 |
|
Law enforcement leaders and Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel use the backdrop of a prison to launch new research which shows that for every child we invest in for high quality ECE services, society receives about $27,000 in public benefits. See story below.
|
|
Conference early registration ends May 6th! Hotel rooms need booked by May 10th!
|
Have you registered for the 2019 Annual Conference yet? Registration is open now and our members can receive an early bird discount until May 7th, 2019! To see the full conference information and register,
CLICK HERE!
Our 2019 conference will be hosted in State College, PA June 5th-7th! State College is at the center of the state and is most famously the home of Penn State University. Penn State is more than just a college town, though! There are tons of things to do in State College. You can explore various indoor and outdoor recreation activities like mountain biking, golf, and fishing. There are also options for arts & culture.
Our conference will be at the Days Inn by Wyndham Penn State. The hotel is just steps away from all the best nightlife, restaurants, and shopping that State College's vibrant downtown can offer. United Way of PA has negotiated a group rate with the hotel of $85/night starting June 4th and running through the night of June 6th. To make a reservation, please call the hotel at (814) 238-8454 and reference group code: 060419UNI. You can also CLICK HERE to book through their website. Book early - there are a limited number of rooms available and all reservations must be made by May 10, 2019. Once rooms are booked in the block, reservations will be made on a space available basis at public rates.
The agenda for UWP's conference is approved for United Way Flex Credits. If you have questions about flex credits, please check out the
Flex Credit Policy page at UWW. Flex Credits allow local United Ways to attend the conference and be reimbursed for both their registration and travel expenses!
United Way of Pennsylvania is committed to providing an affordable, quality conference. Below are the rates for 2019 which include breakfast, lunch, and dinner on both June 5th and 6th and breakfast on June 7th.
Early Bird Registration (Ending May 6th, 2019)
- $85 for ALICE® Bootcamp* ONLY on Wednesday, June 5th
- $250 for non-ALICE United Ways who wish to attend UWP's Conference on Thursday, June 6th and Friday, June 7th
- $300 which includes ALICE Bootcamp* and UWP Conference
Regular Registration (Beginning May 7th, 2019)
- $100 for ALICE Bootcamp* ONLY on Wednesday, June 5th
- $280 for non-ALICE United Ways who wish to attend UWP's Conference on Thursday, June 6th and Friday, June 7th
- $340 which includes ALICE Bootcamp* and UWP Conference
*ALICE Bootcamp is for United Ways who have joined the United Way of Pennsylvania ALICE Project. For information about joining the project, please contact Maggie Livelsberger.
If you have any questions about the conference or registration, please reach out to
Amanda Barbarich or
Kate Henry. Registration ends May 17th. See you in State College!
|
|
Fight Crime, Invest in Kids report makes case for increased Pre-K funding
|
A report by
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
and
Council for Strong America
was released this month which highlights the ways that increasing access to high quality pre-k can decrease crime. The report states that "By providing access to high-quality early education for kids today, we can see less crime and incarceration in the future while reaping millions in taxpayer savings and other economic benefits."
Pennsylvania is still spending nearly
$3.2 billion annually on incarcerating adults at the local and state levels. According to the report, quality pre-k programs return an average "profit" (economic benefits minus costs) to society of
up to $27,000 for every child served. The analysis measured the economic benefits of both cutting crime and the cost of incarceration, reducing other costs such as special education and grade retention, and increasing participants' future wages.
Applying that cost savings estimate to the 5,500 additional low-income Pennsylvanian children who would be served by the proposed $50 million funding increase for the Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental Assistance programs in 2019-2020 state budget could realize Pennsylvania
almost $150 million in societal benefits over their lifetimes.
The report urges the General Assembly to adopt a final budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year that includes an additional $40 million for Pre-K Counts and $10 million for the Head Start State Supplemental Assistance Program to provide high-quality, publicly funded pre-k to an additional 5,500 at-risk children.
For more information, you can find the full report here.
|
|
Upcoming webinars for UWP members and partners!
|
ALICE® Advocacy Webinar
May 20th 2:00PM
Join United Way of Pennsylvania to discuss how the ALICE Project will have an impact on our network's work with policy and advocacy. Learn how to talk about ALICE with your legislators and local leaders to advocate for ALICE.
This webinar will be hosted by United Way of Pennsylvania through Zoom. It is available for staff and volunteers of PA United Ways who have committed to support the ALICE Project.
