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At UWP's 2019 Annual Conference, Centre County accepts a donation of school supplies
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UWP Annual Conference wraps up in State College: apply for flex credits, evaluate our conference, and vote for next year's location!
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UWP's annual conference was a blast this year and we definitely have our members to thank! Your dedication for learning and passion for United Way makes every year's conference amazing.
If you would like to use United Way Worldwide Flex Credits to be reimbursed the cost of your attendance at the conference, you will need to submit an online reimbursement form. To do so, you will need your United Way's Organization number. The form can be submitted once for all United Way attendees. There is a $35 processing fee for each transaction.
You are able to be reimbursed:
- Registration Expenses: up to $300 per attendee
- Travel Expenses: up to $500 per attendee
- Per diem (hotel and food expenses): up to $375 per attendee
If you have any questions, please email Amanda McNaughton or call (717) 238-7365 x206.
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Advocate for PA 2-1-1 and the expansion of the EITC
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Advocacy season is upon us! Between the state budget and UWW's Capitol Hill visits, we need your United Way to help us advocate.
To help with the state budget, due to be finalized by the end of the month, we need all our United Way members to reach out to their local Representatives to ask for their support for $1.5 million in funding for PA 2-1-1. Please take the time to call your local House members and ask for them to send their caucus leadership and appropriations committee chair a letter of support for PA 2-1-1 funding. You can find talking points and a list of your local House members' contact information on our members' only section. If you do not have an account yet, please contact Amanda. Stand-alone communications on this advocacy ask will be circulated this week from Maggie. If you have any questions, please contact Maggie or Kristen.
To continue our advocacy theme for the month of June, please help the United Way network across the nation advocate to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. On June 13th, United Way advocates will be meeting with elected federal officials to expand the EITC for workers not raising kids at home and young people ages 21 to 24. The EITC program is an effective tool to help working families struggling to survive, yet it excludes more than 5 million workers. Help us unite our voices to demonstrate the impact of the EITC for Pennsylvanians and their families! You can help us advocate by inviting supporters of the EITC to take action and amplify our advocacy message on your social media sites. UWW put together a social media toolkit, where you can find social media messages, graphics, and specific state facts. Please join us in fighting for working Pennsylvanians!
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Update on budget negotiations and May revenue numbers
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As we roll into June, the House and Senate will be in Harrisburg every week to finalize negotiations for the FY 2019-2020 budget. Legislative leaders are expressing optimism about an early budget, with some speculating that budget bills will begin running during the week of June 17.
United Way of Pennsylvania continues to seek support from rank and file members of the House to increase the funding for PA 2-1-1 from $750,000 to $1.5 million in the next state budget. There are a few days left to try to influence funding decisions. See the article above for a call to action that our members can support.
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue also issued the final revenue report prior to adoption of the state budget, which indicated that revenue growth slowed in the month of May. Collections actually fell a bit short of estimate, but through 11 months of the fiscal year, revenues are still $813 million, or about 2.6 percent ahead of estimates.
Republican leaders continue to indicate preference for a budget which spends less than the Governor's proposal, and will begin to replenish the state's Rainy Day fund. Both sides of the aisle are coming together around a proposal for Pennsylvania to host its own health insurance exchange at a savings of about $50 million. Many in the Capitol predict that the minimum wage increase discussion is off the table until fall.
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Brand refresh and national data platform are headline issues at UWW's
2-1-1 summit
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Members of the United Way of Pennsylvania team attended the national UWW 2-1-1 summit in Atlanta, Georgia in late May. This is a great opportunity to network with other local and state 2-1-1 partners across the nation.
This year, two national initiatives were formally unveiled at the summit which connect back to the work of PA 2-1-1 and support from local United Ways around the state.
The first is the 2-1-1 brand refresh. 211 is an unmatched, critical service. It has received increased levels of support and recognition from our partners in recent years which has, at times, placed the 211 brand in the national spotlight. 211 has significantly evolved over the past 20+ years, and requires a refreshed look and feel to reflect this evolution. The 211 Message Architecture is comprised of consumer-tested, core messages and guidelines that all 211s can leverage to ensure that we are all speaking with One Voice.
A marketing toolkit is available on United Way online here, with locally customizable marketing and communications assets. This includes new logo files, posters, a tri-fold brochure and social media graphics.
Non-United Way partners who operate 2-1-1s are able to access materials here.
The 2-1-1 summit also featured a demo of a national data platform which several 2-1-1 systems have been developing and testing. It uses an API to allow data to be gathered from any of the disparate database systems that 2-1-1s currently use across the country, and includes a search and mapping tool. The purpose of the platform is to explore options for leasing data to partners on a regional or national basis, across state lines. Now the network will need to come up with governance standards, policy for ownership of data, and parameters for revenue generation.
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ALICE® to Launch in the Capitol Rotunda on June 18th! Have you RSVP'd yet?
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United Way of Pennsylvania is gearing up to launch the ALICE Project in Pennsylvania on June 18th at 10:00am in the main rotunda of the PA State Capitol building. We are inviting media to be there and will have speakers to talk about the ALICE Report and how ALICE fares in Pennsylvania.
Please RSVP to Amanda McNaughton if you, your board, or any staff from your United Way are attending! The press conference will take no longer than 45 minutes.
If you can't attend, we will be livestreaming directly from the Capitol! Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook to get updates about the event!
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Kindergarten teachers agree Pre-k is essential for school success
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The Pre-K for PA campaign and the Pennsylvania State Education Association recently released a survey of kindergarten teachers about the value high-quality pre-k has in promoting school readiness. The results show more than 90 percent of Pennsylvania's kindergarten teachers agree high-quality pre-k is an essential component to prepare children for school success.
While there is near-consensus on the value of high-quality pre-k programs in preparing our youngest residents for school, there is still a gap of 96,000 children that needs to be filled to ensure all of Pennsylvania's three- and four-year olds have access. The Commonwealth ranks 18th out of 30 states who are investing in high quality pre-k. Since 2014, the state has invested $115 million to give an additional 12,000 at-risk children access to high-quality pre-k. For FY 2019-2020, UWP and the Pre-K for PA Campaign is asking for an additional $50 million to give another 5,500 access to pre-k.
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Upcoming Webinars
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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 Webinar
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.
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