On a beautiful day yesterday in Summersville, West Virginia, over 100 people from across the state and beyond came together for the second annual Food For All coalition meeting. Participants briefly celebrated victories from 2019 and then got to work planning a bold vision to make Food for All a reality in West Virginia through big policy changes.
Policies adopted by the coalition included legislation to improve summer food security for West Virginia kids, long-overdue fiscal support for our food banks, dedicated funding for the SNAP Stretch Fund and more.
Coalition members took part in skill-building workshops ranging from effective op-ed writing, how to book meetings with lawmakers, the power of personal story telling and more. It was an awesome day of planning for the 2020 legislative session. Stay tuned for updates on proactive policy measures to end hunger in WV.
Watch Seth’s WSAZ-TV interview on the focus of this week’s summit.
Economic data is complex and incomplete. There is no one answer or measure to tell you how well an economy is doing and who is benefiting from its growth. But what data is available can help organize our world into ways we can understand and work to improve. Cherry-picking data to fit a political narrative doesn’t help us understand anything.
Read more in Sean’s op-ed which appeared on Wednesday in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Steve Tuck is the chief executive officer with Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. Children’s Home Society is an over-120-year-old non profit children’s and family service organization, providing state wide services, in areas such as: foster care, adoption, emergency shelter, and community based services. Tuck has been with Children’s Home Society for over 26 years, 7 years as CEO. Additionally he has experiences in other youth service non profit organizations. He serves on many task forces, collaborations, policy groups in West Virginia.
For more information about joining our advisory committee, email info@wvpolicy.org.
Earlier this week, director of policy engagement Kelly Allen attended and presented at the West Virginia Rural Health Association’s annual conference in Huntington. Her presentation highlighted the economic and health impacts of potential restrictions to Medicaid, including reporting requirements and block grants.
Medicaid is crucial to families and our economy in West Virginia- 1 in 3 West Virginians receives health care through Medicaid. Proposals that would take Medicaid away from people who do not report a set number of hours worked per month would cause tens of thousands of West Virginians to lose their Medicaid coverage and result in hundreds of millions of federal Medicaid dollars lost from our communities.
The CountMeInWV Coalition, currently 25+ organizations and growing, had its official launch this week at the Covenant House in Charleston.
The CountMeInWV Coalition was formed to reach West Virginia’s hardest-to-count populations: rural, seniors, communities of color, college students and families with children under five years old. Data from the US Census determines the allocation of over $6 billion of federal investment in West Virginia every year, and getting a complete and accurate count of the population is vital to ensure these funds go to those who need them.
Read more in this article in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
Visit the Coalition’s Facebook page for more information.
Take the pledge to commit to participating in the 2020 Census.
Partner your organization with the coalition.
Mark your calendar for January 15, 2020 for our 7th annual Budget Breakfast as we kick off the 2020 Legislative Session. More details soon!
