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PA 2-1-1 state funding from FY 2017-2018 on its way to regional providers
UWP received the FY 2017-2018 state appropriation of $750,000 for statewide 2-1-1 in mid-July. An application has been released to regional 2-1-1 providers for them to access $450,000 from these funds which are allocated for regional capacity-building grants. These grants will be used to make sure every Pennsylvanian has access to 2-1-1, and to increase the quality and consistency of the service across the state.
Twenty-five percent of the regional funds are being distributed on the basis of population. The remainder of the regional funds are available for competitive capacity-building grants which will support the following outcomes:
1. Assure that 90% of the top 25% of the region's most frequent referrals are updated every six months and coded according to PA 2-1-1 Style Guide.
2. Implement or increase follow-up by phone or text for an additional 5% of referrals made on 2-1-1 contacts to measure successful connection to services and provide analysis of what this indicates about service delivery.
3. Send a customer satisfaction survey by text or chat to 35% of contacts who agree to complete a customer survey by text or chat.
4. Offer 60% of callers and all text contacts the opportunity to receive important health and human services updates or alerts by text.
5. Improve public search outcomes when the public 2-1-1 database is queried.
6. Answer 75% of calls in less than 90 seconds
7. Achieve an average handle time for 2-1-1 calls of 5 to 7 minutes, excluding special projects
8. Improve client data tracking by consistently asking for core, anonymized demographic information about the client.
9. Complete a review of the call center's operations against the AIRS standards to prepare for an application for accreditation.
10. Apply for AIRS accreditation, which starts the clock for a ten month window to submit documentation and have the database reviewed.
11. Other: please list other outcomes that are applicable to the purpose for which you seek funds, including pilot projects.
The UWP Board of Directors will give final approval on the regional allocation of funds after staff conversations with the applicants to match available funds to needs, and a recommendation from the PA 2-1-1 board.
UWP is proud to have partnered with our members and our 2-1-1 network to secure this investment which will strengthen the PA 2-1-1 service and help regional 2-1-1 providers support Pennsylvanians in their time of need.
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UWW working on national 2-1-1 data repository
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United Way Worldwide has shared with the 2-1-1 community an exciting new development. With leadership from the 2-1-1 National Operating Group (United Way of Southwestern PA is a member) and United Way Worldwide, and support from other network leaders, the 2-1-1 network has begun planning for a 2-1-1 National Data Warehouse. The end product will be a single, authoritative and trusted national data repository.
The platform will generate significant benefit for the public and its members, and align to the mission, values and standards of the non-profit information and referral sector. It will consolidate data managed locally from front-line systems to create a repository of high-quality resource data that conforms to industry standards and enables a range of services designed to maximize the public value of 2-1-1 information. Connections will be enabled from third-parties that deliver services such as specialized hotlines or community social program directories, and intelligence will be generated to inform public policy decisions at the local, state and national level.
A group of founding member 2-1-1s will join United Way Worldwide to provide leadership for the design and build of the platform, seek and contribute funding to cover the initial development costs, and seed the platform with data. The platform's design will be guided by key principles such as contributing members retain data ownership rights and participate in setting strategic direction. A phased and modular approach will be taken to building the platform, with the goal of launching a first version in mid-2019.
Additional 2-1-1s will be onboarded, expanding coverage and value of the platform, and a full-featured version is expected by late 2020. With more than 200 2-1-1s onboard, it is anticipated that the platform will generate revenues sufficient to offset operational and future development costs, and position the network for future success.
We will bring you updates as the project gets underway.
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Economics of the child care workforce
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The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment released the
Early Childhood Workforce Development Index 2018. This index provides a current appraisal of workforce conditions and policies across states. There are four chapters in the index:
- About the Workforce provides a national snapshot of characteristics of the early educator workforce across settings and discusses state-level variation.
- Earnings and Economic Security provides national and state data on ECE workforce pay in relation to other occupations and presents new analyses of pay.
- Early Childhood Workforce Policies assesses state policies in five areas: qualifications and educational supports; work environments; compensation and financial relief strategies; workforce data; and financial resources.
- Family and Income Support Policies assesses state policies across occupations in two areas: income supports and health and well-being.
