June 11, 2015
READING, June 11, 2015 – Berks County communities working to help teenagers and young adults better understand the consequences of drinking and alcohol abuse today received nearly $260,000 in grants from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Sen. Judy Schwank, Rep. Tom Caltagirone, and PLCB Chairman Tim Holden announced the grant recipients today during a press conference at Penn State-Berks. Representatives from area colleges and municipal governments joined them.
“Our purpose here today is not to take credit, get attention, or seek congratulations,” Sen. Schwank said. “Instead, we gather here today to share some great news: three of our local colleges and universities, two local governments, two police forces, and one school district have been awarded nearly $260,000 in grants from the PLCB to better help our children who might be tempted by underage drinking.”
“With the PLCB’s help, these Berks County communities and organizations will use these new investments to make lives better for minors, their families and the neighborhoods they call home,” Rep. Caltagirone said. “‘Drink Responsibly’ is a marketing slogan that is too often ignored by minors and these funds will be used to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of underage drinking.”
The PLCB is awarding nearly $2.3 million in grants to organizations statewide. In Berks County, eight awards are headed to the following:
Kutztown University – $40,000
Kutztown School District – $40,000
Kutztown Borough – $32,622
Wyomissing Borough Police – $25,536
Alvernia University – $40,000
Penn State Berks Campus Police – $21,817
Albright College – $39,793
Spring Township Police Department – $19,108
Today’s announcement is nearly 60 percent greater than the PLCB’s investment two years ago when just Kutztown University ($40,000), Kutztown Borough ($36,615), Albright College ($27,254), Wyomissing Borough PD ($24,478), and PSU-Berks ($20,065) received grants.
Grant recipients will invest the PLCB dollars in efforts that involve training, law enforcement patrols, and other prevention programs.
Schwank said alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the U.S. and is responsible for more than 4,300 annual deaths among underage drinkers. Every year, she added, hospitals across the country are visited by thousands of underage persons for alcohol related incidents.
“The value of Pennsylvania’s liquor store system is evidenced by the investment made today in our Berks County communities,” Caltagirone said. “These grants represent significant backing and education for our children and the places we call home.”
“I want local residents and officials to know that though the statistics are daunting, real work is being done to educate students and young people about the dangers of illegal and dangerous alcohol use,” Schwank said. “These participants that have gathered here today are working to ensure that our community is a safe one where alcohol is consumed responsibly and legally.”
The other participants joining Caltagirone, Schwank and Holden included:
- Dr. Keith Hillkirk and Chief Kevin Rudy from Penn State Berks
- Dr. Lex O. McMillan III, Albright College
- Dr. Joe Cicala, vice president of university life at Alvernia University
- Dr. Carlos Vargas, Kutztown University
- Dr. Ed Meyers and Mr. Barry Flicker, Kutztown School District
- Chief Jeffrey Beihl, Wyomissing Police, and
- Kutztown Mayor Sandra Green
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January 30, 2015
Improved accessibility, expanding lifelong learning opportunities goals of service
HARRISBURG, Jan. 30, 2015 – Named as one of the newest members of the organization that governs Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities, Sen. Judy Schwank today said she intends to focus on making college more affordable and expanding opportunities for lifelong learning.
“The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education was created to deliver affordable, high-quality instruction and it is a mission that must be refocused,” Schwank said after being appointed to the PASSHE board by Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “Our 14 universities suffered financially during the past four years because their mission wasn’t supported.
“As we are looking to modernize and improve the way the state is funding basic education, so must we re-examine how we are valuing higher education,” she said. “I believe the emphasis on post-secondary schooling has been missing for too long.”
The State System of Higher Education’s 20-member board of governors is responsible for the planning and coordination of the development and operation of the 14-university network. While 11 of the governors require appointment by the governor and confirmation by the senate, three of the board members are students and four are from the Pennsylvania legislature.
One of the system’s universities, Kutztown, is located in Schwank’s 11th Senatorial District.
“Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has raised some troubling financial flags about our state-owned and state-related universities but the problems are not the direct result of how these great schools have managed their resources. To the contrary, their work has kept each institution running,” Schwank said.
“I intend to work with the board of governors to ensure that good changes and new ideas help to propel forward our 14 universities,” she said.
Schwank said another idea of hers is to work to bring more adult-level learning opportunities to Pennsylvanians, no matter how long it’s been since they graduated from college.
“While we are all happy ‘to be done’ with school when we graduate from college, many people want to keep learning new things throughout their lives. The State System of Higher Education can focus on delivering these opportunities,” Sen. Schwank said.
