Families enrolled in the state’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program are eligible to receive voucher checks for Pennsylvania farmers markets.
Each WIC-enrolled individual can receive four checks worth a total of $20. The money is valid only at markets registered in the state’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and is meant to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to families with young children.
Allegheny County Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole says there are more than 50 registered markets in Allegheny County, but the checks are valid in other counties’ markets as well.
The WIC program runs from June through November of this year. Cole says it helps out both families hoping to eat healthy and farmers who need to sell their crops.
A complete list of authorized farmers markets is available on the Health Department's website.
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Pittsburgh Bucks National Trend of Women Board Members
Five members of Pittsburgh's "Top 50 in Business" were acknowledged today for their inclusion of women on corporate boards. State Treasurer Rob McCord and Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation, honored Allegheny Valley Bancorp, ALCOA, First Commonwealth, HFF and PNC Financial Services as benchmarks for representation of women on corporate boards.
Arnet says in 2006 there were 44 women on the boards of Pittsburgh's Top 50 companies, but today there are 66 women in those positions....
"It's especially exciting to see that a community can engage in and focus on an issue and see real change occur. Together, non-profit leaders, civil rights leaders and corporate leaders joined forces and said 'Pittsburgh needs to be a leader for gender equity in the board room' and you are making that happen."
Laurie Singer, director of First Commonwealth Financial, says she did not struggle to reach her position because of her gender and that's how it should be..
"I must say my experience has been fairly seamless and it really isn't identified as women in the boardroom. It's really committed directors working hard to do what's right for the corporation and the issue of gender doesn't surface that blatantly. I'm proud to say that it's just about getting the work done."
In 2006, women held 9% of the board seats of the Pittsburgh region's Top 50 companies and that rose to 13.4% last year. Conversely, women holding board director positions within Fortune 500 companies declined from 16.9% in 2006 to 15.7% in 2010.
Treasurer McCord said that evidence suggests businesses with a more diverse board composition will perform better....
"Having women and minorities in the boardroom brings fresh perspectives, new ideas and more tough questions to the decision-making process. That all helps companies govern themselves better and return more to their shareholders."
Arnet says in 2006 there were 44 women on the boards of Pittsburgh's Top 50 companies, but today there are 66 women in those positions....
"It's especially exciting to see that a community can engage in and focus on an issue and see real change occur. Together, non-profit leaders, civil rights leaders and corporate leaders joined forces and said 'Pittsburgh needs to be a leader for gender equity in the board room' and you are making that happen."
Laurie Singer, director of First Commonwealth Financial, says she did not struggle to reach her position because of her gender and that's how it should be..
"I must say my experience has been fairly seamless and it really isn't identified as women in the boardroom. It's really committed directors working hard to do what's right for the corporation and the issue of gender doesn't surface that blatantly. I'm proud to say that it's just about getting the work done."
In 2006, women held 9% of the board seats of the Pittsburgh region's Top 50 companies and that rose to 13.4% last year. Conversely, women holding board director positions within Fortune 500 companies declined from 16.9% in 2006 to 15.7% in 2010.
Treasurer McCord said that evidence suggests businesses with a more diverse board composition will perform better....
"Having women and minorities in the boardroom brings fresh perspectives, new ideas and more tough questions to the decision-making process. That all helps companies govern themselves better and return more to their shareholders."
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Group Marks National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
For nearly a decade, the fastest growing HIV/AIDS population has been women and the Pittsburgh based group, Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS, is hoping three events this month will do something about it. March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS will gather some 100 women tonight to show a documentary, hold a discussion and draw up a wide sweeping action plan. “Encourage each of us to encourage each other to be cognizant of what is going on and to protect themselves…. and what we can do individually to prevent HIV/AIDS, to encourage other people to become educated about HIV, to encourage everyone to work with teens and young adults,” says Educating Teens About HIV/AIDS Project Director Albertha Graham.
Later this month Graham and her group will take their message to younger women with the 11th annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Graham says in the past as many as 300 teens have come to the daylong event. This year’s event will be held March 29. Graham says to help accommodate teens that cannot get away from school that day they are holding a second event the night before. Registration for both events is still open. Graham says the region’s youth seem to be open to talking about HIV/AIDS, “The tricky part is getting adults involved in the process, understanding the need to educate our students and our teens and the more we work with teens the more we realize they are receptive and they really don’t want to contract the disease.” Graham says teens seem to be a bit less afraid of HIV than they were a few decades ago. She says to help combat that, her group usually brings in a person living with AIDS to talk about how hard it is to live with the disease.
