This time next week Goodwill® Advocates from around the country will visit Capitol Hill and meet with hundreds of lawmakers to advocate for the things important to the Goodwill family and the communities they serve. For over 10 years Goodwill Advocates, including CEOs, staff, board members and program participants, have traveled to Washington D.C. to share their stories and to continue to fight for Goodwill’s efforts to help people find good paying careers.
Category: Advocate
Goodwill® Supports Financial Literacy Month
Since April is "Financial Literacy Month", we thought we’d take a break from talking about money in the billions and trillions (as is the norm here in DC) and instead focus on finances in amounts that are more relevant to most of us. One of the goals for our local Goodwill is to help organizations is to help individuals and families reach their full potential through education, skills training and employment. There are significant barriers to education and work for many people and even once they access a local Goodwill service to support, there often lies another hurdle: lack of financial wellness.
Join Us for the 2018 Goodwill® Virtual Advocacy Day
On Thursday April 19, Goodwill Advocates from across the United States will travel to Capitol Hill to advocate for the issues that matter most to local Goodwill organizations. On this day we are calling on all Goodwill Advocates to send messages to Congress, either through a letter or a social media post, about the important Goodwill issues and to support our colleagues advocating in person. In today’s social media driven world virtual advocacy is becoming a powerful tool to communicate with our elected officials. According to the Congressional Management Foundation, 98% of lawmakers view this communication as extremely important and effective.
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Get on the (Omni)Bus!
Once again, I find myself writing a blog where by the time you read it, the government could be shutdown. Yesterday the federal government was closed for a snow day on the first full day of Spring, and if Congress doesn’t pass the recently released Omnibus bill by midnight on Friday, March 23rd, the government will be closed due to lack of funding…again.
March Madness on Capitol Hill
Every March I put my hopes and dreams (and a little cash), in the hands of college basketball players. My bracket is complete and I’m excited to see which teams make it to the final four. It’s not just March Madness in the sports world, but it’s also March Madness on Capitol Hill. Congress has until March 23rd to pass the fiscal year 2018 (FY18) funding bill to avoid another government shutdown. It’s maddening that we’re six months into FY18 and we still don’t have a federal budget. It is likely that Congress will be able to pass one massive spending bill known as an Omnibus, yet negotiations have been slow due to debate over policy riders.
The Time is NOW to Speak Out on the FY 2019 Budget
With the passage of the funding agreement a few weeks ago, Congress in now beginning to work on the budget for fiscal year 2019 (FY19). They will start by making decisions on funding levels for many job-training and workforce development programs that many local Goodwill organizations use across the country.
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Of Lions and Lambs This March: Where Will Immigration Policy Go in the Next Month?
With negotiations, proclamations, Supreme Court declinations and twitterations, Immigration policy and budget talks are going into March like lions, but will they come out like lambs with resolution, or will this back and forth continue?
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2018 State of the States
While Congress is still wrangling with budget and appropriations and passing legislation before focusing on the mid-term elections, state and local governments are hard at work as well, creating more opportunities to engage at the state level. Nearly every one of the nation’s Governors have provided their state of the state addresses to their constituents. Job creation and the skills gap was a major theme in all of the speeches, affirming that the important work of local Goodwills in providing job training and workforce development to those who face challenges to employment.
The Administration’s Proposal
An estimated six million people make proposals around Valentine’s Day, and this week President Trump issued a proposal of his own, the Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget proposal.
Let’s Make A Deal
Once again, we find ourselves in a situation where the government is open at the time of this writing and the government may be closed by the time you read this. But the Senate has reached an agreement and a deal is on the table for the House to accept. What’s the deal?
State of the Union Address Offers Opportunities to Advocate
President Trump delivered his first official State of the Union (SOTU) address, although he previously spoke to a joint session of Congress in the weeks following his inauguration. While the speech did not include much substantive detail around the proposals put forth, the President did touch upon a number of specific areas of interest to Goodwill and the people we serve.
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The Funding Games
Fortunately, the recent government shutdown was short-lived and had a minimal impact on federal workers. However, funding battles still continue and early signs are pointing to another government shutdown may take place following the February 8th expiration of the latest continuing resolution (or stopgap funding bill).
