2014
PCCY releases the “Bottom Line is Children” reports to document that child poverty, hunger and barriers to good health and good schools are not just limited to Philadelphia. PCCY finds that nearly 30% of the region’s poorest children and 45% of students struggling to read or do math at grade level reside in the suburbs.
PCCY documents that children with behavioral health problems wait on average nearly a month for treatment after an initial call requesting services from the City. The City’s Department of Behavioral Health adopts nearly all of PCCY’s recommendations to reduced wait times for children in need of care.
PCCY helps launch the Pre-K for PA campaign to make high-quality pre-k available to every 3- and 4-year old child in Pennsylvania. Described by state leaders as one of the most effective statewide advocacy efforts in decades, the campaign lays the groundwork for a $100 million increase in state funds for Pre-K during its first three years.
PCCY helps launch a statewide school funding campaign that brings together business, labor, parent, religious and child advocacy leaders to push for equitable funding for public schools. PCCY mobilizes grassroots and grasstops leaders in Southeastern PA by organizing 20 rallies, delivering 4,000 letters to legislators and recruiting nearly 100 constituents to tell their legislators that school funding is a priority.
Campaign for Fair Education Funding
PCCY persuades the state to require CHIP providers to pay for one pair of replacement eyeglasses annually by organizing 497 parents and health care advocates to send letters requesting the change. Prior to the change, if a child lost or broke her glasses, it was left to the individual insurance companies to decide whether they would cover a replacement pair.
