No Child Should Live in Deep Poverty: Strengthen TANF for PA Families and for Racial Justice

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a federally-funded block grant that provides cash assistance to the poorest Pennsylvania families. Parents are required to actively look for work or participate in a job training program. TANF additionally provides support for children under 18 being cared for by grandparents or other relatives, and for survivors of…

Report: Racial Disparities in Access to Supplemental Security Income Benefits for Children

SSI for children is crucial support for families in need. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides critical financial support to people with disabilities who experience economic hardship, including 1.1 million children. SSI income is crucial not only because it can boost families out of poverty, but also because in many states, SSI recipients are automatically eligible…

CLS Releases Recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS), one of the largest and most respected legal services programs in the nation, congratulates President-Elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on their successful election. As President-Elect Biden said in a recent speech: “We must make the promise of the country real for everybody — no matter their…

Federal Court Issues Order Stopping USDA from Denying Emergency SNAP Benefits to the Poorest Pennsylvanians

Great news! CLS and Morgan Lewis settled with the USDA, bringing $712 million emergency SNAP (food stamp) benefits to approximately 650,000 of the neediest Pennsylvania households! Click here to find out more. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction today, ruling that more than 700,000 of the poorest Pennsylvanians may be entitled to receive additional…

CLS and Morgan Lewis File Lawsuit Challenging Denial of Emergency SNAP Benefits for the Poorest Pennsylvanians

On July 16, 2020, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia(“CLS”) and Morgan Lewis filed a class action lawsuit against The United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) on behalf of Pennsylvanians denied emergency food assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) included a provision providing for emergency additional SNAP (food stamp) benefits so that low income families could have access to food during the pandemic. Nearly 40% of Pennsylvania SNAP households, including many…

Report: The Application for Pennsylvania Pandemic Unemployment Assistance has Problems. Here’s How to Fix Them.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) was passed by Congress as part of the CARES Act to provide unemployment compensation (UC) benefits to people who have been left out of the unemployment system – including gig workers like ridesharing drivers, self-employed people, independent contractors, and people with limited wage records.  This new program was executed by the…

Did You Lose Your Job and Now Have No Income? You May Qualify for Diversion Payments from the County Assistance Office.

Pennsylvania County Assistance Offices may be able to give families some money to get by while they can’t work because of the coronavirus crisis. Instead of getting ongoing cash assistance, families temporarily out of work may be able to get “diversion” payments. Diversion payments are one, two, or three months’ worth of regular cash assistance,…

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Social Security Administration Should Halt All Pending Regulations

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the U.S. workforce, leading to record levels of unemployment.  While some people will return to work in the coming months, many workers with disabilities may remain out of the workforce indefinitely.  Older workers with disabilities were thirty percent more likely to lose their jobs during the Great Recession than the…