There is a state data sheet for Pennsylvania that gives a snapshot of these highlighted areas. Based on this data, there are 856,529 children ages 0-5 and over 41,000 early childhood teachers. 68 percent of children live in households where parents are currently working and 22 percent are part of low-income families. However, even with earning middle-class wages, many of these families cannot afford the cost of service for early childhood education. Additionally, the teachers are not earning livable wages with the median child care worker earning $9.71/hour. To see how Pennsylvania compares to other states, take a look at the Index's interactive state database.
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IFO releases monthly PA revenue targets for FY 2018-2019
The July revenues seem to start the new Fiscal Year off in good shape. This first month yielded a little more than $2.2 billion, with the state's General Fund receiving $12 million above the IFO estimates for the month. The surplus was chalked up to Pennsylvanians purchasing more than anticipated. The Sales and Use Tax collection were $24 million, about 2.4% higher than expected. Rounding out the state's "big three" are the Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT), which produced revenues as anticipated.
The IFO also released monthly revenue estimates for FY 2018-19 to hit the $33.9 billion revenue target for the year. The big collections months are March and April, with the targets of $4.5 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively. These estimates are important, because they are one of the measures policymakers use to keep track of PA's fiscal health. You can view the full year estimates
here.
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Keep learning this summer - UWP's webinar series continues with Pre-K and the 2020 US Census
United Way of PA still has two upcoming webinars scheduled as part of our 2018 Summer Webinar Series. Registration is still open to join these engaging and helpful webinars.
Pre-K for PA:Making the Case for Pre-K in PA
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 3:30PM-4:30PM
United Way of PA joined the Pre-K for PA campaign in 2016 to push for increased access to high-quality pre-k for all of PA's 3 and 4 year olds. By fiscal year 2020-2021, the goal is for PA to invest an additional $285 million in high-quality pre-k by making increased annual investments.
One year after joining the coalition, UWP will look at what progress has been made and where the campaign is focusing through the fall. United Ways throughout the state would benefit from investments made in high-quality pre-k, so opportunities for our members to become involved will be highlighted.
U.S. 2020 Census: Planning a Complete Count
Tuesday, August 28, 2018 3:00PM-4:00PM
The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States. Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution mandates that this occur every 10 years. The information the census collects helps determine how more than $675 billion of federal funding is distributed to states and communities each year.
Lynne Newman of the U.S. Census Bureau will join United Way of PA members to discuss plans for the 2020 census. Topics to be covered include:
- Different ways to respond to the U.S. Census
- Census office locations in PA,
- How and why to form complete count committees locally
- Reaching out to low response populations
- U.S. Census confidentiality
- Recruiting U.S. Census workers
If you have any questions, or have a topic you would like to see presented in future webinars, please contact Amanda Barbarich via
email or call (717) 238-7365 x206.
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UWP Member Survey Reminders
United Way of PA is always looking for new ways to support our members. We have recently come up with two potential opportunities to assist you, but we are asking for your feedback and assistance.
United Way of PA is interested in knowing if you would like to learn more about the Salesforce Philanthropy Cloud. We are gauging whether it would be appropriate to have UWP host a virtual learning session about it for our members. Please take a few moments and fill out
this survey:
In addition, we are working to compile a social media directory for
our members that will list your United Way's social media contact and your account names. This directory will only be available to UWP staff and fellow UWP members. It will help United Ways across the state collaborate to share and amplify their messages.
We are asking you to provide your information so we can create the directory. Please take a few minutes to complete this form:
UWP Social Media Form
If you have any questions, please contact Amanda Barbarich via email or by calling (717) 238-7365 x206
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PA State of the Child profile - updated data available
The PA Partnerships for Children has released the 2018 KIDS Count State of the Child profiles. These measures relate how well each county and the state, overall, is doing in regards to childhood poverty, health insurance coverage, educational opportunities, and other important information regarding children's well-being.
The profiles released contain information about child population and poverty in each county. This information includes how many children are uninsured or have coverage through Medicaid or PA CHIP, how many children benefit from subsidized child care and publicly funded pre-k programs, how many children are in foster care or receiving other child welfare services, and the academic performance data for school districts, charter schools, and cyber charter schools.
The data for each county is also presented along with statewide data information on counties with similar geographic profiles. A PA Statewide profile is also available as well as the source document. To learn more about the data and view your counties data, click here.
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