From: Lauren Sugerman <lsugerman@wowonline.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: Oppose Cuts to Women's Jobs and Job Training
To: lsugerman <lsugerman@wowonline.org>
Dear Colleagues:
I hope you will consider signing on to this letter –below- in response to the House of Representative’s continuing resolution HR1. Please see a full description of the devastating impact on women and our families that this bill would have. We would like to add your organization’s name to the signers below.If you would like to sign on please send your organization’s name as it should appear to Jill Hamadyk, jhamadyk@wowonline.org Feel free to post and send to distribute.
Lauren
Lauren Sugerman
Women and Work Project Director
Wider Opportunities for Women
(202) 464-1596 x 114
March 4, 2010
To Senators and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
As you consider appropriations for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and other budget issues in the weeks ahead, we the undersigned organizations urge you to maintain funding for programs that employ large numbers of women, enable them to develop their job skills and assist them in managing work and family responsibilities. Please oppose H.R.1 and future proposals containing cuts in areas discussed below.
Today, women are integral to the economy and the economic security of their families. About half of all women over age 16 are in the labor force. Nearly 4 in 10 mothers are primary breadwinners, bringing home the majority of their families’ earnings.[1] While women lost jobs at a slower rate than men during the recession, they are re-gaining them at a slower rate as well. Particularly hard hit have been women whose families depend on their earnings for support. In January, the unemployment rate of women who maintain families was 12.7% in contrast to the national rate of 9.0%. The numbers were even higher for African American and Hispanic women who maintain families.
The $61 billion in cuts contained in the House-passed continuing resolution, H.R. 1, will have a devastating effect on women and their families:
- Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost in public and nonprofit human service agencies where women are considerably more than half of the workforce -- teachers, nurses, social workers, office workers and others. For example, an estimated 72,000 teachers, teacher aides, after school program aides and related personnel could lose their jobs as a result of cuts to Head Start, special education (IDEA) and schools in poor communities (Title I of ESEA).[2] Cuts in Community Health Centers will cost an estimated 7,434 jobs.[3]
- Unemployed and low-income working women will lose education and training services provided through 3,000 one-stop career centers funded by Workforce Investment Act formula grants for adult, youth and dislocated worker programs. The continuing resolution’s cut of $3.8 billion to workforce programs means funds will stop flowing at the start of the program year that begins July 1, 2011.[4] The publicly funded workforce system served 8 million people and placed 54% of adults and 58% of youth in jobs last year.[5] These programs offer women a means to economic security by providing credentials for skilled jobs in higher paying fields where they are a small fraction of the workforce. One in three large industrial firms surveyed in 2009 reported serious to moderate shortages of skilled workers.[6]
- Other workforce programs whose funds are eliminated, or nearly eliminated, include the Senior Community Service Employment Program (-$525 million); Tech Prep state grants under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (-$102.9 million); Dislocated Worker National Reserve and Emergency Grants (-$175 million); Career Pathways Innovation Fund for training in health fields (- $125 million); the Green Jobs Innovation Fund,(-$40 million affecting 6,000 workers); Reintegration of Ex-Offenders (-$108.5 million); Job Corps (-$300 million) and YouthBuild (-$102 million).
- Paid and unpaid work experience, along with the volunteer labor for community and nonprofit programs, will be terminated through cuts to AmeriCorps, 80,000 positions; VISTA, 8,000 positions.[7]
- Low-income women attending college or community college will face higher tuition costs with the bill’s reduction of the maximum Pell grant by $845 from the current $5,550.
- Cuts in other programs, such as child care and health care, will make it more costly, if not impossible, for women who do have jobs to continue working. The CR’s cuts to Head Start, Early Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant will cause an estimated 368,000 children to lose services and other families to face higher costs.[8] Elimination of family planning and teen pregnancy prevention programs may cause adults and young women to have to discontinue their employment or education due to unplanned pregnancies or the birth of a child.
- The CR fails to fund the President’s request for state paid leave demonstration programs for workers who need time off due to their own or family illness.
We believe that the national debt needs to be curbed in a balanced manner that begins with putting people back to work and paying equitable taxes. Deficit reduction in the long term must not be focused on non-defense discretionary programs, or one-twelfth of the entire budget, as in the House-passed resolution.
We urge you to reject cuts that hurt women who are working, or seeking employment, in order to support their families and to provide for their own secure retirement. For information, contact Susan Rees, Wider Opportunities for Women, srees@wowonline.org. 202-464-1596.
Sincerely,
9to5, National Association of Working Women
American Association of University Women
Association for Career and Technical Education
Caring Economics Campaign of the Center for Partnership Studies
Center for Law and Social Policy
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Coalition on Human Needs
Community Action Partnership
Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
Hard Hatted Women
Healthy Teen Network
Legal Momentum
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity
National Association of Mothers' Centers
National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Council for Workforce Education
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Women’s Organizations
National Employment Law Project
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
National Network for Youth
National Organization for Women
National Skills Coalition
National Women's Conference Committee
National Women’s Law Center
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.
Project Single Moms Worldwide, Inc.
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
The Emily Program
United Methodist Women
Wider Opportunities for Women
Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER)
Working Poor Families Project
Susan Rees
Director of National Policy
Wider Opportunities for Women
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-464-1596
[1] The Shriver Report, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/10/pdf/awn/a_womans_nation.pdf
[2] http://georgemiller.house.gov/2011/02/gop-spending-bill-puts-working-families-futures-at-risk.shtml
[3]http://www.nachc.com/client/Immediate%20Impact%20of%20Federal%20Funding%20Cuts%20to%20Health%20Centers_updated.pdf
[5] http://www.nawdp.org/Content/NavigationMenu/CelebrateWorkforceDevelopmentProfessionalsMonth/NAWB_factsheet.pdf
[6] http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom‐UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_pip_peoplemanagementreport_100509.pdf
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment