This week the WVCBP was a part of history as months of work came to together at the state Capitol. On Tuesday and Wednesday, activists, policymakers, West Virginia families met to set policy priorities for how to lift working families out of poverty at the Our Children Our Future Policy Symposium hosted by the West Virginia Healthy Kids Coalition. The WVCBP facilitated sessions on raising the minimum wage, creating a state Earned Income Tax Credit, and establishing a Future Fund, and was a cosponsor of the event.
After a day of sessions, the group presented its priorities to the Joint Committee on Children and Families. The next step is to narrow down the field to a select number of issues to be taken up during the 2014 Legislative Session. Here is Sabrina Shrader sharing her story of what it was like to be born into poverty.
2013 Policy Symposium – Senate Judiciary Room
September 25, 2013
Charleston Gazette photo
Here’s the Charleston Gazette coverage of the event.
As we reported last week, the number of West Virginians living in poverty remains high, despite the post-Recession recovery. Here is more on our analysis of last week’s data.
Coming next week: our report on how raising the minimum wage is an important step in helping working families escape poverty.
Ted Boettner meets with Senate President Jeff Kessler and former State Senator Dan Foster at this week’s Symposium (photo by Steve Allen Adams).
Other big news this week was the EPA’s proposed regulations to cap carbon emissions at new coal-burning power plants. West Virginia’s congressional delegation spoke out against the rules, viewing them as targeting West Virginia’s coal economy. Ted Boettner appeared on WV Metro News radio on Monday and was quoted in the Charleston Gazette, adding balance to the discussion.
WV Metro News also ran this article in which Ted stated, “If the EPA just dismantled and shut down today, we’re still going to have a declining structure for coal in West Virginia. That’s part of the problem is we’re not acknowledging that this is happening right now.”
He noted that coal production is already declining due to the recent recession and the rise of natural gas production in West Virginia.
