March 27th Update: Garfield community members and food justice activists got organized, took action, and won!
Author Archive | Maria Muzzie
What approval of Healthy PA means for the state’s sick, elderly, and poor
Much of Gov. Corbett’s Healthy PA plan – his alternative to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act – has now been approved. The revised plan still includes severe Medicaid benefit cuts.
Bill to change Welfare Department’s name doesn’t change stigma
A bill changing the name of the PA Department of Public Welfare is making it’s way through the state legislature. But a new amendment to the bill will undo what advocates sought to accomplish.
Hunger Awareness Month: The Myth of the Culture of Poverty
Today, more than 46 million Americans live in poverty. How does one explain the lack of widespread outrage over this – that in a country as rich as ours one in five children are facing hunger?
Hunger Awareness Month: Grow Pittsburgh is growing more than gardens
Battling hunger in our communities requires a number of strategies and multiple tools. Grow Pittsburgh is one of the most innovative and successful local organizations to tackle the issue of food access, basing their efforts on the old proverb: “….teach a man to fish….”
DPW caseworkers and clients meet to improve customer service
Yesterday evening, at Just Harvest’s office, something incredible happened: Department of Public Welfare caseworkers and clients came to a new understanding about their relationship and their shared struggles.
Join Just Harvest in fighting for a better Department of Public Welfare!
Too many struggling Pennsylvanians cannot get the help they’re eligible for from the state’s Department of Public Welfare. We are working to press state officials for critical improvements in DPW customer service to resolve these long-standing and systemic issues. Join us for a meeting on Wednesday to plan the next steps in this campaign.
Local Senate Democrats say PA should focus on human services, Medicaid, and minimum wage
On the anniversary of Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s birthday, Democratic legislators held a press conference to announce their priorities in upcoming budget negotiations. We were there as they called out Gov. Corbett for his failure to uphold the legacy of FDR’s New Deal and to protect the social safety net for Pennsylvanians in need.
Pittsburgh fast food workers join nationwide protest to raise the minimum wage
Big Macs are yummy. Whoppers are too. And even better, they don’t stretch the wallet. But those low prices are coming at a high cost – $7 billion. That’s the cost to American taxpayers of supporting poverty-wage fast food workers. So last week these workers and their supporters took to the streets.
Prosperity for the rich, ridicule for the poor
If you didn’t read the recent op-ed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, America’s food stamp mentality, I’ll save you the bother. If you’re anything like me – and thankfully, most people are more like me than like the author Jennifer Stefano, the Pennsylvania director of America for Prosperity – it would just make your blood boil. I […]
