October 28, 2016
Harrisburg, October 28, 2016 – Today Gov. Tom Wolf awarded $500,000 in Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) to renovate Reading Area Community College’s science laboratory, State Senator Judy Schwank (D-Berks), Rep. Mark Rozzi (D-126th District) and Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D-127th District) announced.
“This money is so important to our county,” Schwank said. “It will allow RACC to better prepare our students for jobs in the real world.”
The grant will allow RACC to completely renovate existing labs in Berks Hall, which will result in state-of-the-art biology and anatomy labs. The chemistry and physics labs will move to the Schmidt Training & Technology Center.
“Once these renovations are complete, RACC will become more attractive to prospective students looking for a quality education,” Caltagirone said.
“As the workforce becomes more competitive, this funding will keep RACC in the race to attract students and prepare them for the future,” Rozzi said.
RACC, which is located in the city of Reading, was founded in 1971 and offers students classes to fulfill Associate degrees as well as certificate and diploma programs.
“There are more and more jobs available in the technology and healthcare fields, and now our students will be able to better compete with students from colleges around the country,” Schwank said.
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September 24, 2015
READING, Sept. 24, 2015 – Students, parents and others who have questions about paying for college will want to save Oct. 1 on their calendars so they can benefit from Sen. Judy Schwank’s annual “College Financial Aid Awareness Night.”
The free event will run from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Muhlenberg Township building, and it will include presentations by the senator and financial aid experts from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and Reading Area Community College.
“Change is a constant in the world of college financial aid and it’s important to get the best tips and ideas to ensure to best navigate this sometimes difficult task,” Sen. Schwank said. “PHEAA and RACC’s financial aid experts have been excellent and very helpful in the past, and I am sure they will help ease many worries or fears next week.”
Additional information is available by contacting Schwank’s Reading District office, 610-929-2151.
Media coverage is invited.
WHO: Sen. Judy Schwank’s “College Financial Aid Awareness Night”
WHEN: 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 1
WHERE: Muhlenberg Township Building, 210 George St., Reading
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Follow Sen. Schwank on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
April 27, 2015
At the request of state Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks), the state Senate Democratic Policy Committee is coming to Reading to hold a roundtable discussion on employment challenges facing people with criminal records.
The meeting will take place at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28, in the Schmidt Technology and Training Center Building, Reading Area Community College, 10 S. 2nd St, Reading, PA 19603. The public is welcome to attend.
“When it comes to lesser crimes, few people believe that a person’s past mistakes should relentlessly haunt or curtail their ability to find a decent job to support themselves and their family,” Schwank said. “This discussion will focus on problems that both ex-offenders and employers face.
“I requested that this committee discussion be held in Reading to help amplify our region’s input on this important statewide issue,” Schwank said.
“While acknowledging that reasonable restrictions and prohibitions are appropriate in many cases, we must still do all we can to remove needless barriers that prevent qualified workers from accessing the job market”, said Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton), who chairs the committee. “These same barriers hamper businesses from fulfilling their workforce needs.”
Boscola said the open-ended discussion will likely focus on pending “second chance” legislation that would expedite the criminal record expungement process for non-violent offenders. She said the panel would also focus on preventing prison recidivism and improving workforce opportunities and access for non-violent offenders.
In addition to committee members, the following are expected to take part in the discussion:
- Vaughn D. Spencer, Mayor of Reading
- Peggy Kershner, Co-Executive Director of the Berks Connections Pre-Trial Services
- Janet Ginzberg, Staff Attorney, Employment Law Unit, Community Legal Services, Philadelphia
- Cindy Daub, Executive Director of Re-entry and Quality Assurances, PA State Board of Probation and Parole
- James C. Young, Criminal Justice Committee Chair, Reading NAACP
- Hamid Chaudhry and Steve Elmarzouky, local business owners; and
- Rev. Sandra L. Strauss, Director of Public Advocacy, PA Council of Churches
Media coverage is welcome and encouraged.
July 22, 2014
Middle income families — not the poor and not the wealthy — are the ones that are spending the most in the battle against heroin addiction. State Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Ruscombmanor Township, made that point Tuesday morning at a public hearing in Reading focused on creating new measures to curb the ongoing heroin and opiate abuse crisis.
“I talk to families where they are bankrupting themselves,” Schwank said. Read more at The Reading Eagle →
June 30, 2013
Harrisburg, June 30, 2013 – Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) today voted “no” on Pennsylvania’s 2013-’14 budget.
“Instead of focusing on job creation, the past several weeks have been devoted to the expansion of alcohol sales and eliminating jobs, along with various other misguided priorities,” Schwank said. “They, and the lack of a transportation funding plan, proved to be strong reasons for me to not support this spending plan for the new fiscal year.”
Schwank said the $28.37 billion general fund budget misses the mark on issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians.
“Once again to my disappointment, this budget fails to seriously address the needs of job creation and economic development,” she said. “There is no real funding for significant job creation programs, including tax credits and economic development; even job training programs that have proven to be successful, such as Keystone Works, have been cut by over $1 million dollars.”
Schwank also said she was disappointed in the plans for education funding.
“The budget adds more than $120 million in education funding to be spread around the state,” she said, “but it fails economically hard-hit school districts that face deep cuts, local tax increases and more hardship.
“We have again failed to address the way we fund our cyber charter schools. The current funding formula is costing taxpayers millions of dollars and has created a budget crisis for many school districts within the commonwealth,” she said.
Schwank said community colleges are not supported by the budget, either.
“I have been a strong supporter of our community colleges, like Reading Area Community College. They are vital to our workforce education efforts in the commonwealth but once again we failed to address their funding needs”
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More information on Sen. Schwank is available on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
