th CAAP Self-Sufficiency Awards. The awards program will take place on April 9, 2014 in Harrisburg, PA. 
"The SSA program is a fantastic way to show the impact your agency makes on individuals and the community," said Danielle Wismer Bowers, conference committee chair and past SSA recipient.
The nomination packet is available here. Due date is October 31, 2013. Questions can be directed to joe@thecaap.org.
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| | A Major Need | | |
The National Community Action Foundation (NCAF) is in major need of donations for its operations and for CAP-PAC.
For longer than one can remember, NCAF has been the front line protector of  Community Action, CSBG, Weatherization and LIHEAP. The legislative struggles overcome in the past are because of the tireless efforts of NCAF.
Please donate today and ensure the continued efforts of NCAF.
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| | Career Opportunity | | |
The Community Action Program of Lancaster County is seeking a  Controller for oversight of all finance, accounting and reporting activities. In Bucks County, a CEO search has begun.
Details for both positions can be found on the CAAP employment site.
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Government Saved from Shutdown, Maybe
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From the Wall Street Journal
The House of Representatives, voting along sharply drawn party lines, passed a measure Friday to keep the government funded through mid-December but eliminate funding for the new federal health law, setting the stage for a series of high-stakes negotiations with the Senate over debt and spending.
By 230-189, the Republican-led House passed a plan that would temporarily avoid a partial government shutdown when the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Only two Democrats voted for the measure, and one Republican voted against it.
Senate Democrats are planning to strip out provisions that would eliminate funding for the health law. Members of both parties say that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has enough votes to do so, although the process may entail overcoming time-consuming procedural hurdles laid out by conservative senators that could take up all of next week.
The vote came after House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) met behind closed doors with House GOP lawmakers to discuss the strategy for the next fight, over raising the U.S. borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has told Congress that he expects to hit the debt limit in mid-October, and that the government would then run out of ways to keep paying all its bills. Republicans want to set conditions on any increase in the borrowing limit. The White House has said it isn't willing to negotiate on the debt limit, saying that raising it is the responsibility of Congress
House Republican leaders had hoped to postpone the fight over health-care funding until later this fall rather than have the impasse risk a government shutdown. But they reversed course and embraced the bill under pressure from their conservative wing.
"Let's defund this law now and protect the American people from the economic calamity that we know Obamacare will create," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), who had authored the earlier, less confrontational strategy that would have sent to the Senate a funding bill they were more likely to accept.
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The Numbers Please
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The Economic Policy Institute has compiled a quick reference for discussing the US Census' release of Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States: 2012
Income
- $7,490, -11.6%: The decline in median non-elderly household income from 2000 to 2012 in level terms and percentage terms, respectively
- $51,668, $49,398: Median earnings for a man working full time, full year in 1973 and 2012, respectively
- $29,261, $37,791: Median earnings for a female working full time, full year in 1973 and 2012, respectively
- -5.2%, -0.8%: The decline over the last decade in median earnings for full time, full year workers age 25 or more with a college degree, men and women, respectively
- 0.6%, $1,846: Income gains for top 5 percent over 2009-12, only income group with improvement
- $3,822, -6.3%: The decline in median white, non-Hispanic household income from 2000 to 2012 in level terms and percentage terms, respectively
- $5,838, -14.8%: The decline in median African-American household income from 2000 to 2012 in level terms and percentage terms, respectively
- $5,219, -11.8%: The decline in median Hispanic household income from 2000 to 2012 in level terms and percentage terms, respectively
Poverty
- 15.0%: The share of the population in poverty in 2012
- 21.8%: The percent of children under 18 in poverty
- 46.5 million: The number of people in poverty in 2012
- $23,283: The poverty threshold for a family of four with two children
- 43.9%: The share of the poor population in "deep poverty," or below half the poverty link
- 15.3 million: The increase in the number of people aged 65 and older who would be in poverty if Social Security payments were excluded from money income, close to quadrupling the number of elderly people in poverty in 2012
- 1.7 million: The number of people unemployment insurance kept out of poverty in 2012
- 4 million: How many fewer people would be in poverty if food stamps (SNAP) were added to money income in 2012
Health insurance coverage
- 47.3 million: The number of people under 65 without any health insurance in 2012, down from 47.9 million in 2011
- 13.7 million: The decline in the number of people under 65 with employer-sponsored health insurance from 2000-2012
- 10.8 percentage points: The decline in the share of the under 65 population with employer-sponsored health insurance from 2000-2012
- 25.4 million: The increase in the number of people under 65 on government insurance (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid) from 2000 to 2012; government insurance accounts for the increase in overall coverage from 2011 to 2012, an increase of 379,000 over the year
- 0.5 percent: The increase in employer-sponsored health insurance among 19-25 year olds, 2009 to 2012, the only group which saw this rate increase as their employment-to-populations ratio fell the most-almost surely due to the ACA provision to allow young adults to secure coverage through their parents' employer-sponsored insurance policies
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Is Your Attorney Up to Date on CAA Rules
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CAPLAW is offering a free webinar for attorneys on Community Action bylaws.
September 26, 2013, 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Eastern Time Cost: Free Clear, authoritative, and up-to-date bylaws are a cornerstone of good governance. The newly proposed Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) Organizational Standards emphasize the importance of bylaws and the integral role that an attorney plays in ensuring that a CAA's bylaws are top-notch. The Standards recommend that an attorney review a CAA's bylaws at least once every five years. In this webinar, we will examine the main issues for an attorney to consider when asked by a CAA to review and update its bylaws. We will discuss the laws specifically applicable to a CAA's bylaws and what provisions the bylaws must contain to ensure compliance with some of these laws such as the CSBG and Head Start board composition requirements. We will also touch on issues relating to how a CAA's bylaws address removal, board size, term limits and conflicts of interest. NOTE: CAA executive directors and board members may also participate in this webinar but should keep in mind that the webinar is designed for attorneys who work with CAAs. Register now. |
| | They're Back | | |
The House and Senate will return to the Capital City on Monday, September 23 following their summer recess, and many issues remain on the table for the Legislature to discuss this fall. The House and Senate are set to reconvene at 1:00 p.m.
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