Later this month Graham and her group will take their message to younger women with the 11th annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Graham says in the past as many as 300 teens have come to the daylong event. This year’s event will be held March 29. Graham says to help accommodate teens that cannot get away from school that day they are holding a second event the night before. Registration for both events is still open. Graham says the region’s youth seem to be open to talking about HIV/AIDS, “The tricky part is getting adults involved in the process, understanding the need to educate our students and our teens and the more we work with teens the more we realize they are receptive and they really don’t want to contract the disease.” Graham says teens seem to be a bit less afraid of HIV than they were a few decades ago. She says to help combat that, her group usually brings in a person living with AIDS to talk about how hard it is to live with the disease.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Women’s Day Celebrated on Bridge
A small group of women gathered at noon Tuesday on the Clemente Bridge to mark International Women’s Day with signs and a petition. This is the 100th annual International Women’s Day celebration and the second time it has been celebrated with the “join me on the bridge” effort sponsored by Women for Women International. Local Organizer Munah Pavlik says women gathered on bridges in cities around the world today. “Women are builders of peace, women build bridges of peace so all around the world women are gathering on bridges to highlight that women are peace builders,” says Pavlik.The group in Pittsburgh was especially trying to draw attention to the women of Afghanistan. “By the end of the year the NATO forces and the American Forces are going to be leaving Afghanistan and we want to make sure that these women have a voice in the peace process.” Pavlik says she worries that all of the freedoms Afghani women have gained in recent years will be lost following the transition.
Pavlik adds war torn regions are especially dangerous for women. “75-percent of the civilians killed in war are women and children, civilians now account for more than 70-percent of casualties in conflicts,” says Pavlik. She says that means it is more dangerous to be a woman in a war torn country than it is to be a solider.
Pavlik says she hopes to expand to more bridges next year.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Nonprofits Gather to Fight Federal Spending Cuts
The Women’s and Girls Foundation of Pittsburgh gathered a long list of nonprofits Thursday morning to outline how they would be impacted by the federal spending cuts contained in H.R. 1. The continuing resolution has been passed by the House and is awaiting Senate debate.
All of the groups at the event boast some sort of tie to the welfare of women and children. Among them was Adagio Health CEO Rick Baird. His group gets federal “Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs” funding which is better known as Title X funding. He says cutting those funds is a bad choice socially because low income women will not be able to get the OB GYN and reproductive care they need and a bad choice economically as well. “For every dollar spent in Title X, $3.75 are saved in Medicaid dollars the next year,” says Baird. He says H.R. 1 will cut $317 million from Title X. “It’s stupid financially.”
Women and Girls Foundation CEO Heather Arnet says the budget cuts will come down harder on women and children, especially single working mothers. “The phrase ‘women and children first’ used to mean in an emergency these groups should be the ones first given the life boats to safety, it did not men in a crisis throw the women and children overboard,” says Arnet.
The heads of each group took their turn behind the lectern to outline how the cuts would impact them financial and in terms of service. Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children Executive Director Michelle Figler warned of massive cuts the Head Start and Early Head Start. “In Pennsylvania 7,000 Head Start children will lose services. Locally more than 30 class rooms will be cut,” says Figler. She says that means more than 300 children will no longer have a classroom to sit in and more than 50 teachers will no longer have jobs if the cuts go through.
“We have a two year sort of waiting list for many of the subsidized housing that’s available to us,” says Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh Director of Enforcement Jay Drowin, “by cutting these programs is keep people is keep people on the streets for longer periods of time. Is this the kind of country we want to be?”
Also speaking at the event was Maggie Jensen of the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh says the senate needs to think about the message the cuts will send to the world. She quoted Vice President Hubert Humphrey who said, “The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
All of the groups at the event boast some sort of tie to the welfare of women and children. Among them was Adagio Health CEO Rick Baird. His group gets federal “Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs” funding which is better known as Title X funding. He says cutting those funds is a bad choice socially because low income women will not be able to get the OB GYN and reproductive care they need and a bad choice economically as well. “For every dollar spent in Title X, $3.75 are saved in Medicaid dollars the next year,” says Baird. He says H.R. 1 will cut $317 million from Title X. “It’s stupid financially.”
Women and Girls Foundation CEO Heather Arnet says the budget cuts will come down harder on women and children, especially single working mothers. “The phrase ‘women and children first’ used to mean in an emergency these groups should be the ones first given the life boats to safety, it did not men in a crisis throw the women and children overboard,” says Arnet.
