Over $2M in Grants for Our District and We're Hiring!

Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El June 20, 2025 | 5:08 PM

Dear Neighbor,

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, helping to pass legislation that will improve life in our communities.

In this e-newsletter, I’m sharing with you information that I hope you will find helpful.

?We're Hiring!

?Juneteenth Celebrations in Lancaster

?Over $2M in Grants for Our District

?Protecting our health care systems from corporate greed

?Mass transit isn’t a luxury, but a lifeline

?Improving Black maternal health

?State grants now accepting applications

?Register for my Back to School Event

We're Hiring!

Are you interested in serving our community? Our office is hiring a full-time Constituent Services Advisor, which is a great opportunity to help our neighbors access government services. Learn more about the role and apply here: Constituent Services Advisor | Job Details tab | Career Pages

In Our District

Juneteenth Celebrations in Lancaster

This Juneteenth, I was honored to participate in a children’s storytime with NAACP Lancaster, SDOL, Lancaster History, and the Stevens & Smith Center. If you couldn’t make it, here are two great books for kids: Juneteenth for Mazie (by Floyd Cooper) and All Different Now (by Angela Johnson). Learn more: Juneteenth Coffee Hour & Storytime - LancasterHistory

Afterwards, I went to the Juneteenth flag raising at City Hall. This collaboration between the City of Lancaster, NAACP Lancaster, African American Cultural Alliance, Lancaster Juneteenth, and Spice of Life Foundation paid tribute to the end of slavery and honored the long history and continued importance of Black individuals and the Black community in Lancaster's economic, civic, and cultural spheres.

As we celebrate resilience and the pursuit of ongoing freedom, equality, and justice by those who came before, Juneteenth provides the opportunity to ask ourselves: what will we do TODAY to ensure our friends and neighbors remain free?

Over $2M in Grants for Our District

Housing is basic human right

I am very proud to have helped secure grants totaling $2,035,000 from the Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency to provide low-income and unhoused Lancastrians secure, permanent housing and give existing homeowners the resources needed to repair their aging homes.

Housing is basic human right.

But for many people due to the affordable housing crisis, it feels like an out-of-reach luxury. These PHARE grants will provide critical funding to ensure that vulnerable populations, such as individuals and families who have experienced homelessness, can find stable housing, or low-income homeowners living in aging homes can make the necessary repairs to make them safe and inhabitable.

I was proud to stand with Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday at Lancaster City Housing Authority’s Farnum Street building.

Please click on the image below to hear my remarks.

Learn more about the grantees here: Smith-Wade-El helps secure over $2M for Lancaster County housing assistance, homelessness prevention, home modification programs

At the State Capitol

Protecting our health care systems from corporate greed

Last week, I helped pass landmark legislation (HB 1460) in the House to protect communities from hospital shutdowns driven by private equity. The bill would give the Attorney General oversight of health care mergers and empower the public to weigh in on deals that may jeopardize care.

We’ve repeatedly seen corporate raiders gut our health care systems, leaving our communities without the medical care they need to function.

We must act NOW to prevent any more of our health care systems from being destroyed anywhere else in this commonwealth by predatory business practices — and ensure that we put people, not profits, first.

Tell the Senate to vote for the Health System Protection Act!

Mass transit isn’t a luxury, but a lifeline

Mass transit in Pennsylvania is facing a critical funding crisis that will have negative impacts in every region across our state – including right here in Lancaster County. That’s why I voted to make sure everyone is able to get to where they need to go safely and efficiently.

Without this necessary funding, hundreds of thousands of cars will be put on the road –disrupting your commute – billions of dollars in economic impact will be lost, and hard-working Pennsylvanians will be out of a job.

Even if you don’t ride public transit, transit affects you – funding transit means more money in our communities, more people on the job, and safer commutes for everyone.

Join me and demand action from the PA Senate to fund mass transit across Pennsylvania!

www.pahouse.com/fundtransitnow

Improving Black maternal health

Last session, the House passed two bills at improving Black maternal health outcomes that were signed into law.

Now, thanks to Act 115 of 2024 and Act 102 of 2024, Medicaid must cover the cost of childbirth education and support services provided by doulas and the Department of Health must develop a public awareness campaign about postpartum depression.

But these laws are just the beginning of what needs to be done to address the Black maternal health crisis in PA. Make no mistake, Pennsylvania is one of the most dangerous places for a Black woman to give birth.

According to the Policy Center for Maternal Health, Black women have a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births—more than three times the rate for white women (14.5), and significantly higher than Hispanic (12.4) and Asian (10.7) women.

My colleague, Rep. Gina Curry, D-Delaware, has said that more than 93% of those maternal deaths could have been avoidable with appropriate care.

Access is a huge part of this problem, with Black women are falling through the cracks.

Why? We have a serious maternity care desert in PA, with 12.4% of individuals having no birthing hospital within 30 minutes of their home.

We already had an issue with private equity companies gutting hospitals, leaving more health care facilities without cut maternity services or closed entirely.

Now, if the Medicaid cuts proposed by Congress are enacted, more and more women will be at risk as many as 47 hospitals would be at “moderate to significant” risk of being closed, according to Pennsylvania Health Access Network.

This is why the Black Maternal Health Caucus this week rolled out, Momnibus 2.0 legislative package, which has nine bills geared towards improving maternity care and safeguarding the rights of pregnant women and new moms.

House Bill 1234 — Requires Medicaid coverage of blood pressure monitors for home use by pregnant women. HB 1234 was approved by the House Health Committee last week and is now awaiting action by the full House.
House Bill 1088 — Requires private insurance to cover blood pressure monitors for home use by pregnant women. HB 1088 was approved by the state House in a 143-60 vote earlier this month. It has been referred to the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
House Bill 1240 — Creates a pilot program to supply new moms with kits containing items they will need to take care of their newborn babies. The House passed this legislation last session. The bill has not yet been introduced this session.
House Bill 432 — Requires the Department of Health to identify areas at risk of becoming maternity deserts. Currently six counties — Cameron, Fulton, Forest, Perry, Snyder and Sullivan — are deemed maternity deserts but advocates say as hospitals close or cut services, that number could grow.
House Bill 1251 — Expands the services that midwives can provide during pregnancy and postpartum. This legislation has not been introduced yet.
House Bill 707 — Requires nursing rooms in state buildings. This bill was approved by the House State Government Committee in April. It has not had a vote before the full House.
House Bill 526 — Adds protections guaranteeing moms the right to pump breast milk in public. The state has had similar protections for breastfeeding since 2017. The bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee in April. It has not yet been put up for a vote before the full House.
House Bill 1192 — Creates a moms treatment court to provide diversionary services to mothers dealing with substance use issues. The bill was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee but has not moved out of committee.
House Bill 1212 — Requires the Department of Health to launch a public awareness campaign focused on the importance of fathers during and after pregnancy. The legislation was approved by the House Health Committee earlier this week but has not had a vote before the full House.

Government Programs

State grant programs accepting applications

Click here to learn about state grant programs accepting applications at this time.

Back to School Event

The 14th Annual Back to School Event is BACK & Pre-registration is LIVE through Aug. 4! This event serves students in grades K-8 from schools within the 96th and 49th legislative districts -- the School District of Lancaster, Manheim Township School District, Hempfield School District and Penn Manor School District. Students will receive FREE clothing, shoes, backpacks, school supplies, reading books, haircuts and MORE! My staff will also be available to answer questions about state-related matters. You can register here.

If you are interested in volunteering at the event, visit the following link to sign up: 14th Annual Back to School Event: Volunteer Sign Up.