At the suggestion of our PR friends at the Bravo Group, PCPA has submitted an op-ed to several local prime news outlets. The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Butler Eagle, Hazleton Standard-Speaker, and Chambersburg Public Opinion have printed a letter from PCPA Executive Director George Kimes.
While the budget hardly accounts for the significant cuts in years previous, human services did not see the budgetary carnage that other line items saw (i.e. universities, hospitals, school districts). Which has put providers in a somewhat defensive position, something unusual for us. Some conservative legislators have already questioned the large DPW budget and why these funds couldn’t go towards higher education, obviously not taking into account the cuts that our services have already absorbed.
PCPA encourages members to utilize the media to tell the stories of the people you serve and the people you employ. Your services are important. They keep our communities together and turn lives around. For the first time in a long time, we don’t need to decry the dangerous effects of state budget cuts on behavioral health and intellectual disability programs. But budgetary line items will be heavily scrutinized between now and the day the budget is passed, and the stories of the people you serve will remind legislators and the public at-large of the importance of maintaining the safety net of services.