The heads of each group took their turn behind the lectern to outline how the cuts would impact them financial and in terms of service. Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children Executive Director Michelle Figler warned of massive cuts the Head Start and Early Head Start. “In Pennsylvania 7,000 Head Start children will lose services. Locally more than 30 class rooms will be cut,” says Figler. She says that means more than 300 children will no longer have a classroom to sit in and more than 50 teachers will no longer have jobs if the cuts go through.
“We have a two year sort of waiting list for many of the subsidized housing that’s available to us,” says Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh Director of Enforcement Jay Drowin, “by cutting these programs is keep people is keep people on the streets for longer periods of time. Is this the kind of country we want to be?”
Also speaking at the event was Maggie Jensen of the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh says the senate needs to think about the message the cuts will send to the world. She quoted Vice President Hubert Humphrey who said, “The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Report Shows PA Women Earn Less than National Average
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a report on women’s weekly earnings, nation and for Pennsylvania. The report found that Pennsylvanian women who were full-time wage and salary workers in 2009 had median weekly earnings of $654. That's 79 percent of the $825 median for their male counterparts.
The Bureau’s Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins says for every one dollar earned by a man, a woman earns 79 cents. Nationwide, that ratio was 80 cents to the dollar. Pennsylvania’s women’s to men’s earnings ratio has remained below national numbers since this data became available in 1997.
Watkins says this is one of the highest ratios ever reported in Pennsylvania since 1997, which could mean progress for the state. “It’s stabilized within 2 cents over the last 4-5 years, which is an increase from it’s historical levels of anywhere from 71 cents to 76 cents, so there has been improvement.”
Watkins says these numbers could fluctuate significantly depending on educational level. She says whether you’re a man or a woman, it really depends on the occupational distribution in a particular state.
Watkin reports that the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings has increased from 62 cents in 1979 to it’s peak of 81 cents in 2005 and 2006. She says earnings for college degrees by women have increased that ratio, so there is a clear correlation between weekly earnings and educational level.
The Bureau’s Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins says for every one dollar earned by a man, a woman earns 79 cents. Nationwide, that ratio was 80 cents to the dollar. Pennsylvania’s women’s to men’s earnings ratio has remained below national numbers since this data became available in 1997.
Watkins says this is one of the highest ratios ever reported in Pennsylvania since 1997, which could mean progress for the state. “It’s stabilized within 2 cents over the last 4-5 years, which is an increase from it’s historical levels of anywhere from 71 cents to 76 cents, so there has been improvement.”
Watkins says these numbers could fluctuate significantly depending on educational level. She says whether you’re a man or a woman, it really depends on the occupational distribution in a particular state.
Watkin reports that the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings has increased from 62 cents in 1979 to it’s peak of 81 cents in 2005 and 2006. She says earnings for college degrees by women have increased that ratio, so there is a clear correlation between weekly earnings and educational level.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Women and Girls Foundation To Go To White House
Eight Southwestern Pennsylvania high school aged girls will be traveling to The White House for an event on mentoring on Monday, June 21st. Their chaperon will be Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation.
They will partake in a mentoring, responsible fatherhood-themed Bar-B-Q with President Obama on the White House Lawn. 142 other teenagers, mostly from the DC area have been invited as well. There will also be workshops for the girls in the fields of business, entertainment and public service.
The foundation has been invited because of the work they do in developing self-esteem and leadership capacities in young women and working with young men to be advocates for gender equity.
They will partake in a mentoring, responsible fatherhood-themed Bar-B-Q with President Obama on the White House Lawn. 142 other teenagers, mostly from the DC area have been invited as well. There will also be workshops for the girls in the fields of business, entertainment and public service.
The foundation has been invited because of the work they do in developing self-esteem and leadership capacities in young women and working with young men to be advocates for gender equity.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Study is Step toward Preventing HIV Transmission to Pregnant Women
Young women of reproductive age are among those at the greatest risk of acquiring HIV. A new study on microbicides--medications that prevent the heterosexual spread of HIV--could help establish a safe way to curb the transmission of HIV to pregnant women. Doctor Richard Beigi at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and lead researcher on the study says there is a void when it comes to data on the safety of medications taken by pregnant women. This study involved sixteen healthy, HIV-negative women who had a single dose of tenofivir applied to the vagina hours before giving birth by cesarean section. Beigi says for the first trial of the drug it was applied almost immediately before birth to minimize risk to the mothers and infants. Researchers found that only a small amount of the drug was absorbed into the womens' bloodstream, amniotic fluid and the umbilical cord. Now a larger study is in the works that will include more women, begin slightly earlier in the pregnancy and include two doses of the medication. Beigi says the collective trials will hopefully prove that the microbicides are safe for use pregnant women.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
High Rates of Unemployment for Women in Pennsylvania
A paper exploring the impact of the recession in Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh area was released today.
