DMVA to Host Virtual Veteran Town Hall

The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) will host the first in a five-part series of virtual Veteran Town Halls on Wednesday, March 16, from 5-6:30 p.m., according to Rep. Karen Boback (R-Lackawanna/Luzerne/Wyoming). The topic will be veteran suicide prevention, with a focus on the support and resources available to veterans throughout the Commonwealth.

“As majority chairman of the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, I am pleased the DMVA has made suicide prevention the topic of its first virtual town hall of the year,” said Boback. “It is critical that Pennsylvania veterans know what resources are available to them when they need someone to talk with about their emotional issues.”

Attendees can participate by using a WebEx link. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the presenters live through the chat feature. They should visit DMVA’s website at www.dmva.pa.gov, Twitter of Facebook pages for the WebEx link. 

The series of virtual town halls will provide the Commonwealth’s nearly 800,000 veterans with a convenient platform to learn and ask questions about programs and services earned through their military service.

The following are the dates, times and topics for the four remaining 2022 Virtual Veteran Town Hall events:

May 18, 5-6:30 p.m. – Serving Older Veterans.
July 13, 5-6:30 p.m. – Resources for Homeless Veterans.
Sept. 14, 5-6:30 p.m. – Transportation Issues Facing Veterans.
Nov. 2, 5-6:30 p.m. – Honoring Veterans for Their Service and Sacrifice.

You’re Invited: Scranton Economic Development Town Hall

The City of Scranton is developing a Strategic Economic Development Plan which will serve as an actionable and forward-looking vision to build upon the initiatives already underway throughout Scranton. The City and their partners at Fourth Economy Consulting are taking a stakeholder driven approach to the planning process by incorporating numerous community engagement opportunities, including one-on-one interviews and small group discussions. 

A summary of the team’s key quantitative and qualitative findings to-date can be found here.

In December, Fourth Economy hosted a series of Build Sessions – interactive workshops where community stakeholders came together to brainstorm and build solutions that will shape the Strategic Economic Development Plan. The workshops covered the following topic areas:

  • Industry
  • Talent Attraction & Retention
  • Community Identity & Neighborhood Reinvestment
  • Infrastructure
  • Housing

As follow up, the City of Scranton and Fourth Economy will be hosting a town hall meeting to share outputs from the Build Sessions and gather feedback on the initiatives that have been identified to date and insights into what may be still outstanding.

You’re invited to participate in this Town Hall on Thursday, January 20 at 8:30 a.m. It will be a virtual session open only to our collective membership. 

REGISTER HERE

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a calendar invite.

PennDOT Encourages Public to Join Telephone Town Hall

As part of the ongoing public comment period for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study exploring sustainable transportation funding options, a telephone town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at 6:00 PM EST.

The telephone town hall will provide an opportunity to comment on the statewide PEL study in addition to an active virtual public meeting, accessible online through June 1, 2021, at www.penndot.gov/funding.

The public may pre-register for the telephone town hall, but it is not required. There are three ways to join the telephone town hall:

Those who cannot join the telephone opportunity are encouraged to review and participate in the on-demand virtual public meeting that began on April 29. Public comments can be submitted directly from the meeting website or via other comment submission methods, including:

The PEL study, in support of the PennDOT Pathways program, is being conducted to identify near- and long-term alternative funding solutions and establish a methodology for their evaluation. The Transportation Revenue Options Commission (TROC), which was established by Governor Tom Wolf’s Executive Order on March 12, received the draft PEL study and will receive the final version when completed.

For more information about the PennDOT Pathways program, visit www.penndot.gov/funding.

PennDOT will make all reasonable modifications to policies, programs, and documents to ensure that people with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency have an equal opportunity to participate in all of its programs, services, and activities.

To request assistance to participate in the virtual public meeting or review the PEL study, please contact PennDOT’s Communications Office by emailing dotcomm@pa.gov or calling 717-783-8800 from 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM. PennDOT will not place a surcharge on an individual with a disability or those with limited English proficiency to cover the costs of providing auxiliary aids/services or reasonable modifications of policy. If you have other questions or challenges, please contact PennDOT’s Bureau of Equal Opportunity to request help by emailing RA-penndoteoreports@pa.gov or calling 1-800-468-4201; TTY (711).

Subscribe to statewide PennDOT news and traffic alerts at www.penndot.gov/news or choose a region under “Regional Offices.” Information about the state’s infrastructure and results the department is delivering for Pennsylvanians can be found at www.penndot.gov/results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNews and like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportation and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot/.