| |
Election 2014
|  | |
On Tuesday, November 4th Gov. Tom Corbett lost his reelection bid to Democrat Tom Wolf, a York County businessman and former state revenue secretary. Wolf will become the 47th governor of Pennsylvania, winning nearly 55% of the votes compared to the incumbent's 45%. Top items on Wolf's agenda are strengthening the public education system, creating family-sustaining jobs, improving fairness and equality under the law, providing access to affordable health care, building safe communities, and keeping Pennsylvania beautiful.
Tom Wolf saw victory in an otherwise Republican-friendly midterm election that had a higher-than-anticipated voter turnout. Republicans expanded their existing majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. They added three seats in the state Senate for a 30-20 majority and won eight more seats in the state House of Representatives for a 119-84 majority.
House Democrat Jesse White (Washington County) was defeated by Republican Jason Ortitay, 44 percent to 56 percent, in the 46th District; Democrat Rick Mirabito (Lycoming County) lost to Republican Jeff Wheeland, 45 percent to 55 percent, in the 83rd District; and former state Republican Rep. Tom Quigley (Montgomery County) defeated Democrat Mark Painter (who unseated Quigley in 2012), 52 percent to 48 percent, in the 146th District.
House Republicans also claimed several open seats that had been in Democratic hands during the 2013-14 legislative session: Ryan Warner (52nd District), Harry Lewis (74th), David Parker (115th), Aaron Kaufer (120th), and Kate Klunk (169th).
The House Republican Caucus will also welcome the following freshman members who were elected to open seats that had been held by the GOP during the 2013-14 legislative session: Barry Jozwiak (5th District), Parke Wentling (17th), Brett Miller (41st), Cris Dush (66th - House Speaker Sam Smith's old district), Russ Diamond (102nd), Craig Staats (145th), James Santora (163rd), and Jack Rader, Jr. (176th).
The 81st District in Huntingdon County will have a new Republican representative. Richard Irwin defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Fleck, the first openly gay member of the General Assembly, 54 percent to 46 percent.
House Democrats kept two open seats currently held by Democrats. Peter Schweyer will replace Rep. Erin C. Molchany in the 22nd District in Allegheny County, and Mike Driscoll will replace Rep. Michael P. McGeehan in the 173rd District in Philadelphia.
Democrats will see one of their seats open up when the new session begins. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Philadelphia, won his race for the U.S. House of Representatives, so a special election will be held in the strongly Democratic 170th District to replace him.
Regarding House leadership elections, house GOP majority leader Mike Turzai currently has no challengers for the House Speaker position and will likely replace outgoing speaker Sam Smith. The battle for Turzai's majority leader position appears to be between House Policy Committee Chairman Dave Reed, R-Indiana, and House GOP Whip Stan Saylor, R-York. According to Capitolwire.com, Reed, as chairman of the House Republicans Campaign Committee, helped orchestrate the GOP's majorities in the last three cycles. However, Reed butted heads with far-right wing leader Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, after Reed critiqued both political parties' approach in his "Beyond Poverty Report". |
| | New Face | |  CAAP is excited to announce that Steven Martinez has joined the Association's team as the new Communications Director. Steven comes from Oklahoma City, OK where he worked as the Programs Manager for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). OCAST is Oklahoma's only state agency whose mission is the development, transfer, and commercialization of innovative technology. Prior to joining OCAST, Steven worked for Zacks Investment Research in Chicago where he developed investment research and portfolio strategies. He earned his Master of Business Administration with an entrepreneurship concentration from Loyola University Chicago and his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University. In 2010 Steven hiked the Appalachian Trail, a 2,180 mile footpath that starts in Georgia and ends in Maine. He continues to cultivate his interest in the outdoors through volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America and exploring the United States in his newly restored 1974 VW Westfalia Bus. Steven can be reached at steven@thecaap.org. |
| |
New Community Action Mural in Downtown Sharon
| | |
About one and a half years ago, Community Action Partnership of Mercer County  (CAP-Mercer) sought to connect to Sharon PA's growing arts and culture community. Although CAP-Mercer lacked internal artistic talent, the team was able to offer a canvas - one of its four exterior walls. Ron Errett, Executive Director at CAP-Mercer, collaborated with Leslie Michael, Executive Director of Endowment for the Arts Program, and Christian Kuharik, a Penn State art instructor and ceramics specialist who owns a pottery studio downtown. They came up with the focus of "Hopes and Dreams," an interpretation that captures everyone's organizational mission. The message bricks and painted sign are the work of hundreds of hands, hearts, and imaginations of volunteers of all ages who contributed to the mural. Several hundred tiles were individually painted and mounted to CAP-Mercer's wall. Businesses, visitors, Head Start children, and local volunteers contributed to the mural - a true community work of art.