It was produced by the Institute for Women's Research and Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania.
The paper found that more than four out of ten families headed by single mothers in The Pittsburgh region live in poverty. The report found that single mothers have been hit especially hard by the recession, the rate of unemployment for women who maintain households in Pennsylvania has more than doubled since 2007 and 2009.
In addition, women already made less than men do, 75 cents on the dollar. The ratio is even worse for women of color - 64 percent for African-American women and 65 percent for Latina women. The gender wage gap in Pittsburgh is worse than the national gender wage gap.
Suggestions made include increasing investments from the American Recovery and reinvestment act into job opportunities and improving better paid sick and family leave and better access to child care.
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert McCord said he is committed to creating more job opportunities for women in the Commonwealth.
It was produced by the Institute for Women's Research and Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania.
The paper found that more than four out of ten families headed by single mothers in The Pittsburgh region live in poverty. The report found that single mothers have been hit especially hard by the recession, the rate of unemployment for women who maintain households in Pennsylvania has more than doubled since 2007 and 2009.
In addition, women already made less than men do, 75 cents on the dollar. The ratio is even worse for women of color - 64 percent for African-American women and 65 percent for Latina women. The gender wage gap in Pittsburgh is worse than the national gender wage gap.
Suggestions made include increasing investments from the American Recovery and reinvestment act into job opportunities and improving better paid sick and family leave and better access to child care.
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert McCord said he is committed to creating more job opportunities for women in the Commonwealth.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Local Girls to Shadow State Rep.
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Women and Girls Foundation has created a new program to encourage Allegheny County girls to pursue politics.
"GirlGov" will select 16 local ladies in grades 8-12; these young women will be given the opportunity to shadow a Pennsylvania representative March 8.
WGF Executive Director Heather Arnet says the program was developed by Allegheny County Change Agents, an active group of local teenage girls.
“They will be the selection panel. They will review the applications,” says Arnet. “The applications ask girls to talk about themselves, and share some ideas.”
Applications are due February 2. Those interested should visit the GirlGov website.
"GirlGov" will select 16 local ladies in grades 8-12; these young women will be given the opportunity to shadow a Pennsylvania representative March 8.
WGF Executive Director Heather Arnet says the program was developed by Allegheny County Change Agents, an active group of local teenage girls.
“They will be the selection panel. They will review the applications,” says Arnet. “The applications ask girls to talk about themselves, and share some ideas.”
Applications are due February 2. Those interested should visit the GirlGov website.
Friday, January 29, 2010
"Women, Money and Opportunity" Seminar
Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob Mc Cord hosted a seminar at the Rivers Club today to provide resources for women entrepreneurs to start, grow and expand their businesses. Topics of discussion included competing for government contracts, securing diverse revenue streams, and forging strategic relationships.
McCord sees his top priority as economic security for every Pennsylvanian, and he says women need special attention because they are at risk for poverty to a much greater extent than men. Women are much more likely than men to interrupt their careers to care for children, and this has a lasting impact on their earning potential and/or entrepreneurial success. Women's achievement will enhance economic prosperity and competition for all, according to McCord.
Fifteen local organizations contributed to the program and offer resources for women entrepreneurs: African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, Center for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham University, Pittsburgh Technology Council, PowerLink, E-Magnify at Seton Hill University, Small Business Development Center at Duquesne University, Executive Women's Council of Greater Pittsburgh, Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Professional Women, YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Diversity Business Resource Center, Women's Small Business Association, Women's Independent Press, Women's Business Enterprise Council of PA.
McCord sees his top priority as economic security for every Pennsylvanian, and he says women need special attention because they are at risk for poverty to a much greater extent than men. Women are much more likely than men to interrupt their careers to care for children, and this has a lasting impact on their earning potential and/or entrepreneurial success. Women's achievement will enhance economic prosperity and competition for all, according to McCord.
Fifteen local organizations contributed to the program and offer resources for women entrepreneurs: African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, Center for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham University, Pittsburgh Technology Council, PowerLink, E-Magnify at Seton Hill University, Small Business Development Center at Duquesne University, Executive Women's Council of Greater Pittsburgh, Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Professional Women, YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Diversity Business Resource Center, Women's Small Business Association, Women's Independent Press, Women's Business Enterprise Council of PA.
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