HELPING YOUR HOMETOWN
2011 – 2014
Being available to constituents throughout the 22nd District continues
to be a priority for me. From 2011 right up to the present, I have initiated
and maintained a series of hearings, roundtables, forums and conversations
designed to accomplish the dual objectives of sharing pertinent information
-- first hand -- with interested parties as well as being able to learn
-- first hand -- about pressing areas of interest and concern to people
living and working in the 22nd District.
Among the events I’ve hosted, planned or facilitated are:
- Local Government Breakfasts – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
These annual breakfast forums invite local government officials
(county commissioners, mayors, borough council members, township supervisors,
school board members and other appointed officials) to review the state
budget process; discuss public policies important to local government;
and to receive state-related information and technical assistance of
value in the execution of specific local objectives.
- Policy Hearing - Medicaid Expansion – held at The Commonwealth
Medical College
I hosted the Senate Democratic Policy Committee
as well as several Senate Democrats in a discussion of the Affordable
Care Act. Of specific interest to attendees were provisions regarding
Medicaid Expansion which is designed to ensure affordable health care
coverage for over 500,000 uninsured, WORKING Pennsylvanians; the addition
of over 30,000 jobs in the health care and human service industry sectors
in PA; as well as efforts to provide over $400 million in state budget
relief in this fiscal year from new federal investments in PA.
- Policy Hearing – Economic Development/Job Growth and “Innovate
in PA” – held at the University of Scranton
I hosted the
Senate Democratic Policy Committee as well as several Senate Democrats
to discuss the Senate Democratic Caucus PA Works Plan. The plan is a
job growth legislative initiative. My “Innovate in PA” program, which
was included in this jobs package, is designed to stimulate new early
stage investment in promising companies that are the job creators of
the future in advanced manufacturing, information technology, and the
life sciences.
- Regional Bioscience Initiative Forum - Held at The Commonwealth
Medical College
Myself, along with former Lt. Governor
William Scranton; the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce; the Ben
Franklin Technology Partners of NEPA; the Life Science Greenhouse of
NEPA; and Lackawanna County higher education institutions announced
the Northeast Pa Regional Bioscience Initiative (RBI). The RBI, which
is funded in part by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development
(DCED), is an economic development initiative focused on the life science,
bioscience and health care industries in NEPA. It involves tracking
an inventory of talent, research and laboratory assets in the region
to support an economic development marketing efforts focused on attracting
and growing life science, research and healthcare-related jobs in NEPA.
- International Business Development Showcase -- held at Marywood
University
Working with DCED’s Office of International
Business Development (OIBD) and the U.S Department of Commerce, I hosted
an event to provide technical assistance to small businesses in Northeast
Pennsylvania as well as to outline state and federal funding sources
available to assist small businesses in accessing and in selling products
and services to global export markets. At this forum, small business
owners in Northeast PA who had benefitted from state support and who
had grown company sales and jobs by export sales offered testimonials
on their experience.
- Focus on Aging Issues’ Forum -- held at Allied Services
Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing facility in Scranton.
This forum was facilitated, in part, by Tara Burns, a student from
Seton Hall University who interned in my district office. The forum
brought together social work students and other human service professionals
as well as Allied Services management and staff; representatives from
the faculty at the Commonwealth Medical College; and local nurses and
physicians to discuss issues and concerns affecting Lackawanna County’s
growing, aging population. Health care, nutrition, independent living,
social supports and prescription drugs were among the issues discussed.
- Career-Focused Education and Economic Development -- “E2”
Summits -- 2012 and 2013
The first E2 Summit (2012) was held at
the University of Scranton; the second E2 Summit (2013) was held at
Marywood University.
I hosted these Annual E2 Summits to
call attention to the relationship between career-focused education
in K-12 public education and economic development/job growth in Northeast
PA. The two summits were widely attended with nearly 150 participants
at each. Participation included school superintendents, administrators,
school board members and guidance counselors. Leaders from organized
labor, business, higher education, vocational technical schools and
workforce development stakeholders also attended. Rounding out participants
were representatives from state agencies including the PA Department
of Labor and Industry, the PA Department of Education, the PA Department
of Community and Economic Development. This E2 initiative (i.e. Education
and Economic Development) has engaged school districts across two Intermediate
Units in Northeast PA (IU 18 and IU 19).
