Wolf
Cartwright
WILKES-BARRE — Auditor General Eugene DePasquale last week made six recommendations to help Pennsylvania’s veterans get good jobs after leaving the military.
“Military veterans possess a lot of valuable experience that can benefit civilian employers,” DePasquale said. “We need to do more to help veterans overcome the challenges they face and make a smooth transition into good jobs after their service to our nation ends.”
To follow up on his audit of the state’s workforce development system, DePasquale met with veterans and workforce development experts. Based on those meetings, DePasquale issued a report offering six recommendations:
• Greater coordination is needed between state and federal veterans programs.
• Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly should increase funding for job programs, veterans housing, mental health supports, healthcare, and services to disabled veterans.
• Study of professional licensing requirements for certain occupations should continue to determine if they can be streamlined to ease the burden on veterans and military families who relocate while serving.
• State, federal and private agencies must work together to continue to remove the stigma of seeking mental health treatment within the veteran community.
• The state should continue to expand programs to assist veterans seeking education and training services.
• Pennsylvania must promote and encourage veteran preferences for those applying to colleges and universities.
“We owe it to the women and men who served to provide all available resources to help them find good jobs,” DePasquale said. “I want Pennsylvania to become the model for how every state treats veterans when they transition to the civilian labor force.”
At the state level, Pennsylvania CareerLink Offices offer free job counseling, training, referrals, and placement services. Eligible veterans receive priority in the referral to job openings and training opportunities, with disabled veterans receiving the highest priority.
Learn more about the Department of the Auditor General online at www.paauditor.gov.
Pennsylvania launches new
‘Investing in Women’ initiative
Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities Secretary Robin L. Wiessmann last week announced “Investing in Women” — an initiative aimed at providing women with important information about banking, credit, saving and investing, while offering practical resources to navigate their finances.
The secretary was joined at a Capitol news conference by Julie Bancroft, Chief Public Affairs Officer of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
The number of Pennsylvania women saving for retirement or investing is lower than the national average.
“Through strategic partnerships, the goal of ‘Investing in Women’ is to evaluate investment habits, stereotypes and obstacles for women and reduce the gender gap through education, awareness and research,” said Secretary Wiessmann. “By presenting fundamental concepts about the importance of financial capability and the unique financial challenges facing women, we encourage women in Pennsylvania, stakeholders, and partners to get involved.”
“Investing in Women” will have three important elements.
• Financial education presentations across the state on common financial challenges for women including credit, investing and saving for retirement.
• A studying of the financial capability of women to hear directly about the tools, resources, and skills they need to better prepare for any financial situation.
• Financial capability forum in May to bring together experts from the financial field to share what individuals can do to take control of their finances.
“Investing in Women” will highlight strategies that address barriers women face to more confidently manage their finances. Women are more likely to take time away from work to raise children or to be the caregiver of other family members. This means fewer years with income to put into a retirement savings plan.
Additionally, women tend to live longer than men, but have lower average salaries and wages, making 80 cents on the dollar compared to men, which means lower lifetime earnings.
Grants available to protect
religious, other organizations
Gov. Tom Wolf announced last week the availability of $5 million in funding for security enhancement projects for non-profit organizations serving diverse communities throughout the commonwealth.
Applicants are eligible for security enhancements designed to protect the safety and security of the users of a facility located in the commonwealth that is owned or operated by the nonprofit organization.
“These grants expand the school safety and security grants introduced last year,” Wolf said. “And will help our myriad non-profits address security needs heightened by the heinous attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 and the safety concerns that still exist for religious, social and other nonprofit organizations across the commonwealth.”
Administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Nonprofit Security Grant Fund Program was part of Act 83 of 2019, which directs PCCD to administer grants to nonprofit organizations that principally serve individuals, groups or institutions that are included within a bias motivation category for single bias hate crime incidents as identified by the FBI’s 2017 Hate Crime Statistics publication.
Applicants can find the application and information about the Program on PCCD’s website at www.pccd.pa.gov. Grant awards can range from $5,000 to $150,000 for a wide variety of eligible items, including:
• Safety and security planning and training.
• Purchase of safety and security equipment and technology.
• Upgrades to existing structures that enhance safety and security.
• Vulnerability and threat assessments.
The application period is open until Friday, Feb. 14.
Rep. Cartwright votes to protect older
Americans from workplace discrimination
U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, last week voted to pass the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act.
“Rising living costs are putting pressure on older Americans to extend their careers longer than ever before,” Cartwright said. “At the same time, many are being pushed out of their jobs before they are financially secure enough to retire. This bill restores strong protections for older workers, enabling them to fight back against age discrimination and demand the dignity and respect in the workplace they deserve.”
In 2009, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc. overturned decades of legal precedent by making it harder for older workers to hold employers accountable for workplace discrimination. While workers seeking to prove discrimination based on race, sex, nationality, and religion only have to demonstrate that discrimination was just one factor in an adverse employment action, such as being terminated or demoted, workers seeking to prove age discrimination must demonstrate that discrimination was the sole motivating factor for their termination or demotion.
A 2018 survey conducted by the AARP found that 3 in 5 workers age 45 and older had seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. The 2018 survey also found that three-quarters of older workers blame age discrimination for their lack of confidence in being able to find a new job.
Cartwright coal mine bill
approved by House committee
The House Committee on Natural Resources this week approved the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act Amendments of 2019, legislation authored by Cartwright to ensure the clean-up of dangerous abandoned mine sites across the U.S. can continue. The committee’s vote clears the way for this legislation to be considered on the House floor.
“I have seen firsthand the risks that abandoned mines pose to our community health, our safety, and our economy. We can’t afford for efforts to clean up these dangerous sites to stall,” said Rep. Cartwright. “This bipartisan bill will not only protect the people living near abandoned mines in Northeastern Pennsylvania and across the country; it will also help turn these lands into economic opportunities that lead to new jobs and growth.”
H.R. 4248 would reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund, which allows states to collect small fees from active coal mine operators in order to pay for abandoned mine reclamation. The fund is due to expire in September 2021, but it is estimated that the cost to reclaim the remaining high priority abandoned mines across the country will exceed $10 billion. In Pennsylvania’s Eighth District, where there are more than 300 unreclaimed mine sites, it is expected to cost over $114 million.