|
| | Franklin County Gleaning Initiative | | |
The South Central Community Action Program in Franklin County had its new program - the Gleaning Initiative - featured on Your4State.com TV channel. Click Here to watch the news coverage.
|
| | Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) | | |
November 3rd was the start of the Department of Public Welfare's annual LIHEAP that helps low-income customers with home heating needs during the winter. The program provides cash grants to help eligible customers pay heating bills and crisis grants in the event of a furnace breakdown or depleted oil supply. During the week of October 20th, Gov. Tom Corbett signed a new law that prohibits utilities from shutting off service on a Friday which would leave customers without heat throughout the weekend. A key requirement of the current statute ensures that a utility cannot shut off power during the winter, from December 1 through March 31, to a family earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level. Shutoffs can happen to delinquent customers above the income threshold provided utilities meet notification requirements. Department of Public Welfare, soon to be renamed Department of Human Services, is taking applications for LIHEAP aid. The income eligibility limit this year is $35,775 for a household of four. For more information and to apply Click Here.
For the week ending November 8, 2014 Department of Public Welfare received 30,199 LIHEAP applications. They approved 21,007 and rejected 4,030. The top five reasons for an application rejection, in order, are: Household income exceeds program limit; Household is not responsible for paying for heat; Household did not send proof of income; Household did not send proof of heating responsibility; Household did not provide proof of household composition.
LIHEAP applications will be accepted until April 3, but state officials encourage local residents in need to apply early. LIHEAP operates on a first-come, first-serve basis and distributes the $140 million in federal money Pennsylvania receives until the funds run out. The program typically helps more than 400,000 households across Pennsylvania, according to state records.
|
| | New CAAP Benefit | | |
CAAP is very excited to announce a new partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO)! Members of the Community Action Association of Pennsylvania (CAAP) now have a free membership with PANO. This membership connects CAAP agencies to a network of over 750 members that span sectors, budgets, geographic regions and activity areas in PA.
As a member of PANO our CAAP-member agencies, their staff, volunteers AND their boards have access to ALL PANO resources. Here are a few key benefits that will be especially valuable:
- Anyone connected with a CAAP agency can contact PANO's "Nonprofit Help Desk" (717-236-8584) for advice, tools and resources. Click Here for more information.
- Access to the Standards for ExcellenceŽ Program (Click Here) including over 27 Free Educational Resources (Click Here) - Including:
- Sample Policies: Conflict of Interest, Whistleblower, Document Retention and more.
- Sample Checklists: Legal, Form 990, Board Orientation and more.
- Sample Board Forms: Job Description, Composition, Evaluation and more.
- Sample Procedures: Volunteer, Fundraising, Finance and more.
-
Access to resources on public policy, advocacy and lobbying (Click Here) - Including:
- State Updates - PA Senate Bill 4 -Proposed constitutional amendment giving the PA General Assembly the authority to establish the standards for charitable tax exemption - Click Here.
- Federal Updates - OMB Changes to Indirect Costs for Government Contacts - Click Here.
- Educational Resources - Trainings, Updates and Free Reference Materials.
|
| | ROMA Training | | |
CAAP recently arranged an Introduction to ROMA Training, held at the Camp Hill, PA Giant grocery store's community room on October 22nd. The training covered the basics of achieving Results Oriented Management and reporting the outcomes in an accountable manner. Three trainers - Jen Wintermyer and Melanie Shaffer of Tri County Community Action and Dan Leppo of CAAP - provided insights to 43 participants. The participants were from 12 local CAA's and also DCED's Center for Community Services and CAAP staff. CAAP intends to offer another Introduction to ROMA training just prior to the CAAP annual conference in April. If you would like to receive specific information on the training, please email Dan Leppo at dan@thecaap.org.
Performance management and measures are being further implemented by CAA's across the nation with the advent of national organizational standards by the Office of Community Services. During 2015, each CAA will need to lay out a plan for showing compliance with the standards. ROMA Next Generation is aimed at assisting CAA's to prepare and comply through strategic planning. Toward that end, Pennsylvania is receiving training on November 14th from two well-known ROMA and strategic planning experts, Dr. Barbara Mooney, Director of the Association of Nationally Certified ROMA Trainers, and Ken Ackerman, Director of Virtual CAP, the online repository of resources. The trainers will delve further into review of agency mission and documents tied to outcomes while also introducing steps toward developing a Theory of Change as a strategic planning tool. The training will be held at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg-East, and is funded by Regional Performance and Innovation Consortium (RPIC) monies from Region 3. Ten agencies and DCED will have a total of 26 attendees participating in the training. There currently are no other similar trainings scheduled, but if you are interested, please inform Dan Leppo by email at dan@thecaap.org.
|
|