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More information on Sen. Schwank is available on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
July 22, 2014
READING, July 22, 2014 – Working to stem the tide of heroin overdoses and deaths in Berks County and throughout the state, Sen. Judy Schwank joined other elected and health officials today to talk about the “Heroin Crisis Facing Pennsylvania.”
The forum, held at the Reading Area Community College, was an opportunity for experts to talk about possible solutions to the heroin problem. The session was the second in a series of four public hearings scheduled by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
“Berks County has been wracked by heroin-related deaths and arrests in the past year, including the arrests earlier this summer of 13 Topton-area residents and the deaths of six Kutztown and Brandywine Heights high school graduates since 2013,” Schwank said in her opening statement. “Between 2009 and last year, 58 overdose deaths were reported in Berks County, spiking in 2011 at 16 and last year at 15, but none of them were heroin-related until this year, according to a report by the Pennsylvania Coroners Association.”
Across the commonwealth, Schwank noted an 89 percent increase in overall drug-overdose deaths since 1999.
Heroin’s affordability is one of the biggest problems, Schwank said.
“A typical bag that used to be $20 six years ago can be bought today in New York for $4 or even $2,” the senator said. “Rural areas in Berks and nearby face the issue of easy access to such several major metropolitan areas. In particular, Berks lies along the I-78 corridor.”
The Senate adopted legislation in May that would provide for prescription drug monitoring. Sen. Schwank, who voted for SB 1180, said the registry would increase the quality of patient care and help law enforcement agencies prevent fraud and drug abuse, and eventually help to curtail heroin use.
“Heroin is not subject to this registry, but victims have often turned to it after becoming addicted, to more costly prescriptive medications, and it is deadly because it’s purity level varies,” she said.
State Sens. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) and the chairman of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, Scott Wagner (R-York), and John Wozniak (D-Cambria) attended the heroin crisis forum, as did state Rep. Jerry Knowles (R-Berks).
Other forum participants included: PA Deptartment of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Gary Tennis; Deb Beck, executive director, Drug & Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania; Phil Bauer, a parent who advocates for prescription drug safety; Linda Texter, director of the Reading Hospital Drug and Alcohol Center; George J. Vogel, executive director, Council on Chemical Abuse; Christine Gilfillan, associate director, Berks Women In Crisis; Kutztown Mayor Sandy Green; Brandywine Heights Area School District Superintendent Andrew M. Potteiger; Alison Snyder, personnel director, East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc.; Dr. Gregory K. Sorensen, chief medical officer, Reading Health System; Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams; Michael J. Gombar – chief Berks County detective; Schuylkill County District Attorney Christine A. Holman; Berks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Scott D. Keller; and Berks County Magisterial District Judge Dean Patton.
The center will hold its next hearing at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 5, at St. Francis University in Loretto. Its final hearing, 8:30 a.m., Aug. 22, will be held at Clarion University.
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More information on Sen. Schwank is available on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
September 3, 2013
KUTZTOWN, Sept. 3, 2013 – Sen. Judy Schwank and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced today that three local colleges, Kutztown Borough, and the Wyomissing Police Department will share a combined $150,000 to help minors avoid the temptation of underage drinking and alcohol abuse.
Kutztown University is receiving $40,000 for the program while Kutztown Borough is getting a $36,615 grant. The PLCB’s grant to Albright College is for $27,254. Wyomissing Borough Police Department will receive $24,478. Penn State-Berks is getting $20,065.
“Television commercials and internet ads make it look like drinking is a cool thing to do, but when alcohol is consumed irresponsibly and illegally, the results are costly, tragic and sometimes deadly,” Schwank said.
The PLCB’s Bureau of Alcohol Education will pay the grants over a two-year period.
One-hundred-and-fifteen organizations applied for a share of the board’s $2.1 million program. Kutztown’s borough and university, the Wyomissing Borough Police Department, as well as Albright and PSU-Berks are five of the 61 entities that won funding.
“There is a responsibility that comes with drinking alcohol,” Schwank said. “With the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s investments, we are taking positive steps to make sure everyone understands this expectation. And, we are working to make sure that our young adults who are not yet legally allowed to consume beer, wine and liquor wait until they are 21 to do so.”
With this newest round of funding, the PLCB has invested more than $10 million to more than 250 schools, colleges, law enforcement departments and community organizations throughout Pennsylvania since 1999.
Officials from Kutztown Borough and its police department, Kutztown University, the PLCB, Albright College, Penn State Berks Campus, the Reading Police Department, and the Wyomissing Borough Police Department joined Schwank at today’s press conference.
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