The focus of these annual E2 Summits, which feature national and
regional experts on career-focused education, is to ensure that all
public schools in Northeastern PA integrate and implement the PA Department
of Education’s Academic Standards for Career Education and Work. Stakeholder
meetings occur periodically throughout the year and I report the progress
of those meetings at my annual E2 Summits.
In 2013, 26 of 40 school districts; 21 school principals and 153
guidance counselors were engaged in training and orientation led by
consultants of the PA Department of Education and facilitated by my
Senior Policy Advisor Cindy Klenk -- along with other regional workforce
development professionals. In the 2013 E2 Summit, students and graduates
from several schools offered testimony on their successful career development
experiences which were a direct result of business and education partnerships
and the work of career counselors in Northeast PA. Students’ testimony
asserted and confirmed that the experience they had properly connected
their classroom learning activities to real-world business settings
and working environments.
- Transportation Summit -- at Genetti Manor in Dickson City.
In October of 2012 I hosted a Transportation Summit. The
primary focus of the summit was to call attention to the need for investment
in transportation infrastructure that would ensure public safety, economic
competitiveness and the long term economic vitality of Northeastern
PA. Participating in this summit were executives from the Wilkes-Barre
Scranton International Airport; the Northeastern PA Rail Authority;
the County of Lackawanna Transportation System (COLTS); as well as Monroe
and Luzerne Counties’ transit agencies. I outlined the Commonwealth’s
$2 Billion+ funding deficit in road maintenance and bridge reconstruction
and described the job growth and economic development benefits of transportation
infrastructure investment -- a core responsibility of state government.
- Symposium on Sustainability -- at the University of Scranton
As a member of the Adjunct/Part-Time Faculty at the University of
Scranton, I joined full time faculty and researchers at a Symposium
on Sustainability at the University of Scranton. The Symposium focused
on alternative and renewable energy sources, recycling, and other best
practices in environmental protection. I outlined the financial and
environmental impacts of the state recycling laws, high performance
building materials and LEED certification in building construction.
I also discussed the state’s alternative energy portfolio standards
(AEPS) which require energy producers in the Commonwealth to achieve
a particular percentage of energy generation from non-fossil fuels such
as solar, wind or hydroelectric power. I also participated in a second
Spring Sustainability Forum in April, 2014. This forum was entitled
"Water, Our Most Precious Resource". I discussed with faculty and students
at the University the water-rich resources of PA: 86,000 miles of rivers
and streams; more than 4,000 lakes, reservoirs and ponds; 23 square
miles of estuary; 400,000 acres of wetlands and 500 acres of tidal wetlands.
I further discussed regulatory issues surrounding water quality as well
as historical and modern industrial threats to water quality, namely,
the coal industry's impact on the Lackawanna River (e.g., the Old Forge
Bore Hole) and the advent of water-intensive hydraulic fracturing in
the Marcellus Shale gas play, respectively.
- Affordable Housing
Working with student interns
from Marywood University’s Graduate School of Social Work, Senator Blake
hosted an Affordable Housing Forum on April 4th, 2014. This event brought
together local and statewide housing experts to discuss the challenges
facing many Pennsylvanians trying to access or maintain adequate, affordable
or barrier free housing. The forum explored federal and state programs
and possible solutions to affordable housing challenges. Included in
this important and timely panel discussion were: Nicole Bennett and
Michael Hanley of United Neighborhood Centers; Athena Aardweg of the
Pa Self-Determination Housing Project; Peg Ruddy of the Lackawanna County
Women's Resource Center; Jesse Ergott of Neighborworks of NEPA; Bryce
Maretzki of the Pa Housing Finance Agency; and Cindy Daley of the Pa
Housing Alliance.
- Other activities/events hosted or facilitated by Senator
Blake
I hosted and facilitated a tour of The Commonwealth
Medical College (TCMC) with the Secretary of the PA Department of Health
to elevate the profile of the state’s newest medical college and to
inform state officials on the research of TCMC’s medical students. I
hosted and facilitated a tour of Tobyhanna Army Depot with Lieutenant
Governor Jim Cawley. The visit included a command briefing by Tobyhanna
Commander Col. Gerhard Shroter and it highlighted the military value
of the facility as well as its economic impact in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s
regional economy.
