BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Affordable housing and child care were among critical issues raised by members of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs on Tuesday at the Univest Public Media Center.
The gathering, inside a studio at Lehigh Valley Public Media, which includes PBS39, WLVR 91.3 FM and LehighValleyNews.com, was held to give the public an overview of Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposed budget, which includes funding for programs that the commission, or GACLA, prioritizes.
GACLA's Lehigh Valley commissioners are Nancy Matos-Gonzalez, Elizabeth Strong, Genesis Ortega, Henry Hernandez, Victor Salicetti and co-chair Luis Campos. Campos is a board member of Lehigh Valley Public Media.
The six were joined by GACLA Executive Director Olga Negrón.
Negrón, who was chosen Bethlehem's first Latina city councilwoman in 2015, was appointed to head GACLA by Shapiro in 2023.
In fall, members of GACLA shared several issues concerning Latinos across the state. They're now sharing Shapiro's proposed 2023-24 budget, which includes some of their recommendations, with leaders in several counties.
GACLA also will hold meet-and-greets in Hazleton, Luzerne County, on Thursday, March 7, and in Reading on Tuesday, March 12.
Also in attendance were GACLA's Guillermo "Memo" Lara; state Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton County; Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure; and Allentown schools Superintendent Carol Birks.
'Various types of inequalities'
Citing statistics from the state's housing crisis, Campos, City Administrator in Easton, touched on the shortage of affordable homes in the region — as the Latino population continues to grow.
“But in many cases, it's the Latino community that's making sure that our urban cores are staying alive."Luis Campos
“In addition to the price of a quality home, you have various types of inequalities specifically if you look at the Latino community and a majority of our folks that live in the metro areas have a really poor selection of housing,” Campos said.
“But in many cases, it's the Latino community that's making sure that our urban cores are staying alive. In many small towns like Hazleton, like Easton, and parts of Bethlehem and in Allentown, [they] would be nonexistent if it wasn't for the Latino community.”
Other budget proposals supported by GACLA include a $10 million increase in funding to combat homelessness and a proposal for a $50 million increase to the state's whole-home repairs program.
“We support the governor and our legislators to put this money back on the streets to help Pennsylvanians and — in particular — help the Latino community, because a majority of these individuals happen to be Latino or from the Black and brown communities,” Campos said.
'Perpetuating Latina poverty'
Strong shared why affordable child care is a vital resource in the community.
“I am a former Head Start mom and Title 20 mom, so child care assistance is very important to me," she said.
"Pennsylvania, which has 1 million working parents with children younger than 6 years old, already loses an estimated $3.47 billion annually because of child care breakdowns, causing parents to miss work and leave their jobs.”
According to GACLA, that number includes $591 million in tax revenue lost annually because of child care issues.
“One of the contributing factors is the high cost of child care," Strong said. "Minimum wage salaries are consumed in this indispensable service perpetuating Latina poverty in our state.”
Strong spoke of talks of an increase in wages for educators.
“Investments must be targeted to improve the compensation of child care workers, most of whom are women, and many of whom are women of color, and ensure equity among workers within the field and wages,” Strong said.
“Without the recommended investments in affordable child care, we face a future with more day care closures and fewer options for families, which means greater economic costs for communities.”
Listed in Shapiro's proposed budget are an increase in the minimum wage and more funding to support certified, bilingual child care centers.
Accessible language
Hernandez shared that the administration has proposed plans to provide accessible language — both physically and digitally to Pennsylvanians.
Accessible language includes those who have limited English proficiency and people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“By standardizing access to interpretation and translation services, and making it enterprise-wide, interpretation and translation services will be more consistent,” Hernandez said.
“We also want to create an enterprise-wide language access work group to identify challenges and provide possible recommendations and improve language access on all agencies' websites.
"Digital is becoming more important as younger generations gets older and we want to make sure that our technology, it's up to standards and everything is translated.”
For more information on GACLA, go to its Facebook page.
