Funding Is Contained in the Fiscal Year 2008 LHHS Appropriations Bill
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Arlen Specter, Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Bob Casey, the Junior Senator from Pennsylvania, announced today the U.S. Senate has approved funding for several southeastern Pennsylvania health care, education and labor projects. The projects are contained in the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill.
“I am pleased my colleagues have approved this important funding for southeastern Pennsylvania,” Senator Specter said. “Health and education are our nation’s greatest capital assets, and these projects are vital to ensuring quality health care and education for the area’s residents.”
“This money is great news for southeastern Pennsylvania and I am thrilled that members of the Senate approved this funding,” said Senator Casey. “I will continue working with Senator Specter to ensure residents of the area have access to quality health care and education.”
The bill must be approved by the full Congress and the President of the United States before funding is final.
Southeastern Pennsylvania projects in the bill include:
$600,000 for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia County for recruitment, placement, and oversight of school-based mentoring with the goal of decreasing truancy rates, increasing the rates at which students graduate to the next grade, decreasing student disciplinary referrals, and decreasing students' involvement with the juvenile justice system. This project is to be carried out in collaboration with the Philadelphia Public Schools.
$400,000 for United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia County for recruitment, placement, and oversight of school-based mentoring with the goal of decreasing truancy rates, increasing the rates at which students graduate to the next grade, decreasing student disciplinary referrals, and decreasing students' involvement with the juvenile justice system. This project is to be carried out in collaboration with the Philadelphia Public Schools.
$200,000 for Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia County for college students health screening programs.
$200,000 for Temple University Health System in Philadelphia County to renovate the physical infrastructure of Temple University Hospital - Episcopal Campus.
$200,000 for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia County to develop a comprehensive breast cancer center, including construction and renovation associated with screening mammography and MRI equipment.
$200,000 for University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia County to establish a National Center for Therapeutic Excellence to assist the FDA, through the development of new tools and methods, to lower the cost of drug discovery and the time to take a drug to market.
$150,000 for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County for equipment that provides non-invasive, 4-dimensional imaging of the brain to detect developmental disorders, including Autism.
$150,000 for Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia County for equipment for the Biobank, a facility dedicated to the collection and distribution of human subject samples, along with supporting personal and family cancer history data.
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