Pennsylvania is poised to receive $100 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for improving broadband access. Advocates and local lawmakers say it has the power to transform rural communities. Susan Boser, professor of sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, said the decline in manufacturing jobs in the mid-20th century hit rural towns the hardest, including in the Keystone State. .
Children s advocates said they are hoping for major changes to the state s foster-care and child-protective services systems in the new year. Recent investigations have highlighted a strained foster-care system, largely because of the opioid crisis and lack of resources. Marissa Sanders, director of the West Virginia Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents Network, said while state lawmakers recently formed a bipartisan child-welfare caucus, she has since seen little movement on the issue. .
Burg writes, "A 2% allocation of $17 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to address the child care crisis in North Dakota is only a down payment on what needs to be a much bigger investment into child care."
SPOKANE, Wash. It is National Influenza Vaccination Week, and one Washington doctor is spotlighting the importance of protecting children from the virus this season. Dr. .
HARRISBURG, Pa. With kids stuck at home early in the pandemic, a new report said child-abuse cases decreased in 2020, but children s advocates say it is likely a result of the abuse going undocumented, and there is work to be done to better respond to children s needs during a public-health crisis. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children s annual State of Child Welfare report showed nearly 33,000 fewer cases of child abuse or neglect in 2020 than the previous year, a 22% decrease. .