PA Partnerships for Children Honors Sen. Schwank for Dedication to Children’s Issues
HARRISBURG, PA – October 1, 2018 – Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) today presented Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) with its annual “Be Someone for Kids” award in recognition of her work to enact public policies that benefit the commonwealth’s children.
“As the Democratic chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, Judy Schwank has played a critical role in recent years in helping to propose and enact numerous laws to better protect our commonwealth’s children,” said PPC President and CEO Joan Benso. “We all owe her a debt of gratitude, and our ‘Be Someone for Kids’ award is one way we are saying thanks for standing up for kids.”
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children has worked closely with Sen. Schwank since she arrived in the General Assembly in 2011. Since then she has worked to improve the lives of children including her support for increased investments in high quality pre-k, home visiting child care and basic education funding. The position Sen. Schwank holds on the Appropriations Committee enables her to set priorities for children as part of the state budget process on an annual basis. Additionally, in her role on the Health and Human Services Committee as well as her position on the Aging and Youth Committee have elevated her to be a champion on issues such as child welfare and children’s health care coverage.
“PPC is a child welfare, health care, early childhood education and K-12 education advocacy organization, and we pride ourselves in building partnerships with members in the General Assembly who share the goal of ensuring a bright future for Pennsylvania’s children,” Benso said. “Judy’s prior experience as a county commissioner has been invaluable in helping us to establish a wonderful partnership because she has been working to make life better for children for more than 20 years.”
PPC launched the “Be Someone for Kids” award in 2015 to honor those who have made extraordinary efforts to help Pennsylvania’s nearly 2.8 million children. This year’s award was given to Sen. Schwank by Benso during a ceremony at the state Capitol attended by several dozen people including legislative colleagues, officials from Berks County, and children’s advocates. PPC thanks the generous sponsors who supported this event; Customers Bank, Highmark, Maverick Strategies, PA Chamber of Business & Industry, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, PNC Financial Services, PPL Corporation, and Shelly Lyons Public Affairs & Communications.
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CONTACT: Justin Fleming 717-236-5680 or jfleming@papartnerships.org