Non-ALICE Participating United Way Information Session
June 12th 2:00PM
Click Here to Register
A brief overview of the ALICE Report for our non-committed United Ways prior to launching the report on June 18th.
This webinar will be hosted by United Way of Pennsylvania through Zoom. It is available for staff and volunteers of PA United Ways who have NOT committed to the United Way of Pennsylvania ALICE Project. All United Ways attending the webinar information session agree to hold all information confidential until after 10:00AM on June 18th. The webinar will be recorded and distributed on June 18th after launch.
Exclusive ALICE Project Preview Webinar
June 14th 1:00PM
Fee: $25
Click Here to Register
This event is a webinar targeted to community partners and community members who are interested in the ALICE Project. Our ALICE project United Ways are welcome to invite partners and community leaders to this webinar. There will be a $25 fee to register for the webinar and it is open only to the first 100 attendees. Attendees will receive a preview of the ALICE Report and highlights of the main data. The full ALICE Report will launch June 18th at the PA Capitol building in Harrisburg.
UpPurpose: Digital Marketing for LUWs
July 10th 1:00PM
Click Here to Register
United Way Worldwide announced the launch of a new for-profit subsidiary,
UpPurpose
, in February 2019. UpPurpose is a cloud-based technology platform and creative agency designed to meet the unique content needs of nonprofits and the social good sector. UpPurpose provides a full suite of content services-from multi-platform digital campaign creation to real-time data-driven campaign performance analysis-for local United Ways, nonprofits, foundations, CSR organizations and other social enterprises. Join United Way of PA and UpPurpose to delve into how UpPurpose can benefit your United Way.
|
|
New additions to the United Way Online marketing toolkit
|
This week, UWO premiered a variety of new resources for local United Ways to use in their marketing campaigns. There's a little bit of everything, so take a peek and see if your LUW could benefit from the new offerings.
The new materials are mostly based on the Fight/Win branding strategy, with an additional focus on corporate sponsorships. According to UWO:
"'Join the Fight' is cutting through the clutter and building brand awareness and trust. Our 2018 Brand Tracker research shows that 17 percent of the general population reports seeing our PSA last year. That's a 4 percent increase over the prior year and includes a high percentage of millennials. The study indicates that when people see the PSA, they're more likely to support us."
So, what's new in this toolkit? Most notable is the "Change Doesn't Happen Alone" PSA, which also includes editable (silent) footage. The PSA is available in 30-, 60-, and 75-second spots (the longest of which are under "Video Assets.") See "Tips for leveraging PSAs" for ideas on how to customize and deliver the videos to your market. Remember, that for evoking an emotional response and engaging users on your website or social media, nothing beats video. Putting a video up on your website's donation page is a great way to boost online donations.
Apart from that, UWO also posted silent b-roll footage which you can use to splice into your other video assets. For LUWs who wish to highlight their corporate partnerships, there are new infographics, digital banners, social media templates, and fun, printed materials to encourage your event guests to post about your cause on social media. There are also fresh Fight/Win photos up, for you to use on your website, social media posts, digital ads, marketing emails, or printed materials.
One quick tip: when using UWO's customizable tools, be sure to edit ALL of the available text and picture fields on Studio To Go. Some fields will be filled with placeholder text, which is not meant for final, published materials. And, some of the photo spots are empty until you add your own image.
For all of these resources, UWO includes excellent, downloadable instructions on how best to edit and use their materials. So, if you're unsure of where to start, have a look around the Marketing Toolkit, read the instructions for a tool that strikes your fancy, and have at it! Get your message out there.
|
Teacher certification regulation changes proposed
|
The Department of Education has proposed amendments to 22 PA. Code, Chapter 49- Certification of Professional Personnel, which had the potential to create grade spans with negative impacts on children in early childhood, as well as young adolescents. The original proposal weighed school administration flexibility and convenience over what is best for children's developmental and educational needs. Several key education advocates met with legislators in an attempt to change these. After reviewing the proposed amendments, we were pleased to see that the only recommended change was to codify the special education changes made in Act 82 related to special education.
United Way of PA submitted testimony urging the State Board of Education to maintain the current grade spans in Chapter 49, with the exception of PDE's proposal to codify the special education language, primarily because it
is essential that PA teachers are well-trained in child development for the age group in which they are instructing.
