July 15, 2021
One in five Pennsylvanians has chosen not to fill a prescription because of cost, and another one in six has cut pills in half or skipped doses for the same reason, according to a study shared by the Pa. Health Access Network (PHAN). LAMPa Director Tracey DePasquale joined PHAN partners, the American Association of Retired...
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July 8, 2021
Child Tax Credit payments are set to go out to families this month, and many have already seen their Economic Impact payment land in their bank accounts. For those who did not file a 2019 or 2020 tax return, however, they will not see this federal aid. As the IRS undertakes a series of filing...
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June 28, 2021
Last week the Biden Administration once again extended the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s moratorium on housing evictions from the end of June. The new expiration date is July 31st, 2021. The administration has made clear, however, that there will not be another extension on the moratorium. Instead, officials have been tasked with using this...
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June 1, 2021
A newly released report shows that homelessness among children and youth is increasing dramatically in Pennsylvania while rising unevenly in other states during the 2018-19 school year (SY). PEC reviewed the report from the National Center for Homeless Education called Federal Data Summary School Years 2017 – 2019, and summarized key data points for the...
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May 26, 2021
LAMPa is very happy to welcome Donna Skinner Echols to Policy Council as a representative of Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod! Donna has 42 years of experience in the development, management, monitoring and administration of family services programs for at-risk children and families. She has worked in the urban settings of Houston, TX, Philadelphia, PA, and Chicago,...
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May 18, 2021
UPDATE: “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on June 2 that it would continue to stay a lower court ruling seeking to overturn the CDC eviction moratorium. This latest ruling leaves the moratorium in-place, so that millions of households behind on their rent continue to receive eviction protections. Moreover, the...
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May 13, 2021
Level Up, a coalition of more than a dozen education advocacy organizations from across the commonwealth, launched a campaign on April 15th to increase state funding for the 100 most underfunded school districts in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania ranks 44th in the nation for state share of funding for K-12 education and has some of the nation’s widest...
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April 23, 2021
Following the settlement in the Gilliam vs. USDA case, SNAP recipients will now start receiving additional aid in the form of “emergency allotments.” Read more about the settlement here. Anyone who receives SNAP benefits, even the maximum amount, will receive these emergency allotments. People will not receive notifications, so spreading the word throughout advocacy networks...
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April 1, 2021
Settlement in a case between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and food stamp recipients in Pennsylvania regarding COVID relief will mean $712 million in back payments of additional nutrition benefits for more than 650,000 of the lowest-income Pennsylvania households. Community Legal Services won an injunction in September on the behalf of Latoya Gilliam and Kayle...
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March 31, 2021
More and more of Pennsylvania’s school-age children were experiencing homelessness even before the pandemic, according to a newly released report by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The study accumulates the locally reported totals of homeless children under five and those enrolled in pre-K through twelfth grade across eight regions of the commonwealth. The total for...
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