Teachers need to be equipped not only to teach curriculum but also to understand how to instruct children and young adolescents in such a way to promote their development and well-being based on age group.
There are not data to support that there is a problem with the current certificate ranges commonwealth-wide.
If you are interested in submitting comments, you can find more information about how to do so here. Comments will be accepted through June 14, 2019. Email Maggie if you would like a copy of UWP's comments to use as a template.
|
|
|
Member's Only Resources Available to ALL member United Way staff! Sign up for your account!
|
United Way of Pennsylvania's new website at
www.uwp.org has been live since April 3rd. If you've been to visit it, you may have noticed the member login looks a bit different!
We're asking all United Way of Pennsylvania members to encourage their staff to sign up for a FREE user account on our website. This will give them an individual login and password to access:
- Members Only Advocacy Resources for UWP's public policy work
- General member resources from United Way Worldwide that are hosted in one easy to find spot
- The Knowledge Cafe full of "photo ready" documents that can be used as templates for your United Way
- Legislative Contacts information for your United Way's footprint
- Marketing materials and information from both UWP and UWW
- Coming by the end of May! The ALICE® Learning Community for ALICE Participating United Ways!
- Training Resources such as webinar recordings and prior year conference materials
- UWP Board Materials for our quarterly board meetings
- UWP Board Committee Materials for ongoing committee meetings
To sign up, go to uwp.org and click "member login" in the top right, then click below the username and password field to request an account, or
CLICK HERE. If you need help, you can check out our helpful
How-To Instructions!
Accounts will be approved by UWP staff at the earliest possible opportunity! Questions can be directed to
Amanda Barbarich.
|
|
Small and Mighty Resource Home at UW Online
|
United Way Worldwide has developed a one-stop resource hub for all their Small & Mighty United Ways!
The page was developed to help staff and board members of smaller United Ways (Pop Groups 5 & 6; segments 1-2; metros 5-11) easily connect with their peers and find the resources needed to lead their United Ways and serve their communities. Resources available include:
- Links to tools like the GRF, Bambu, and PerformanceLink
- Workplace Campaign and Donor Retention Tools
- Talent Management modules
- Market analysis information
You can check out the hub at any time over at United Way Online. You will need to login prior to viewing the hub.
CLICK HERE
to access it.
|
|
Comments on rules that impact nonprofit employee compensation due by May 21st and 22nd
|
The U.S. Department of Labor has published
proposed rules
for determining "regular rate" of pay, which is the base hourly rate nonprofits, foundations, and other employers use for calculating time-and-a-half overtime pay for eligible employees. The proposed rules (and
DOL's two-page summary
) clarify that employers are not required to include certain payments as part of the "regular rate" of pay, such as payments for unused paid leave, the cost of providing wellness programs and other similar employee benefits, and most reimbursed expenses. This set of draft regulations is a follow-up to DOL's recently published
proposed regulations
that would increase the salary threshold for exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime pay requirements from the current level of $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $679 per week ($35,308 per year).
Learn more about the overtime proposed regulations by reviewing the
initial analysis by the National Council of Nonprofits.
Nonprofits and all interested persons are encouraged to review both sets of proposed rules and offer public comments. The deadline for commenting on the overtime rule is
May 21, 2019
and on the "regular rate" rule is
May 28, 2019
. UWW will be monitoring this and updating members as needed.
|
|
Taxpayer First Act passes the US House of
Representatives
|
On Tuesday, April 9th, the House of Representatives voted to pass HR 1957, the Taxpayer First Act of 2019 -a package of bills that includes the VITA Permanence Act! The VITA Permanence Act, championed by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), formally authorizes the VITA program and shores up investments in this important public-private partnership. The Senate's companion bill of the same name, S. 928, was introduced in late March.
You can say "thank you" to Rep. Davis and Rep. Wenstrup on social media. Share United Way Worldwide's posts or create your own. UWW's Twitter post is here and their Facebook post can be found here.
The Taxpayer First Act also includes a provision that requires the IRS to continue to work with the private sector to provide free online individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services. There has been some news coverage about this issue, as it would prevent the IRS from developing its own free file service. UWW is aware of this issue, but will not be taking a position. This provision will not affect United Way's MyFreeTaxes product, which utilizes H&R Block's commercial tax preparation software. If you have any questions, please contact Caitlin Arenas Martinez.
|
|
|
|
